With such Curtis Woodwork as mantels, bookcases, inter-room openings,
wall paneling and ceiling beams as a background for the living room,
its furnishing is greatly simplified and it is easy to make it a room
deserving of its name.
Don’t consider for a minute doing without a fireplace. The cheer it
brings to the family circle, especially at Christmas time, is in
itself quite worth its cost. A hearth fire takes the dampness out of
the atmosphere in early spring and late fall, when the furnace is
not going, and so saves coal bills. The fireplace is valuable as a
means of ventilation, too. It is the center of interest in the living
room, and should be dignified and beautiful. Many beautiful mantels
of architectural merit are shown in the Curtis catalog, for houses of
all types.
Bookcases in the living room and library combine both architectural
and decorative value to a greater degree, perhaps, than does any
other one detail. The decorative value of books can hardly be
overstated. Curtis bookcases are designed as an integral part of the
house. They may be had in various sizes to fit your needs. There
are some with beautifully fluted pilasters and others of plainer
design but fine proportions. Either type may be had with or without a
drawer-pedestal.
Sometimes bookcases are used in combination with a permanent seat,
as for example around a window, and the recess thus produced can
be made very alluring. Permanent seats also utilize many otherwise
unused corners and nooks. They have hinged tops and so can be
used for storing miscellaneous household articles.
[Illustration]
Paneling is an attractive wall treatment for many homes. The wall
may be entirely covered with well proportioned and carefully molded
wood panels, or it may be marked off into rectangles with a simple
molding--which is known as “French paneling.” Paneling may be used
in other rooms of the house also. Often it is accompanied by beamed
ceiling, but ceiling beams can also be used without paneling, if you
wish, and give character to a room. They can be used to modify the
proportions of the room. They lend an interest to the interior that
it might not otherwise have. The Curtis catalog shows wall panelings
and ceiling beams of various designs.
In a small house, the rooms can be given the appearance of greater
size if inter-room openings are used instead of doors. These wide
portals throw the rooms together and permit larger vistas. They may
have simple paneled buttresses, or they may contain bookcases, desks,
or cabinets that take up very little more floor space than would the
partition. In either case the newest and best Curtis designs have
columns extending all the way from floor to ceiling.
[Illustration:
_In permanent furniture the tongue-and-groove mitred joint is used
wherever practical. Note the differences between this construction
and the common butt joint. With the former, no nails are used that
mar the finished surface of the cabinet, and there is no incongruous
contrast between edge and flat grain wood at the corners. Such a
joint cannot open up as a result of humidity and temperature changes
in the rooms._]
[Illustration:
_The mortise-and-tenon joint is used in the face of cabinet work and
in the stiles and rails of doors._]
[Illustration:
_All but the smallest drawers in Curtis permanent furniture are made
with dovetailed corners that cannot pull apart. They operate on
slides (A), which prevent wobbling and binding. The laminated drawer
bottoms are set into grooves in the sides and ends of the drawers.
The bottoms cannot shift about._]
[Illustration]