FURNISHING.
"By wisdom is a house built; by understanding it is established;
and by knowledge the chambers are filled with all pleasant and
precious treasures."--_Solomon's Practical Wisdom._
"We cannot arrest sunsets nor carve mountains, but we may turn
every English home, if we choose, into a picture which shall be
no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life
indeed."--_Ruskin._
A condition of pleasantness in a house has a real power in refining and
raising the characters of its inmates; so home should not only be a
haven of rest, peace, and sympathy, but should have an element of beauty
in all its details. Ugliness and discomfort blunt the sensibilities and
lower the spirits. D'Israeli said, "Happiness is atmosphere," and from
this point of view a few words about furnishing may not be out of place
in our inquiry as to how to be happy though married. Certainly the
fitting up and arranging of a home will not appear unimportant to those
who think with Dr. Johnson that it is by studying little things that we
attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as
possible. "Pound St. Paul's church into atoms and consider any single
atom; it is, to be sure, good for nothing; but put these atoms together,
and you have St. Paul's church. So it is with human felicity, which is
made up of many ingredients, each of which may be shown to be very
insignificant."
The expense of furnishing is often a source of considerable anxiety to
young people about to marry. We think, however, that this matrimonial
care is, or should be, much more lightly felt than in past years.
Competition has made furniture cheaper, and it is now considered "bad
form" to crowd rooms or to have in them the large heavy things that were
so expensive. Elegance displayed in little things is the order of the
day. A few light chairs of different sizes and shapes, a small lounge,
one or two little tables, the floor polished round the edges and covered
in the centre with a square of carpet, or, if the whole room be stained,
with Oriental rugs where required; the windows hung with some kind of
light drapery--what more do newly-married people require in their
drawing-room? Oh! we have forgotten the piano, and we suppose it is
inevitable, but it can easily be hired.
It is a great gain for a young couple to be compelled to economize, for,
rich as they may become afterwards, habits of thrift never quite leave
them. Their furniture may be scanty and some of it not very new, but
common things can be prettily covered, and the dullest of rooms is set
off by the knick-knacks that came in so plentifully among the bridal
spoils. Besides, if they start with everything they want, there is
nothing to wish for, and no pleasure in adding to their possessions.
George Eliot has a subtle remark about the "best society, where no one
makes an invidious display of anything in particular, and the advantages
of the world are taken with that high-bred depreciation which follows
from being accustomed to them."
No doubt there will be pictures and photographs, the hanging of which
occasions considerable discussion, and perhaps involves the first
serious divergence of opinion. We must remember, however, that it is
much better to have no pictures than bad ones, and that photographs of
scenery are rarely decorative. As regards one's relations when they are
really decorative, even Mr. Oscar Wilde can see no reason why their
photographs should not be hung on the walls, though he hopes that, if
called on to make a stand between the principles of domestic affection
and decorative art, the latter may have the first place.
It is a safe rule to have nothing in our houses that we do not know to
be useful or think to be beautiful. We should show our love of art and
beauty in our surroundings, and bring it to bear in the selection of the
smallest household trifle. To have things tasteful and pretty costs no
more than to have them ugly; but it costs a great deal more trouble.
Simplicity, appropriateness, harmony of colour--these produce the best
results. When we enter a room, the first feeling ought to be, "How
comfortable!" and the second, as we glance quickly round to discover
_why_, ought to be, "How beautiful!" Not a touch too much nor too
little. The art is to conceal art. Directly affectation enters, beauty
goes out. But while there should be nothing bizarre in our method of
furnishing, rooms should reflect the individuality of their owners. They
should never look as if they were furnished by contract. People should
allow their own taste to have its way. Whatever we have, let it not be
flimsy, but good of its kind. Good things are cheapest in the end, and
it is economy to employ good dependable tradespeople.
When he heard of the occurrence of some piece of mischief, George the
Fourth used to ask, "Who is _she_?" This question may be asked with much
more reason when we enter a pretty room. Who is she whose judgment and
fingers have so arranged these unconsidered trifles as to make out of
very little an effect so charming? Compare a bachelor's house with the
same house after its master has taken to himself a helpmate. "Bless
thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art translated!" the friends of his
former state may well exclaim. Of course we are supposing the lady's
head to be furnished, for if that do not contain a certain amount of
common sense, good taste, and power of observation, the result will soon
be observed in her house. A drawing-room should be for use and not for
show merely, and should be furnished accordingly. It should be tidy, but
not painfully tidy. Self-respect should lead us to have things nice in
our homes, whether the eyes of company are to see them or not. It was
surely right of Robinson Crusoe to make his solitary cave look as smart
as possible. Who does not respect the wife whose dinner-table is
prettily adorned with flowers even on days when no one but her husband
has the honour of dining with her?
To furnish the kitchen is a troublesome and unsatisfactory business. It
is unsatisfactory because one expends on kitchen utensils, which are
rather dear, a considerable amount of money without having much to show.
And it is troublesome to have to distinguish between the many implements
a cook really does require and those which she only imagines to be
necessary. Still, cook must be supplied with every appliance that is
really necessary. Without these there may be an expenditure of time out
of all proportion to her task. On the equipoise of that lady's temper
depends to a not inconsiderable extent the comfort of the house. Have in
the kitchen a good clock, and teach your servants to take a pleasure in
making sweet and bright their own special chambers.
Our present sanitary ideas will tolerate no longer curtains on beds, or
heavy carpets on the floors of sleeping apartments. Both foster dust,
and dust conceals the germs of disease. That carpets are sometimes made
a too convenient receptacle for dust is evident from the answer that was
once given by a housemaid. Professing to have become converted to
religion, she was asked for a proof of the happy change, and thus
replied: "Now," she said, "I sweep _under_ the mats." For bedrooms there
should be narrow, separate, tight-woven strips of carpet around the bed
and in front of furniture only. These are easy to shake, and in every
sense in harmony with the simplicity and cleanliness which, if health is
to be preserved, must pervade the bedroom. The more air it contains the
better, and hence everything superfluous should be banished from it. But
we shall not specify the different things which, in our opinion, should,
or should not, be found in the several rooms of a house, for after all
it is the arrangement of furniture rather than the furniture itself that
makes the difference.
If the question be asked, Is it better to pick up furniture at auctions
or to buy it in shops? we reply, Avoid auctions. Things are varnished up
to the eye, and it is seldom possible to examine them. So you generally
find on returning home from a sale that your purchases are by no means
what they seemed.
As regards the expense of furnishing a small house such as young
housekeepers of the middle class usually hire when first they settle
down in life, this of course varies with circumstances, but even one
hundred pounds ought nearly to suffice. To estimate the cost rightly,
one should know the tastes of the people concerned, their social
position, the size of their house, and the style of the locality in
which they propose to live. Very good furniture can sometimes be
obtained secondhand, but one must be on their guard against "bargains"
that are worthless. There are certain articles, such as lamps, beds, and
bedding, that should as a general rule be purchased new.
People are generally in too great haste when furnishing. They should be
prudent, deliberate, and wait with their eyes open until they see the
sort of things that will suit them. They should buy the most instantly
necessary articles first with ready money, and add to these as they can
afford it to carry out ideas formed by observation. They should buy what
can be easily replaced after legitimate wear and tear, what their
servants can properly attend to, and what will save labour and time.