April, 19 2 3 
ter to do it well once and for all, and by do¬ 
ing it well I mean finishing it to the last 
detail. We all know the average dining 
room throughout the country; six chairs or 
eight, a table, a sideboard and a pantry 
door. Even when there is a screen before 
the latter, it is often too low. 
In the dining room we perform one of 
the most important functions of our lives— 
that which affects our health, raises or low¬ 
ers our vibrations, cheers or depresses us, 
inspires us or makes us drowsy, and as so 
often happens, especially in town houses, 
this room is so placed that the sun very 
rarely shines in it. If it is a large and im¬ 
portant room with an aver¬ 
age amount of light, the 
first thing to do is to make 
the lines as good as pos¬ 
sible. Close up any un¬ 
necessary openings, in¬ 
crease the wall space, put 
in a fine mantel (not too 
large), look for chairs of a 
period relating to the man¬ 
tel and make any sacrifice 
to have an old sideboard or 
a pair of old consoles. If 
this is out of the question, 
find an old console and 
have it copied, for, as 
there is so little in a dining 
room with the exception of 
the furniture, such pieces 
as we do use ought to be 
of the very best. 
If the walls in a dining 
room are paneled and 
painted a plain color, then 
.4 breakfast room done in the Tut-ankh- 
amen manner has gaily decorated walls, a 
modified Egyptian chair and an early 
Italian painted chair. Miss Gheen was the 
decorator of the room 
one must rely upon the curtains, the rug 
and the covering of the chairs for interest. 
If chintz is used elsewhere throughout the 
house I should not advise its use in the din¬ 
ing room if it is to be a rather formal room, 
and by “formal” I mean if it is to be used 
as a dining room alone. Decorated walls, 
either painted or papered in one of the de¬ 
lightful and interesting scenic papers so 
colorful and effective can be depended upon 
to give unusual character to this type of 
interior. 
In smaller households where room space 
must be considered, it is an excellent plan 
to have a dining room-sitting room, much 
on the style of those in English lodgings. 
I know the most charming little house on 
the Thames where the room looking upon 
the garden at the back, filled with lovely 
old china, a delightful Jacobean chest and 
chairs, and curtains of brilliant glazed 
chintz, serves as a sitting room in the morn¬ 
ing and a dining room after one o’clock. 
The gateleg table placed in one corner of 
the room near the window, acts as a dining 
table, and it has always 
seemed to be one of the gay¬ 
est spots I know. I always 
feel it would be more cheer¬ 
ful for the heads of a 
household, when the chil¬ 
dren have gone to school, 
not to have to face two or 
three times a day those 
empty chairs. Sometimes 
this is made easy by having 
an extra small, round table 
in the bay or before the 
window if the room is large 
enough. This is done very 
much in England where too 
(Continued on page 122) 
When there is so much 
interest beyond the win¬ 
dows the walls and cur¬ 
tains may be neutral in 
tone with one chair in 
bright chintz for contrast 
