Harmony in Decoration 
rich brown. If, however, one must use mahogany- 
birch, or even golden oak, the effect would not be 
inharmonious. 
The walls of a nursery may be painted in oil, or 
covered with paper, fabric, or grass-cloth, as in the 
scheme I show. Should it seem desirable to paint 
the walls, the color should be taken from the paper, 
upper third, or frieze, which should be used in any 
case. There are very many charming friezes now 
gotten, out for nurseries, and this treatment gives 
a much more cheerful aspect to the room. 
If you will refer again to the scheme for the small 
house, you will notice the carefully considered 
sequence of color. I 
have a rough draft of 
the floor plan of this 
house, to show you that 
you may realize how 
the rooms open one 
from the other. "I he 
almost neutral yellow- 
brown tone selected for 
the hall is entirely har¬ 
monious with the adjoin¬ 
ing rooms of both the 
upper and lower floor 
and serves to bring them 
together. 
The floor in a house 
of this kind should be 
stained or left in the 
natural color, as desired, 
and finished with a dull, 
soft polish, if I may be 
allowed the apparent 
paradox. Too high a 
polish for the floor in 
the living-rooms of a 
house is objectionable. 
Where an unbroken 
effect in floor color can 
be preserved through¬ 
out, it is best. Rugs of 
very soft colors, prefera¬ 
bly in two-tone effects, 
should be used here. 
In a room having a fireplace, properly treated, 
this becomes a most important decorative feature. 
The selection of tile, brick or stone for the facing 
and hearth should be carefully made. The color 
should harmonize with the wall color and wood¬ 
work. So much that is truly dreadful is put out 
as artistic tiling, that many rooms are spoiled by 
this disconcordant feature. Where a too ornate 
mantel is chosen, or the hideous mantel tile is 
used (which looks like nothing so much as imitation 
castile soap) an otherwise perfect room would be 
ruined.’ One of the, to my mind, unsolved mys¬ 
NURSERY.—Upper third of wall covered with “Farmstead” frieze. 
This is poster in effect, showing pastel coloring, lower wall covered with Japanese 
grass-cloth of neutral tan color, matching one of the predominating shades in 
upper wall covering. Woodwork stained to harmonize. 
teries of to-day, is why these fearful color com¬ 
binations of green and yellow, salmon pink and 
olive green, crude blue and yellow brown are 
foisted upon the unknowing but ambitious home¬ 
maker as the most artistic thing in tiles, when it 
would be quite as easy and bring quite as good 
financial returns to the maker to offer only those 
which are good. Lovely soft glazed tile in pastel 
shades or deep rich colors may be obtained at the 
same cost as these others, and carefully chosen 
they strike the note of color in the room, which 
can often he made the dominant one with excellent 
result. Pressed brick in a soft shade of cafe-au-lait, 
or yellow, or chrome 
makes an effective man¬ 
tel facing, or the rough 
red brick, the culls 
from a brickyard care¬ 
fully selected with a 
view to their roughness, 
may be used with a 
cement hearth stained to 
match their color. 
In a room of simple 
dignified lines, sugges¬ 
tive of Arts and Crafts 
furnishing, this treat¬ 
ment would accord well. 
The mantel shelf 
should be a single heavy 
plank like the standing 
woodwork of the room, 
stained and finished in 
the same way, supported 
by wrought iron brack¬ 
ets, the plain heavy 
andirons also of iron. 
"Phis would seem entire¬ 
ly suitable and therefore 
good. 
The fixtures and hard¬ 
ware in a room are also 
most important consid¬ 
erations. In such a 
room as we have just 
considered these should, 
of course, be of the wrought iron, or the simulated 
wrought iron, which is much less expensive and an 
excellent substitute, that is, the brass fixtures may 
be treated with dull black paint and obtain the 
same effect. 1 he general style of the room must 
be carefully considered in selecting fixtures and 
hardware, as for instance, the simple Colonial de¬ 
signs would not be at all suitable, used in a room 
where rococo period furnishing was even mildly 
suggested. Again, you will see that it is the suitable 
thing which is the correct thing. 
The treatment of bath-room walls is necessarily 
