TREATMENT OF A GUEST ROOM
(Where economy is not an item of importance)
Here we can indulge our tastes for beautiful quality of materials and
fine workmanship, as well as good line and colour, so we describe a
room which has elegant distinction and atmosphere, yet is not a
so-called period room--rather a modern room, in the sense that it
combines beautiful lines and exquisite colouring with every modern
development for genuine comfort and convenience.
The walls are panelled and painted a soft taupe--there are no
pictures; simply one very beautiful mirror in a dull-gold frame, a
Louis XVI reproduction.
PLATE XXIII
In another suite we have a boudoir done in sage greens and soft
browns. The curtains of taffeta, in stripes of the two colours.
Two tiers of creme net form sash curtains.
The carpet is a rich mulberry brown, day-bed a reproduction of an
antique, painted in faded greens with _panier fleuri_ design on
back, in lovely faded colours, taffeta cushions of sage green and
an occasional note about the room of mulberry and dull blue.
Electric light shades are of decorated parchment paper.
Really an enchanting nest, and as it is in a New York apartment,
and occasionally used as a bedroom, a piece of furniture has been
designed for it similar to the wardrobe shown in picture, only
not so high. The glass door, when open, disclose a toilet table,
completely fitted out, the presence of which one would never
suspect.
[Illustration: _Boudoir in New York Apartment. Painted Furniture,
Antique and Reproductions._]
The carpet made of dark taupe velvet covers the entire floor. The
furniture is Louis XV, of the wonderful painted sort, the beautiful
bed with its low head and foot boards exactly the same height, curving
backward; the edges a waved line, the ground-colour a lovely
pistache green, and the decoration gay old-fashioned garden flowers in
every possible shade. The bureau has three or four drawers and a bowed
front with clambering flowers. These two pieces, and a delightful
night-table are exact copies of the Clyde Fitch set in the Cooper
Hewitt Museum, at New York; the originals are genuine antiques, and
their colour soft from age.
A graceful dressing-table, with winged mirrors, has been designed to
go with this set, and is painted like the bureau. The glass is a
modern reproduction of the lovely old eighteenth century mirror glass
which has designs cut into it, forming a frame.
For chairs, all-over upholstered ones are used, of good lines and
proportions; two or three for comfort, and a low slipper-chair for
convenience. These are covered in a chintz with a light green ground,
like the furniture, and flowered in roses and violets, green foliage
and lovely blue sprays.
The window curtains are of soft, apple-green taffeta, trimmed with a
broad puffing of the same silk, edged on each side by black
moss-trimming, two inches wide. These curtains hang from dull-gold
cornices of wood, with open carving, through which one gets glimpses
of the green taffeta of the curtains.
The sash-curtains are of the very finest cream net, and the window
shades are of glazed linen, a deep cream ground, with a pattern
showing a green lattice over which climb pink roses. The shades are
edged at the bottom with a narrow pink fringe.
The bed has a cover of green taffeta exactly like curtains, with the
same trimming of puffed taffeta, edged with a black moss-trimming.
The mantelpiece is true to artistic standards and realises the
responsibility of its position as keynote to the room. Placed upon it
are a beautiful old clock and two vases, correct as to line and
colour.
Always be careful not to spoil a beautiful mantel or beautiful
ornaments by having them out of proportion one with the other. Plate
XXIV shows a mantel which fails as a composition because the bust, an
original by Behnes, beautiful in itself, is too heavy for the mantel
it stands on and too large for the mirror which reflects it and
serves as its background.
Keep everything in correct proportion to the whole. We have in mind
the instance of some rarely beautiful walls taken from an ancient
monastery in Parma, Italy. They were ideal in their original setting,
but since they have been transported to America, no setting seems
right. They belonged in a building where there were a succession of
small rooms with low ceilings, each room perfect like so many pearls
on a string. Here in America their only suitable place would be a
museum, or to frame the tiny "devotional" of some précieuse Flower of
Modernity.