THE HALL.
Perhaps the most difficult part of a house to really make look nice is
the hall, especially in one of the small houses of the period, where
that tiresome man, the builder, appears to consider either that an
entrance to the house is not necessary at all, or that the smaller it
is, and the more the stairs are in evidence, the better and more
appropriate it is to Angelina’s lowly station in life; indeed, this
idiosyncrasy is not confined to small houses, for I know of more than
one good-sized domicile that is entirely spoiled by the manner in which
the staircase rises from the front door, scarcely allowing that room
enough to open, or which has not space even for the hat-stand and
hall-table to which the British matron is as a rule so very fondly
attached. However, there is now a distinct advance in the matter of the
hall in many of the new houses; and we will take it for granted that we
have a small space at all events that we can make the very best of, for
nothing adds so much to the appearance of a house as a nicely arranged
hall. Indeed, were I now beginning housekeeping, nothing should induce
me to take a house where there was not an appreciable distance between
the sitting-rooms and the front door, for if this latter opens direct on
them it is impossible to avoid draughts and constant catching of cold; a
nicely warmed sitting-room becoming well-nigh uninhabitable when the
front door is opened on a cold or windy night: a chill and cutting
draught enters, and in a moment a bad cold is caught. I know nothing
more important, therefore, than to consider the position of a front door
in choosing a house, as not only one’s comfort but much of one’s health
depends upon this. I have had this ‘borne in upon me,’ as the Shakers
would say, often and often, when I have been staying in a house where
there is literally not a square yard of hall, where the stairs and the
front door seem all one, and where the drawing-room literally opens out
into the place where the front door is. Even in not particularly cold
weather, nothing keeps such a house even warm, and the sudden changes of
temperature caused by this arrangement are so great that I have had to
live in a shawl and yet could not rise above freezing point; and, of
course, what it must be in the depth of winter I must leave my readers
to imagine.
The first thing to look at, then, is what we can do with our hall, when
we have it. If the front door is very near us, we must hang over it a
good thick curtain. I should advise a double curtain of serge or felt.
This could be arranged on one of those delightful rods that are, I
believe, only to be purchased of Maple, and that move with the door
itself in some mysterious way, with a bracket arrangement, and that
prevents the necessity of drawing the curtain itself when the door is
opened. Of course this would only be for winter use and for when the
delightful east wind was blowing; but over all the doors in my hall I
have curtains which remain up all the year round, because they look so
nice, and are really of a great deal of use in more ways than one. As
the doors open inwards, these are only put up on the ordinary narrow
brass poles with rings, and are tied back with Liberty silk
handkerchiefs, or in several instances looped high with cords, as in
Illustration No. 1. This allows of the curtain being dropped in one
moment should more warmth be desired. These cords and tassels are
procurable at Smee’s, while the handkerchiefs are Liberty’s. A 3_s._
6_d._ handkerchief, cut in half and hemmed, is the proper size to use
for this purpose, should they be preferred to the cords. Some of the
curtains are made of stamped velveteen at 2_s._ 3_d._ and 2_s._ 6_d._
the yard, edged round the bottom and one side with a ball fringe to
match, and others are made of serge; but I prefer the velveteen--it
wears beautifully, and can be made to look as good as new by being
re-dipped by Pullar the dyer, who lives at Perth, who is very well
known, and has agents all over the kingdom, so there is no expense,
incurred in sending the things to him. The curtains over the doorways of
the sitting-rooms are always kept tied back, and I furthermore put in
tintacks down the sides nearest the wall to keep them in place, and to
keep out the draught. This does not harm the curtains in the least if
very small bits of tape are sewn on the material, and the nail inserted
in these, not in the curtains themselves. Over the door that leads into
the kitchen departments the curtains should be in one piece, capable of
being drawn; to keep this in place it is well to put the last ring over
the end of the pole, so that it cannot be drawn on more than one side.
This saves it from looking like a rag, which it would do could it be
drawn with equal ease both sides, and also secures that it shall remain
drawn over a door that would be always revealing all sorts of domestic
secrets were it not for the friendly shield of the concealing curtain,
in the praise of which I feel I cannot really say too much.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Suggestion for draping arch in hall.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Suggestion for draping door in hall.]
The flooring of the hall is our next consideration. If we have tiles,
and very many houses have tiles nowadays, I think I should be inclined
to say, leave the floor just as it is. If you put down a nice rug, dirty
boots soon reduce it to a state of dirt and squalor; and nicely washed
tiles really look as well as anything. Of course a good thick mat must
be placed at the front door. This is best purchased at Treloar’s, in
Ludgate Hill, for I really do believe his mats never wear out. I have
had one for years with ‘Salve’ on in red letters, and that mat is as
good now as the day on which I purchased it, and it has had the wear of
boys to contend with, to say nothing of, first, an extremely chalky
soil, and then a clay one. Behind the door I should put a brass stand,
just to hold the wet umbrellas. Maple has very pretty brass stands
indeed for about 25_s._ 6_d._; but when dry each member of the family
should be made to take his or her umbrella into their own room, and put
them in a corner there _not_ rolled up. The life of an umbrella is quite
doubled in length if this simple rule is remembered, and, indeed, if
there be a room where the umbrella can be allowed to dry, I should
advise its being put there at once open, for umbrella stands wear out
one’s umbrella quicker than any amount of wear. Very pretty stands are
now made from drain-pipes, which are painted, and in some cases
embellished with flowers made from clay in imitation of Barbotine ware;
but these are easily broken, and I think a brass one much the best for
all purposes.
Now, on no account allow any one to hang up a coat or wrap in the hall.
First of all, a collection of coats and hats tempts a thief; and,
secondly, I cannot imagine anything more untidy-looking. The men of the
household can be easily trained to take their own especial property at
once into their own rooms, where there should be accommodation for them;
and visitors’ hats and coats can be taken possession of by the maid, and
hung up in the passage behind the curtained door that leads to the
kitchen, where they are out of sight at all events, and can be given
back to their owners quite as easily as if they were making our hall
like an old clothes shop, or filling it with water from outside. On no
account, therefore, buy a hall stand, brass hooks or a row of pegs in
some unobtrusive corner answering every purpose, as far as I can see. Of
course if the master comes in wet his garments must go straight to the
kitchen fire, anyhow; if he be dry, why should he not take his hat and
coat into his own dressing-room? We do not put on our bonnets and
jackets in the hall, or keep them there either, and I cannot myself see
why he should. But it is all a matter of management and use, and if he
be asked to begin properly by taking his property upstairs, I am quite
sure there will be no trouble about that detestable piece of furniture,
a hat-stand.
Of course, nowadays no one thinks of having imitation marble-paper in
the hall--that monstrosity is at last never now to be met with; but the
hall paper is rather a difficult business, and must be chosen especially
to suit _the_ hall for which it is intended. A soft green paper makes
almost any hall and staircase look cheerful, but my pet paper is
undoubtedly Pither’s ‘blue blossom,’ at 1_s._ 6_d._ a piece, and I
especially recommend a dado here, but not a paper one--this soon gets
shabby. Children’s little paws, boxes going up and down, a thousand
things inseparable from a staircase, in the shape of wear and tear, all
have to be considered. Therefore, either a dado of matting, with a real
wooden rail, painted the colour of the paper or else a wooden dado, or
one of really pretty cretonne, are all to be preferred, because they
stand a good many hard knocks, and remain unspoiled to the last. A
matting dado, I think myself, is the very best, and, if desired, the
stair-carpets can be saved much wear by covering them in their turn
with narrow matting too. I really think a blue hall is as pretty as any,
and then old-gold curtains over the doors look charming; but a
sage-green hall looks extremely well, and I have seen a terra-cotta
paper, with a chintz dado, using Liberty’s Mysore chintz, that had a
very pretty effect indeed. If the banisters end in a round, a good
effect is procured by placing a plant in a pot there. I had one that
never got knocked over; but, for fear of a catastrophe, a brass pot with
an aspidistra should be selected, as, if this falls, it cannot be
utterly and entirely done for, as a china one would be containing a
fragile fern or a delicate palm, neither of which, by the way, would
stand the draught as the long-suffering aspidistra invariably does. I
like pictures up the staircase, and, should there be a staircase window,
artistic jugs and pots, more especially the Bournemouth and Rebecca
ware, sold by Mr. Elliot (who lives at the top of the Queen’s Road,
Bayswater, No. 18), should stand all along the window-ledge; and if the
outlook be ugly, the entire window should be covered by a fluted muslin
curtain in art colours, using either Madras, which does not wash well,
and must always be new here, or Liberty’s artistic muslins at 1_s._ a
yard, with the appearance of which I am delighted, either for window
blinds or summer quilts, or material for throwing over sofas, instead of
guipure and muslin. It is sold in all colours, and is one of the best
things I have seen for some time.
How we furnish our hall must of course entirely depend on the room we
have. Liberty has some charming bamboo settees in black, and arm-chairs
to match. These are especially suitable for a hall, while an oak chest
with an oaken back is a most valuable possession; the chest holds
comfortably the year’s accumulation of papers and magazines until it is
time for them to go to the binder, and the top and back are charming
with heavy jugs on, made too heavy to be blown over by filling them with
sand, in which, when flowers are plentiful, blossoms can be put, and
when they are scarce, leaves and berries and pampas grasses show to
great advantage. If any small tables are about, have plants and books on
them, and above all avoid any appearance of a passage or hall--nothing
makes a house look so miserable. A good thing to bang in the hall is a
nicely illuminated card saying when the post goes out, with a box
underneath for the letters, and the time-table and a hat-brush should be
in some unobtrusive corner, whence they should never be moved on any
pretext whatever; a fixed matchbox, that should always be full, is
another institution, and a candlestick in good order should be put on
one of the tables when the hall gas is lighted. The painted
artistic-looking candlesticks sold by Liberty at 2_s._ 9_d._ are very
pretty, but a brass candlestick does not get shabby quite so soon, and
is not much if any dearer. One more axiom: never have loose mats at the
room doors outside; they only turn over with the ladies’ dresses, and
get untidy, while a piece of indiarubber tubing at the bottom of the
door keeps out far more draught than any mat possibly can. If the hall
be not tiled, I recommend it to be covered with Pither’s capital
hard-wearing drugget over felt, with one or two dhurries about, put down
carelessly, for sake of the colour; these wash beautifully and wear
excellently, and begin at 1_s._ 6_d._ each, rising in price according to
size, while one or two of the Kurd or Scinde rugs would be even better
than these, as they stand a very great deal of wear and tear.
Before passing away from the hall, I will just mention two or three
schemes of decoration that are absolutely certain to be a success, and
therefore can be adopted without any chance of a failure: No. 1 is
Pither’s invaluable red and white ‘berry’ paper at 1_s._ 6_d._ a piece;
a dado of red and white matting--Treloar, Ludgate Hill, has a capital
one at about 1_s._ a yard, and varnished paint the exact colour of the
red on the flower; blue hard wearing drugget on the floor, and red,
white, and blue striped dhurries for _portières_. No. 2.--Paper of a
good sage-green, with dado of Japanese leather paper in sage-green, and
gold all the paint varnished sage-green and Pither’s terra-cotta
hard-wearing drugget on the floor and stairs; terra-cotta and grey-blue
serge curtains would be safe here, and if there be a back staircase and
no boys in the house, the dado may be replaced by a frieze of Maple’s
grey-gold Japanese leather paper; this resembles a flight of birds among
palm branches, and this arrangement is simply a perfect hall, but not
suitable for one where there is much traffic. All the paint, on doors,
wainscot, and frieze or picture-rail alike, must be one shade of green
only, and I most strongly deprecate for any place the odious habit of
picking out styles and wainscoting with another shade of paint; this is
never needed, only adds to the work, and draws attention to the paint,
at which we do not want to look, and which would only serve as a
pleasant background to oneself and one’s belongings. The sides of the
stairs and the balustrading should all be painted to match, though the
mahogany handrail should be left alone.
Scheme No. 3 would only do where expense was no object, but would
undoubtedly make a most lovely hall. This would be in cream-coloured
varnished paint, with a high wooden dado painted cream colour, and then
embellished with sketches of birds and flowers by Mrs. McClelland’s
clever fingers; the paper could be a good gold-coloured Japanese leather
paper, and the carpets could be Oriental rugs sewn together, while the
hall should have a handsome Oriental square of carpet, and one or two
divans placed about it; the draperies could be Liberty’s beautiful
chenille material in Oriental colours too, and great care should be
taken with their arrangement. In all cases I strongly advise the
ceilings to be papered, no one who has once indulged in a coloured or
decorated ceiling ever going back to the cold, ugly whitewash, with
which we have all been so contented so long. It is generally safe to put
a blue and white ceiling paper with a yellow or red wall paper, a
terra-cotta and white with green walls, and a yellow and white with blue
walls, taking care to carry out this combination of colouring in the
carpets, draperies, &c.
Much as I dislike gas, it is a necessity in any hall, and I here produce
two sketches of beaten iron gas-lamps that would be suitable for almost
any style of decoration; these are from the designs of Messrs. Strode,
48 Osnaburgh Street, Regent’s Park, and cost respectively 5_l._ 15_s._
and 1_l._ 4_s._ each; quite simple hanging lamps are to be had from Mr.
Smee at 35_s._, in beaten iron, but these are not quite large enough by
themselves to light a hall, and two at least would be required.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
On no account, by the way, allow your front door to be disfigured with
the terrible ‘graining,’ against which I am always waging war. Painters
always beg to be allowed to ‘embellish’ at least the front door with the
hideous but orthodox arrangement of yellows and browns, scraped
mysteriously and agonisedly with a comb, or some such instrument, in a
faint and feeble attempt to deceive callers into believing that the door
is made of some highly polished wood, veined by nature, in a way that
could not deceive the veriest ignoramus; but I stoutly set my face
against such an idea, and denounce graining as the hideous and palpable
sham it undoubtedly is, advising all who come to me to have some good
deep self-colour for their front door, and generally suggesting a very
dark peacock-blue door for a ‘blue blossom’ hall, a very dark Indian red
for the red berry, and a dark sage-green for the sage-green hall, adding
brass handles and furniture; this stamps the house at once as an
artistic one, and one in which ‘graining’ will not be allowed at any
price.
And here I will pause for a moment to beg any one who may need these
words of mine to refuse to allow any graining whatever in their houses;
it is a barbarism that should be allowed to die out as quickly as may
be; it is always ugly, always inartistic, and, being an undoubted
attempt to seem what it is not, I set my face against it always. I would
rather have deal, rubbed over with boiled oil, than the most
‘artistically’ imitated piece of walnut or mahogany ever produced by the
grainer’s tools; the one is neat, the other a vulgar sham--vulgar
because it is always vulgar to seem to be what one is not, and to
pretend to be what can be contradicted by the tiniest scratch, rather
than to be confessedly of a cheap material, and therefore graining
cannot be too strongly condemned.
Many people cling to it who dislike it as much as I do, because they are
told nothing can be done to it, unless all the paint is burned off;
there never was a greater fallacy! To paint over graining all one has to
do is to have the paint washed thoroughly with strong soda and water,
and then rubbed down with glass-paper, then apply one coat of Aspinall’s
water-paint and one coat of his enamel, and you can possess at once all
the colour you require, without any trouble at all. Of course a perfect
‘job’ is only made by burning off the paint, but no one could ever tell
this had not been done, and very particular people can themselves apply
first of all Carson’s ‘detergent,’ sold at Carson’s paint works, La
Belle Sauvage Yard, for 5_s._ a tin; this brings off the old paint in
flakes, and leaves the bare wood ready for the painter’s brush. Still
this is not necessary, and people who have kept to graining because they
dread the burning-off process need do so no longer, unless they
positively cannot afford the new paint required to cover it over.
A stone hall in the country looks much better if the stones are painted
a good red or blue, instead of being whitened daily, and Treloar’s
scarlet cocoanut matting is invaluable in back passages and on kitchen
stairs; and above all we must recollect that the hall gives the first
welcome to our guests, and that therefore the more it resembles a cosy,
comfortable, artistic room, the more likely is the rest of the house to
be a charming and successfully designed and furnished home.