House & Garden 
100 
DECORATIVE LIGHTING FITMENTS 
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1 :Cim^^||:Ml|p||! 
4m • ^ 
. pIS®! 
% 
Distinction in your 
lighting appointments 
may be secured by the use of Riddle 
Fitments. Their individuality of de¬ 
sign and the beautiful Estofado Decor¬ 
ation set them apart from the ordinary. 
The Riddle Fitment Book 
portrays the Estofado Decoration 
in actual colors, illustrating vari¬ 
ous ceiling and wall fitments, 
lamps, torcheres, luminors and 
smaller pieces such as boudoir 
lamps, console sticks and buffet 
sets. Copy, with dealer’s name, 
sent free upon request. 
The Edward N. Riddle Company 
213 Riddle Bldg., Toledo, Ohio 
Riddle Fitments are sold by the better 
dealers almost everywhere. If there is 
no regularly established dealer in your 
vicinity , they may be ordered direct. 
At left. Console 
Stick No. 620, 
height 10 in. 
Price $10. 
At right. Bou¬ 
doir Lamp No. 
602, height 13 
in. Price, with 
Vcllumesque 
shade , $13.50. 
ChairsideLamp 
No. 644. Height 
adjustable 50 to 
5b in. Price, 
with Vellum- 
esque shade, 
$40. 
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The Progress of D ecoration 
(Continued from page 73) 
the times. The moldings of the wood¬ 
work, the carving on the mantel, the 
ornamentation of the furniture, all ex¬ 
pressed that life. If refinement, dig¬ 
nity and hospitality are the qualities 
we wish to express, the Georgian man¬ 
sion is an excellent model of style. 
The English Country Home 
Dark paneling of oak, modeled 
plaster ceilings, quaint casements, 
heavy furniture ornamented with 
carving of a virility that is not without 
crudity, make up the greater part of 
one’s composite mental picture of the 
old-Ehglish country home. At the back 
of one’s mind there hover impres¬ 
sions of great halls with rafters ex¬ 
posed, a minstrel’s gallery, narrow 
passages and changes of floor level, 
a few steps up and a few steps down 
from room to room at unexpected 
places. There is a suggestion of 
romance, of the days of old, about 
the old-time English interior that 
adds to its charm. Such a house is an 
epitome of English country life and of 
centuries of English history in terms 
of architecture and interior decora¬ 
tion. 
The interior of the old-English 
home is the right environment for 
men and women of Anglo-Saxon stock, 
who live much out of doors, who are 
robust and active of body and mind, 
people who are independent in char¬ 
acter, who have an assured position 
of importance in the community and 
who extend hospitality to many guests. 
Since this kind of life is led by a 
considerable number of people in this 
country during at least a part of the 
year, it is quite natural that rooms 
in this manner have found favor here. 
The Italian Influence 
Masterly in conception and execu¬ 
tion, robust and virile without the 
crudity and quaintness of the early 
English work, are the Italian furniture 
pieces and wall hangings of the 
Renaissance and of an earlier date 
In these characteristics lies the reason, 
probably, for the favor with which 
this manner is looked upon by many 
men and women of today. We have 
found that Italian furniture and hang¬ 
ings lend themselves admirably to the 
furnishing of rooms in city houses, 
country houses and in the duplex 
apartments, where the big living room 
extends through two stories in height, 
the studio-apartment type. 
Though we like the furniture of the 
Italian Renaissance, we cannot accept 
its often heavy and ornate palace wall 
and ceiling treatments. So we place 
the furniture in rooms with plain, 
rough plaster walls and ceilings, the 
latter often vaulted, which are in¬ 
spired by a simpler and often austere 
type of Italian interior. In this way 
we avoid a general effect of over¬ 
enrichment and at the same time pro¬ 
vide big, plain surfaces of good texture 
to act as a foil which enhances the 
beauty of the furniture and tapestries 
through contrast. Thus we introduce 
enough of simplicity, breadth and re¬ 
serve to bring our rooms in the old 
Italian manner into harmony with our 
life. 
The Human Element 
In our consideration of these types 
of interiors, the outstanding fact is 
that we have given first importance 
to the human element. It is exactly 
this that gives the new meaning to 
decoration as we view it in distinction 
from the meaning interior decoration 
had for the last generation. We have 
considered only a few of the many 
available types of interiors, hajving 
chosen those that seem the most gen¬ 
erally adaptable, but if we approach 
all other old sources of decorative in¬ 
spiration in the same way we need 
never fail through grasping the sub¬ 
stance instead of the spirit and our 
rooms will have that much desired 
quality, character. 
The Electrically Equipped Home 
(Continued from page 90) 
Whether you are wiring your house 
at the time of construction or after it 
is built, the wires should be placed in a 
convenient, appropriate conduit, an ex¬ 
cellent type of which is a thin neat, 
enameled steel tubing in which the 
wires lie and keep the home safely in¬ 
sulated. There are conduits of this 
description to fit every variety of wir¬ 
ing. There is also a seamless conduit 
made in one piece which prevents short 
circuiting by steam or water leaks. 
With the fashion for electric tea 
parties, a new device has come in the 
triplex table top which is a little oblong 
slab in which are three electric outlets 
so ai ranged that when attached under 
a table by two screws, you can be pre¬ 
pared for three separate cooking sur¬ 
faces, or this contrivance need not be 
attached if you wish it for either din¬ 
ing or tea table. 
The Floor 
T HE times are past when any old 
floor would do for dancing; 
dancers of today take themselves 
and their art seriously and expect as a 
matter of course to find a good floor 
for the most impromptu affair. 
The goodness of a good dancing floor 
depends on its surface, but not entire¬ 
ly; construction also has a good deal 
to do with the matter. In private 
houses we have to take the construc¬ 
tion pretty much as we find it. For 
the perfect dancing floor a certain 
amount of spring and “give” is neces¬ 
sary; generally speaking, the floors 
in a good house are quite springy 
enough for the purpose. Too much 
For Dances 
elasticity is bad; often in an upstairs 
room the spring becomes a shake, 
which is far from pleasant. 
The floor which is specially con¬ 
structed for dancing is frequently slung 
on chains which ensures an even 
“rhythmical” motion; this is the ideal 
floor. A floor laid in solid wood 
blocks is probably the worst for 
dancers; with no elasticity and no 
swing it tires out the most energetic, 
no matter how smooth its surface. 
In houses where there is a good deal 
of dancing it is wise to have an ever- 
ready floor—an uncarpeted room that 
turns into a ballroom when the rugs 
(Continued on page 118) 
