Twentieth Century Decoration 
strictly correct period furnishing is costly and very 
difficult to carry out unless one is prepared 
to begin at the beginning, that is, with the 
size, shape and architectural detail of the room; 
otherwise, the better plan is to attempt but the 
modified reproduction. In any case, certain points 
must be carefully observed. Where the furniture 
in a reception room is of the ornate Marie Antoi¬ 
nette style, no less rich fabric than silk brocade 
should be used for draperies and wall covering. 
Where a bedroom is furnished in this style, the 
walls may have a paper substituted for the orna¬ 
mental panels of silk and satin brocades, which 
were in vogue in the days of the dainty beribboned 
and garlanded queen. The design of these papers 
must show something suggestive of the favored 
form of the decoration of her day. 
The Empire and Directoire periods show furni¬ 
ture and hangings that are on simpler lines with 
less variety and daintiness of color. What cupids and 
quivers, garlands and bow-knots and delicate hues 
were to the period of Les Louis, the laurel wreath, 
eagle, and golden bee mean to the time of Napo¬ 
leon. There is a rich, clear emerald green known 
as Empire Green, which, when showing a gold 
brocade, is a very usual fabric for hangings and 
draperies in a room of this period. The wood¬ 
work in rooms finished after the style of Les Louis, 
or of the Empire time, is most often of white enamel. 
In the earlier days much of ornamental carving 
and applied plaster decoration was used. 
The English designers, Chippendale and Sheraton, 
in their work, following closely these periods, show 
a mingling of the two that in some instances is very 
beautiful, and again seems almost mongrel. Where 
one is the fortunate possessor of certain pieces of 
good furniture, characteristic of any of these periods, 
the general setting of the room must be made to 
harmonize. One must not feel, however, that a 
single gold chair, though an exact reproduction of one 
used by Marie Antoinette, and a carved cabinet of 
the same period, absolutely necessitate following 
the frivolities of this style throughout the 
room. These two pieces can be effectively featured 
by using them in a room where delicate decoration 
in wall-paper and satin brocaded draperies are 
used. With these, pieces of mahogany furniture 
built on more substantial lines, but showing some 
carving, may be combined appropriately. Oriental 
rugs in soft dull tones make a most acceptable 
floor covering. 
It is quite possible to make for the Colonial house 
an extremely uninviting interior, even when entirely 
correct in every detail. When the amateur begins 
to live up to this style of furnishing it requires much 
careful study and discretion to prevent the period 
idea from overcoming the comfort of the home. 
Our great-grandmothers were strait-laced dames, 
to whom the easy enjoyment of a »haise-\ounge 
would have seemed a shocking departure from 
“correct deportment,” but to-day when the sense 
of comfort that such pieces of furniture stand for 
is lacking, the whole effect is cold and uninviting, 
therefore, a happy mingling of yesterday and to-day is 
advised. Where the architectural design of the room 
is Colonial, a wall covering of undoubted Colonial 
character should be chosen. Paper in two tones, 
in broad or narrow stripes, or large conventional¬ 
ized floral designs in flock paper, showing two tones, 
are safe to select for such a room, Many of the 
fine old mahogany pieces of furniture seem to call 
for hair-cloth as a covering and this should be 
chosen; it can be found in any of the rich, soft 
colors which the harmonious scheme of the room 
requires. This fabric shows a slight brocaded 
effect in the same color and is most attractive; it 
comes in widths of twenty-four and twenty- 
eight inches, and costs two dollars and fifty cents 
and three dollars and twenty-five cents a yard. In 
a room where furniture of this type is used, a piece 
or two of wicker, or East Indian chairs and foot¬ 
stools may be introduced. A wing chair, or any 
of the heavy upholstered pieces of which every 
American family has its share, may also be utilized 
in a modified Colonial room. Closely woven tapes¬ 
try showing an agreeable mingling of dull reds, 
greens, tans and old blue is easily found and will 
make a suitable covering for these pieces of furni¬ 
ture and will harmonize with almost any wall 
color. It may also be effectively used as door 
curtains, or lor upholstering the window seat in 
the same room. 
When one wishes to improve an unsatisfactory 
room without going to the expense of redecoration, 
much can be accomplished by simply changing the 
coloring and covering of furniture, and pieces appar¬ 
ently at utter variance may be so made to “pull 
together” to the entire success of the room. 
To many women is vouchsafed this special gift 
of grace, this ability to bring beauty and liva¬ 
bleness into a room, which, while apparently com¬ 
pletely furnished, has lacked the one great charm. 
This charm is indefinable and nearly impossible 
to grasp or classify, so many and varied are the 
qualities that go toward its composition, but it 
produces a whole that stands for beauty as well 
as comfort and spells “home” to the least artistic 
one within its walls. A rearrangement of the 
furniture, a new grouping of pictures, a restful 
plain expanse of color introduced either in wall, 
floor covering or curtains, will go far toward improv¬ 
ing an apparently hopeless room. This has been 
successfully done in a house which was furnished 
in the early seventies, and with the wholly ugly 
furniture of that period. Every corner of the 
house was completely and much too fully furnished. 
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