pieces. Consideration of balance will prevent placement of the pieces
of heavy furniture on one side or one end of the room. Groupings of
chairs and their accessories of lamps and stands should be made so as
to foster social amenities.
The following suggestions for room composition have been offered by one
specialist in the field of interior decoration:[20]
1. Furniture should always be arranged with the purpose of the room
uppermost in thought.
2. Each individual piece should be placed so that it is convenient,
so that its use is obvious, and so that it is not interfered with
by other pieces nearby.
3. Pieces should be distributed so that circulation is not
interfered with. Keep furniture away from door openings or
passageways.
4. Furniture should be practically placed in its relation to
the architectural or mechanical features, so that there is no
interference with the use of such features. Particular attention
should be given to the swing of doors, the opening of windows,
and the operation of electrical or heating devices.
5. The location of movable pieces of furniture should be carefully
studied for their compositional relationship to the fixed
architectural features--doors, windows, built-in furniture,
alcoves, niches, mantels, paneling, etc.
6. An agreeable balance of high and low pieces of furniture
should be introduced. High curtained windows and doors may be
substituted for high pieces of furniture in a composition.
7. The quantity of furniture used should not give the effect of
either under-furnishing or overcrowding.
8. The distribution of the pieces should be relatively even. In
a long room, one end should not appear crowded and the other
end bare, nor should one wall appear more crowded than the one
opposite.
9. Opposite walls should have similar groupings, or, if this is
not possible, they should appear evenly balanced in quantity and
arrangement.
10. Pictorial wall surfaces (scenic papers, mural decoration,
tapestries, and large hanging pictures) should not be hidden by
furniture or other objects to such a point that their visibility
is marred.
11. Furniture should be related in scale to the size of the room.
Large pieces of furniture creating heavy shadows or dark spots
are inadvisable except in large rooms.
12. Furniture placed with lines parallel to the walls gives a
greater effect of unity in a room than when placed in diagonal
positions.
QUESTIONS
_1. A customer asks: "Is it absolutely necessary to have a pair of
these tables? Or can I get a balanced effect without having everything
just like soldiers lined up precisely?" How would you demonstrate an
answer?_
_2. What phrases or words have you found which seem to make a favorable
impression on a "typical" customer, without overdoing the decorative
approach?_
_3. How would you employ color to make a small room seem larger?_
_4. Explain the emotional appeal of color. Under what conditions would
you employ violet? Yellow? Gray?_
_5. What color scheme would you suggest for painting or papering the
walls of a room which has a northern exposure?_
_6. "In the living room, family life should center, * * * and guests
find friendly greeting." To the interior decorator as to the furniture
salesman, this means grouping. What groups should a living room have?_
_7. How many of the common color names are important in selling goods
in your store at this time and how may you learn and apply them to your
merchandise?_
_8. Discuss the proposition that you are not properly equipped to meet
special color demands when stock merchandise cannot be sold._
_9. Discuss the principles involved in getting the proper color
treatments for connecting rooms._
_10. To what extent should a furniture salesman attempt to understand
the art of interior decoration?_
SUGGESTED READING LIST
BURROWS, THELMA M. _Successful Home Furnishing._ The Manual Arts
Press, Peoria, Ill. 1938.
Color Radiation, Color Harmony, and Color Schemes, V, pp. 85-95.
Balance in Furniture Arrangement, VIII, pp. 103-123.
Art Objects, VII, pp. 101-103.
CRANE, ROSS. _Interior Decoration._ The Seng Co., 1430 North Dayton
Street, Chicago, Ill. 1928.
FALES, WINNIFRED. _What's New In Home Decorating._ Dodd, Mead &
Co., New York, N. Y. 1936.
Color, IV, pp. 71-85.
Furniture Arrangement, VI, pp. 120-138.
GILLIES, MARY DAVIS. _Popular Home Decorations._ Wm. H. Wise & Co.,
New York, N. Y. 1941.
GOLDSTEIN, HARRIET _and_ VETTA. _Art In Every Day Life._ Macmillan
Co. 1925.
How To Know Color, VIII, pp. 184-204.
JACKSON, ALICE _and_ BETTINA. _The Study of Interior Decoration._
Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., Garden City, N. Y.
Color Harmony in Interior Decoration, pp. 56-100.
KNAUFF, CARL G. B. _Refurnishing The Home._ McGraw-Hill Book Co.,
New York, N. Y. 1938.
Color In the Home, pp. 59, 118, 122, 203-223, 300.
KOUES, HELEN. _How To Be Your Own Decorator._ Tudor Publishing Co.,
New York, N. Y. 1939.
How To Use Color, VI, pp. 61-73.
Lighting, pp. 73-85.
MCDONALD, STERLING. _Color--How To Use It._ American Colortype Co.,
Chicago, Ill. 1940.
MILLER, DUNCAN. _Interior Decorating._ The Studio Publications,
Inc., 381 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 1937.
PALMER, L. _Using Color in Decoration._ Ladies Home Journal, Curtis
Publishing Co., New York, N. Y. 1930 Reprint.
PARSONS, FRANK ALVAH. _Interior Decoration._ Doubleday, Doran &
Co., Inc., Garden City, N. Y. 1915.
POWELL, LYDIA. _The Attractive Home._ The Macmillan Co., New York,
N. Y. 1939.
Secrets of Color, pp. 39-51.
SARGENT, WALTER. _Enjoyment and Use of Color._ Scribners. 1924.
STEWART, ROSS _and_ GERALD, JOHN. _Home Decoration._ Garden City
Publishing Co., Inc., Garden City, N. Y. 1938.
Color, IV, pp. 44-77.
Room Composition, V, pp. 77-96.
Lighting, IX, pp. 145-154.
WHITON, SHERRILL. _Elements of Interior Decoration._ The J. B.
Lippincott Co., New York, N. Y. 1937.
Color, XXIV, pp. 681-705.
WILLIAMS, FLORENCE _and_ TRILLING, MABEL. _Art In Home and
Clothing._ The J. B. Lippincott Co., New York, N. Y. 1936.
The Proper Use of Decoration, IV, pp. 77-90.
Lamps and Lighting, XI, pp. 242-253.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration, p. 39.
Frederick J. Drake & Co., Chicago, Ill. 1933.
[16] Jane White Lonsdale in The American Home, March 1940, p. 22.
[17] The Ross Crane Book of Home Furnishing and Decoration, Frederick
J. Drake & Co., Chicago, Ill., p. 109. 1933.
[18] Winnifred Fales: What's New in Home Decorating, p. 124, Dodd Mead
& Co., New York, N. Y.
[19] Reproduced from "The Seng Handbook," The Seng Co., Chicago, Ill.,
p. 52. 1939.
[20] Sherrill Whiton: _Elements of Interior Decoration_, pp. 665-6. J.
B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1937.
Unit VIII
FLOOR COVERINGS AND FABRICS
Drapery and Upholstery Fibers and Fabrics
Floor Coverings
Selling Coverings for Other Floors
Use of Ensembles in Selling
[Illustration:
Photograph by Grignon.
Figure 33.--A new note in contemporary floor covering is achieved in
this sculptured, leaf-design, Wilton broadloom. The leaf design is
achieved in the weave. The interesting lamp has a brass mask mounted on
wood.]
Unit VIII.--FLOOR COVERINGS AND FABRICS
DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY FIBERS AND FABRICS
FIBERS AND THEIR ORIGINS
Fibers used in the manufacture of home furnishing materials are both of
animal and of vegetable origin. The former include the true and "wild"
silks; wool, or sheep's hair; mohair, the hair of the Angora goat;
horsehair, chiefly from the tail and mane; and in limited quantities
the hair of the cow, pig, camel, and rabbit. Vegetable fibers include
cotton, rayon, flax hemp, jute, ramie, kapok, palm fibers, moss, coir,
and paper made from wood pulp. Their general characteristics are
discussed here.
Animal Fibers.
_Silk._--True silk is produced by the mulberry silk moth of China. Just
how ancient the art of sericulture and the spinning and weaving of
silk may be we do not know; but there is no doubt that it had reached
a state of considerable development 4,500 years ago. It reached Japan
about 1,600 years ago, and India somewhat later. About the year A.
D. 550 two Persian monks brought eggs of the silk worm from China to
Constantinople in a hollow cane, and the western silk industry was
started.
The "wild" silks are produced by other worms, feeding for the most part
on other leaves than mulberry. Most of the so-called _tussah_ silk
comes from the oak-feeding tussah worm, a native of Mongolia. The fiber
is coarser than that of true silk, and so difficult to dye effectively
that fabrics woven from it are usually left in the natural ecru or pale
brown color.
_Wool._--The many varieties of sheep yield wools which differ markedly
in fineness, length of staple (2 to 16 inches for use in textiles),
strength, resilience, and spinning quality. Accordingly, wools are
sorted and "blended" before spinning, to suit the requirements of the
particular fabric to be woven. Carpetings require the fairly long
staple and fairly coarse fiber found in wools from Scotland, Russia,
Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, China, India, and the East
Indies. The unsurpassable carpet wools of Persia and Asia Minor are
largely consumed locally. Carpet wools naturally differ widely in
desirability and cost, as do the many processes necessary to prepare
wool for the loom. These differences require emphasis from the salesman
in the demonstration of concealed values.
Most carpet wools arrive at the factory in the fleece, matted, dirty,
and greasy. They are blended according to formula; passed first through
a machine which separates the tangled masses and beats out free
dirt; then to the scouring baths, which remove all grease and other
impurities; then, after passing through a series of powerful wringers,
to the dryer; and finally to the picker, from which they emerge ready
for spinning.
_Worsted yarns_, used in making fine Wiltons, body Brussels, Wilton
velvets and some chenilles, result from a succession of processes in
which the fibers are placed parallel, the short ones eliminated, and
the long fibers combed and drawn out into a fine, even "roving," which
is spun into a thread, two such threads then being tightly twisted
together to form a single-ply worsted yarn. These single-ply yarns are
then twisted together to form two-ply, three-ply, or four-ply yarns
according to the specifications for a particular weave.
_Woolen yarns_ are made from short staple wool, and depend for their
strength upon the minute serrations or scales on the surfaces of the
wool fibers, which cause them to adhere, or felt, when held tightly
together. The carding machine used in preparing these wools for
spinning thoroughly intermixes the fibers instead of drawing them into
parallel formations, as for worsteds. The loose roving is then spun
into single strands, which are twisted into two-, three-, or four-ply
yarns as in the case of worsteds.
_Mohair._--The hair of the Angora goat is closely allied to wool,
typically 7 to 8 inches long. It is lustrous, resilient, and enduring,
but harder to spin than wool because the hair scales are not fully
developed. Mohair fabrics have been used in the Orient since time
immemorial, and they were popular in England in the early eighteenth
century.
There are wide differences in mohair upholstery fabrics, based upon the
quality of wool, number of points per square inch, and height of pile.
_Horsehair._--The hair of the horse's mane and tail is used as a single
filament without spinning in the production of upholstery chair cloths,
and for floor coverings. In the form of curled hair it is the most
resilient and costly upholstery stuffer.
Pig's bristles and cow hair are used for the same purpose. The soft
hair of the camel is used in weaving certain oriental rugs, and rabbit
hair in certain felts.
Vegetable Fibers.
_Cotton._--This textile is in universal use and requires no comment.
The silky appearance of some damasks and other cotton fabrics is
caused by mercerizing, a process of treating cotton in either fiber or
fabric form with caustic alkali.
_Rayon._--This term, which in French means ray or beam, has lately
been applied to artificial silks produced by any of four different
industrial processes. Viscose silk, made chiefly from sulfite pulp
cellulose, constitutes the great bulk of the rayon production today.
It is now often combined with natural fibers, particularly wool and
cotton, in drapery and upholstery fabrics which afford the luster of
rayon plus the strength of wool or cotton.
_Flax._--This plant has been cultivated since the stone age, and was
regarded as the most important plant of commerce until near the end of
the eighteenth century, when it was superseded by cotton. Flax fiber
yields linen; also from it is obtained the tow used as a stuffer in
upholstering.
_Hemp._--The fiber of this plant closely approaches flax in strength
but not in luster. It is used to a very limited extent in drapery
textiles and cheap carpets. The waste fibers are also known as tow, and
sometimes used in place of flax tow.
_Jute._--A plant, grown chiefly in India, the lustrous fiber of which
is used to a considerable extent in the manufacture of cretonnes,
damasks, and other decorative textiles.
_Ramie._--This plant, also known as rhea and China grass and cultivated
chiefly in China, yields a fiber of great strength and a luster about
like that of mercerized cotton. It is used in the manufacture of grass
cloth, and also of ramie velvets, which are firm but less lustrous than
linen velvets.
_Kapok._--A tree cultivated in Java for the production of down; called
in commerce kapok or "silk-cotton." Before the commercial development
of rayon it made considerable headway as a textile fiber, but now is
used chiefly as a stuffer for mattresses and pillows. Kapok has great
resiliency and resistance to water.
_Palm fiber._--Shredded leaves of the palmetto, used as a stuffer in
upholstering.
_Moss._--The hairlike filament left after the soft outer tissue of
southern moss has been removed; used as a stuffer.
_Coir._--Fiber prepared from the husk of the cocoanut; used in making
porch rugs and brush mats.
_Paper._--Spun into coarse threads and used in the manufacture of
so-called fiber rugs.
DRAPERY AND UPHOLSTERY FABRICS
Tapestries.
Hand-made tapestries are woven on a loom harnessed with thin warps, by
passing a shuttle containing a colored yarn over and under the warp
thread where the color is required to form the pattern. In every line
of weft or filling, the shuttle must be changed every time a change of
color is required by the cartoon, or colored drawing of the design from
which the weaver works. He sees the face of the tapestry, if at all,
only in a mirror placed in front of the loom. Tapestry weaving requires
a high degree of artistic and technical skill; hand-made tapestries are
costly.
Machine-made tapestries are produced on a Jacquard loom, of wool,
cotton, silk, or rayon, or in mixtures of these fibers. They vary
enormously in appearance and durability.
Velvets, Velours.
Although the term velvet and its French equivalent (velours) may be
used interchangeably, the general custom is to call drapery fabrics
velours, and upholstery fabrics velvets. Both are made in a great
variety of plain, stripe, and brocaded effects, and with the pile all
cut, all uncut (looped) or else partially cut. Machine-made velvets
and velours are made from silk, rayon, cotton, linen, ramie and
wool, usually 50 inches wide and in a range of prices and qualities
practically unlimited. In some of the cheaper upholstery velours the
design is embossed, or depressed by a stamping machine, but in others
it is placed in relief by cutting away the pile of the ground.
Plushes.
Plushes are long-pile velvets, formerly of silk or wool but now mostly
of mohair. Properly their pile is less close and firm than that of
velvets, but some of the finest quality mohair plushes have a very
close, erect pile. In ordinary qualities the pile leans sharply, and
in the panne type it is so flat as to have somewhat the same effect as
lustrous satin.
Frisés, Friezes.
These terms are now loosely used. "Frieze" in French means curled or
frizzed, and the word properly refers to a class of plushes in which
the pile has been completely or partially frizzled. It is now applied
to a variety of texture effects in velvet and plush, among them uncut
patterns on a cut-pile ground; cut patterns on an uncut ground; plain
velvets with alternating lines of cut and uncut pile; and uncut velvets.
Satins and Sateens.
Satins and sateens are made in the same way; the former of silk and
the latter of cotton, plain or mercerized. The weave is technically a
twill, but so modified that the diagonal lines are not visible, and the
whole surface is smooth and lustrous.
Damasks, Armorers, Brocades, Brocateles.
It is difficult to define these weaves in a few words, and quite
impossible to describe the extraordinary variety of textile effects
produced by modern manufacturers, both in the basic weaves and in
combination of two or more techniques.
[Illustration:
Photo by Grignon.
Figure 34.--Authenticity is stressed in this handsome sofa upholstered
in a fabric which is an exact reproduction of a print used more than a
century ago. The monotone print is in a soft brown tone. Accompanying
the sofa is a duck-foot cocktail table with removable glass tray,
and lovely gold framed portrait of Jenny Lind. The Axminster rug is
a "texture chintz" in a tile green with small red, beige, and brown
flowers.]
_Damasks_ are pileless figured fabrics in which the pattern is produced
by exposing the warp threads, and the ground by exposing the weft
threads; or the reverse. They may be made with both warp and weft in
the satin weave, in which case the only contrast between pattern and
ground is that caused by the direction of the lines; or with warp satin
figures on a weft ground of taffeta or twill weave; or with weft satin
figures on a ground of contrasting weave. Warp and weft may be of
exactly the same color; or of two tones of one hue; or of two different
hues. More than two colors are possible only through the device of
striping, where warp threads of additional hues are introduced to form
stripes which necessarily run the whole length of the piece. Damasks
are made of silk, rayon, wool, cotton, mohair, linen, or jute, or in
mixtures of two or more of these fibers.
_Armures_ look like twilled weave damasks, except that they have small
raised patterns produced by floating warp threads.
_Brocades_ are embroidery effects produced by floating wefts on the
surface of damask, satin, taffeta, and other weaves. Gold or silver
metal threads are sometimes introduced in the figures.
_Brocateles_ were originally somewhat coarse fabrics of silk and wool
or silk and cotton with designs produced by the brocade weave. The term
is now also applied to a type of heavy satin damask in which the satin
figure is on a lustrous ground of the same or contrasting color.
_Printed fabrics._--Both hand-and machine-made printed fabrics are
produced in an enormous variety; on linen, cotton, silk, rayon, mohair,
wool, and jute grounds; and on plain twill, rep, damask, velvet, and
other grounds.
1. _Printed linens_ are made on grounds which vary in fineness
and smoothness according to the scale and decorative character of
the design. Hand-blocked linens vary in price with the quality of
materials and craftsmanship, and also with the number of blockings
required to form the design. In recent years both linen and cotton
grounds have to some extent been machine-printed with wooden
rollers instead of copper or brass, and against a padded backing,
which has resulted in improving both line and coloring, and in
giving them much the appearance of hand-blocked fabrics.
2. _Cretonnes_ are made both by hand-and by roller-printing
processes on unglazed cotton ground of widely varying texture and
decorative effect, and at prices ranging from a few cents per yard
for the cheapest roller-printed fabrics up to $15 or more for the
elaborately hand-blocked effects. Thick and heavy cretonnes are
made for wall panels and furniture coverings, and a few splendid
figure panels are available in Gothic, heraldic, and _mille fleur_
designs which resemble the old painted tapestries of fifteenth
century France.
3. _Chintzes_ are printed on a fine cotton holland. Glazed chintzes
have a varnish-like glow and considerable stiffness; semi-glazed
are less glossy and more soft and pliable; unglazed closely
resemble good cretonne, but the texture is finer.
4. _Warp-prints_ or _shadow prints_ are made by a process similar
to that employed in drum-painting velvet carpets. Designs produced
by this technique necessarily lack definition, and have a soft
and shadowy appearance which cannot be produced by hand or roller
printing. The most effective warp prints are of plain or mercerized
cotton.
_Embroideries._--Embroideries are justly considered important today.
The art of the needle worker ranks close to that of the weaver of fine
rugs and tapestries. Two only of its many forms are mentioned here.
1. _Crewel work_ is customarily worked with colored worsted yarns
on a plain linen ground, sometimes completely covered, but usually
left open to form a background for the pattern. The stitches are
varied in direction and character in order to give interest and
richness to the texture. Most of the crewel work sold in the stores
today is made with the bonnaz embroidery machine, which closely
simulates the decorative effect of needlework.
2. _Needlepoint_ embroidery is worked on open canvas. The fine or
"petit point" (little point) is formed by stitches taken diagonally
from one opening in the canvas to the next. The coarse or "gros
(big) point" is made by similar stitches twice the length, and with
thicker yarns.
Practically everything written about upholstery fabrics stresses
their decorative value or their appropriateness to other
furnishings in the room. Little is reported about their physical
structure or durability. Those desiring to make a comparison of
fabrics for breaking strength, weight per square yard, fabric
balance, and resistance to abrasion will do well to secure a copy
of Circular No. 483, United States Department of Agriculture,
Washington, D. C. The title is "Proposed Minimum Requirements
of Three Types of Upholstery Fabrics Based on Analysis of 62
Materials." Copy may be secured from Superintendent of Documents,
United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., price
5 cents.
FLOOR COVERINGS
It is well to remember that the foundation of every decorating scheme
rightly should be the floor-covering. One's rugs or carpetings may
contrast with the wall treatment, or they may complement it, but next
to the room itself they are the largest color expanse. A good deal
of thought needs to be given to the floor covering's selection. One
can well afford to invest slightly more in this decorative accessory
and obtain the soft new colors which lend so much charm to furniture
groupings.
Floor coverings of proper texture and pattern can lend much sparkle and
life to a room or they can ruin one's most carefully selected ensemble
if they are drab and listless.
Floor coverings are divided into two groups: The soft-surface fabrics
are made from a variety of textile fibers including wool which is the
one most widely used; and the hard surface fabrics, including linoleum
and the felt-base prints.
Soft-surface floor coverings are made both by hand and by machinery.
The first class includes all Oriental rugs; European hand-knotted rugs;
floor tapestries; and a few hooked, braided, and woven hand-craft
rugs of limited production. The second class includes a wide range,
of fabrics, nearly all of which are produced by the chenille, Wilton,
Axminster, drum print, roller print, or ingrain processes.
ORIENTAL RUGS[21]