houses hang next to the windows, are necessary to soften the light
by day; to cover what would otherwise be the bleak bare rectangle
presented by an uncurtained window by night; and to provide the
decorative interest of soft texture, flowing line, and soft color.
When desirable, glass curtains can be stiffened at the top and mounted
on small movable rings to permit pushing back in the interest of
morning sunshine or a fine view. They never should be made conspicuous
by reason of striking pattern or sharp contrast with the walls. Pure
white curtains can be used only in living rooms of the most delicate
type, having light walls and woodwork. In most rooms use cream or
light or dark ecru. Glass curtains require ample fullness of material
(from 1½ to 2½ times the width of the window, depending upon fineness
of mesh), and in ordinary houses should be hung either to the sill or
to the bottom of the apron.
_Outer hangings_, or draperies, serve to subdue or control the lighting
of the living room; to ensure a subtle sense of privacy and intimacy to
its occupants; to soften while emphasizing the structural lines of its
openings; and to add the charm of color, texture, and pattern.
The draperies should be plain if used with strikingly figured walls;
figured, if used with plain walls; and either plain or figured if used
with walls covered with a pattern of simple and inconspicuous design
and coloring, according to personal taste or the amount of ornament
in the other surfaces of the room. Figured draperies may be used with
figured rugs when (1) both patterns are in the same style of design, as
Chinese chintz with Chinese rugs; or (2) both patterns make a free use
of the same type of line, as in an Italian damask with a Persian rug;
or (3) one pattern is of marked individuality while the other is small,
simple, or lacking in individuality.
In general the draperies, whether plain or figured, will repeat one of
the colors important in the rug. When used with a plain neutral floor
covering (as warm gray, fawn, or rose-taupe) the draperies may be
unrelated to the rug in color. In this case some of the color of the
draperies should appear on or near the floor, in the form of upholstery
or pottery in order to ensure the repetitions essential to harmony. The
tone of the draperies may be and generally should be somewhat darker
than that of the walls; but never so much so as to overemphasize the
draperies at the cost of the other decorative elements of the room.
The draperies usually will be run to the floor in the more formal and
more sumptuously furnished rooms; and to the apron in the more informal
and simply furnished rooms. The heavy materials, like silk and cotton
reps, damasks, brocades, brocatelles, satins, velvets, thick taffetas,
and richly colored printed linens and hand-blocked cretonnes should
be hung to the floor; the very light and thin materials, like silk or
rayon gauze, silk tissues and small-figured prints, voiles, organdies,
thin casement cloths, whether plain, striped, or broché, should be hung
to the sill or apron; while the medium-weight fabrics, like broché
silks, poplins, chintzes, and the thinner taffetas, cretonnes, and
linens, may be hung either way, according to decorative requirements or
personal preference.
Some architectural defects may be covered up by the clever use of
draperies. Oftentimes windows may be made to look larger by extended
draperies across the wall.
FURNITURE AND FURNITURE GROUPINGS
Every living room is made up of groups of furniture. What these groups
are depend on the size of the family, the size of the home, the
number of guests who may be expected under normal conditions, and the
interests of the family. The architecture will determine placement of
furniture to a considerable extent. There are several possible "centers
of interest." A fireplace is one of these. A long wall, with windows,
may be the logical spot for the sofa. In a musical family, the piano or
radio may be a focal point.
[Illustration:
Courtesy American Furniture Mart.
Figure 38.--Outgrowth of the platform rocker is this smart spring
base chair designed by Alfons Bach and upholstered in beige and
brown tapestry. The open bookshelves and desks are in a new, rubbed,
fawn-colored finish. The swinging arm bridge lamp has a brass base
and together with the clipper ship pictures and accessories adds a
dignified note. The Axminster rug is in a sand tone.]
Every grouping opens the possibility of selling "add-on" items. The
_conversational_ group--sofa and at least two chairs requires at least
two tables and two lamps. The _reading_ group implies a chair--or two
chairs--at least one lamp, and a piece to hold books and magazines.
Usually this would be a table, but it easily could include a bookcase.
(See figs. 37 and 38.) The _writing_ group takes in desk, chair, and
lamp. A well-arranged "business corner" for the living room (see
fig. 36), or an attractive alcove off this room, or for the "den,"
may become the center of interest of the home. There, for efficient
operation, may be grouped the telephone, writing desk, and typewriter,
with drawers and cupboards for stationery supplies and budget records,
bookshelves for reference books, and a floor lamp. From this one place
all the business of the home can be carried out efficiently: Ordering,
corresponding, telephoning, and check writing.
In combination, whatever the style, the seeming "weight" of each end
and each side of the room must balance the opposing side, and the
corners joining sides and ends must "flow" together naturally. The
reading group and the conversational group may include some of the same
pieces, and the desk chair may be used as an auxiliary conversation
piece.
In the arrangement of furniture it must be remembered that:
1. Furniture should be so arranged as to make the most of the light
(as in placing desks, reading tables, and chairs), and also to
satisfy the personal habits and tastes of the members of the
family.
2. In general, the center of the room should be kept clear, which
gives an effect of spaciousness, facilitates easy movements and
regrouping when the room is full of persons, and affords a better
view of its interesting features.
In the interest of beauty and distinction, it is important to avoid:
1. Too exclusive employment of large and heavy pieces, which make
a room stiff, spotty, and uninteresting when used without small
tables, chairs, and cabinets.
2. Monotony in the height, color, and texture of the furniture.
AVOID REPETITION OF UPHOLSTERY PATTERNS
Living-room furniture should not be covered throughout in the same
material, or even in the same pattern, coloring, or texture, because
the effect would be tiresome. On the other hand, the degree of
diversity must not be so great as to make the room inharmonious and
confusing. Coverings of large and important pieces should fit closely
into the general color scheme, while those of small chair seats,
benches, or stools may serve as piquant contrasting elements. Coverings
should not contrast so strongly with the floor covering as to cause the
pieces to stand out like spots, and thus to mar the repose and harmony
of the room. In general, plain or self-toned coverings will be used
with highly figured walls or floor coverings in the case of the larger
pieces, while marked emphasis upon pattern is desirable when both walls
and floor covering, or hangings and floor covering are plain.
DISTINCTIVE HALL FURNITURE
The hall really sounds the keynote for the whole house, and does much
to make or mar its beauty; it is the place in which strangers and
guests form their first and last impressions of the home and the ideals
and tastes of the household.
In most houses the decorative importance of the hall is undervalued and
the room itself is underfurnished and far less inviting and attractive
than it could and should be. In order to expand sales of hall furniture
by the suggestion and sale of related merchandise, or by influencing
home owners to refurnish, you will require some knowledge of the
individual rooms and their present furnishings, and a fair knowledge of
the principles, processes, and materials involved in hall decoration.
Just how much information you consider essential, and when and how to
ask for it, will of course depend upon your judgment of your customer's
taste, intelligence, and disposition. Taking retail practice as a
whole, it is certain that more time is wasted and more potential sales
lost by failure to secure adequate preliminary information than by
unnecessary or unsuccessful attempts to do so.
HALL DECORATIONS: PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES, AND MATERIALS
The hall should have an atmosphere of warmth and hospitable welcome,
a note of rich but quiet dignity, and a real quality of interest and
charm. Its hospitableness can be insured by emphasis upon warm color
and properly shaded light. Richness of effect is produced by emphasis
upon ornamented as opposed to plain surfaces, particularly in the floor
covering, walls, furniture, and accessories. Dignity results from the
use of long lines in the interior trim, border lines of the rugs, and
length or height in the furniture where practicable, and also of formal
balance in furniture arrangement. Interest and charm are secured by
a free use of color and texture, and a measure of distinction in the
design of furniture and accessories.
Relation of the Hall to Adjoining Rooms.
The hall must announce or suggest some of the decorative elements of
connecting rooms, and accordingly must have many points of resemblance
and harmony in coloring, line, and texture. In choice of the "key"
pieces of furniture, which give distinction and smartness to the hall,
there should be similarity in outline and proportion to the "key"
living room pieces, but identity in period style is wholly unnecessary.
High-backed seventeenth century chairs of the more slenderly
proportioned types could be used in the hall opening into a Sheraton
dining room without marring the sense of harmony in the suite.
[Illustration:
Courtesy American Furniture Mart.
Figure 39.--Ideal for the hall is a cedar chest which serves the
duo-purpose of providing valuable storage space as well as being
decorative. This mahogany chest, built to resemble a chest of drawers,
has a cedar lined bottom drawer. The chest proper is the depth of the
first and second sham drawers. The oval mirror, a fitting accessory,
has a gold-leaf frame.]
Wall Treatments for the Hall.
When the walls are of plain or ornamental plaster, calcimined, or
painted in oil, they should match the adjoining room if either is small
or both rooms are small, in order to gain an effect of spaciousness.
Where the hall and the adjoining room both are large, the walls may
differ in hue; but marked difference in tone is unpleasant. For
example, light stone walls in the hall and medium light green in the
living room will be agreeable; dark stone and pale green, disagreeable.
When the walls are papered, the effect will be more interesting if
the hall paper is different from that of adjoining rooms. If the hall
is small, its paper should match that in the adjoining rooms rather
closely in hue and tone, differing in texture or pattern, or in the
fact that one paper is figured and the other plain. Small halls are
high in proportion to their width. A figured paper helps to correct the
proportions, whereas a stripe would raise the apparent height of the
ceiling.
When the walls are plain, sufficient ornament to enrich the room and
relieve it from any effect of thinness must be supplied by floor
coverings, draperies, furniture, and accessories.
Floor Coverings for the Hall.
In a decorative sense, floor coverings are more important in the hall
than in any other room, because the floor area is smaller in proportion
to wall area, and there are fewer interesting pieces of furniture, and
relatively fewer accessories. Here are some practical suggestions:
Linoleum is increasingly used for the hall since it permits the user to
express her originality and good taste in many interesting forms. Plain
or mottled linoleum with an attractive motif or monogram set into the
center is both decorative and practical. A border or trim, in keeping
with the architectural style of the room, also adds to the decoration.
The linoleum may harmonize in color with the floor covering of the room
adjoining or may carry out its own color scheme in keeping with the
theme of the hall.
If the hall adjoins the living room it is well to use the same floor
covering as in the living room since this has a tendency to make both
the hall and the living room appear larger. If small rugs are used in
the hall they may be of contrasting tone to the living room rug or may
blend with the general color scheme.
Stair carpets are desirable for the following reasons:
They are more comfortable, less noisy and easier to keep in
condition than bare treads.
They are safer, especially for children and old people.
They make the hall far more hospitable and inviting.
They add a much needed note of color to the room.
They serve to unite lower and upper floors artistically by a
sweeping line of color.
Draperies for the Hall.
Except in the case of doors with a metal grille, or recessed doors,
Venetian blinds, or curtains, or both, are desirable on the doors and
sidelight of a hall of ordinary size and architectural character,
because they ensure a sense of privacy, temper the light, add the
interest of color and texture and help to invest the hall with a
quality of intimacy and hospitality.
HALL FURNITURE MUST BE DISTINCTIVE
Hall furniture must fit the room in scale. Avoid pieces so small and
thin as to seem poor, weak, and inadequate, or so large as to crowd
the room and destroy its decorative balance. In general, use furniture
of slender proportions against light smooth walls, and thicker or more
massive furniture against darker and rougher walls.
It is highly important to use distinctive pieces in the hall; partly
because it is from this room that the visitor receives his first
impression of the house, and partly because the room can use but few
pieces, which are seen against such relatively large wall spaces that
they must be of unusual interest in order to redeem the room from
bareness and a commonplace quality.
Hall furniture should reveal as much variety as is consistent with
the necessary harmony. Matched pieces usually are to be avoided.
Even in the case of console table and mirror, a mahogany table, for
example, usually will be more pleasing with a gold or lacquer mirror of
harmonious shape than with a matched piece in mahogany. Differences in
woods, finishes, ornamental detail, and height add interest to the room
through variety.
As minimum equipment, the hall should have a table or cabinet with a
mirror, and something on which to sit. Table and mirror constitute the
dominant element; the mirror adds desirable spaciousness, and the charm
of reflected vistas, and both are necessary for practical as well as
artistic reasons. (See fig. 39.) A seat of some kind is necessary to
ensure a sense of hospitality, and as a courtesy to the stranger who
enters the home, but is not immediately admitted to its inner rooms. A
chair, preferably of the straight high-backed type, a bench, or a low
chest with cushion will meet this requirement.
STRENGTHEN DOMINANT ELEMENT
As the dominant element, table and mirror should not be dwarfed by the
wall behind them. If for any reason a small table is placed against a
wide wall space, a long wall banner or panel should be placed on the
wall behind the mirror in order to build up the group at eye level. It
may be built up at the base by a chair at one or both sides, torcheres,
etc. Never use a mirror wider than the piece that stands below it, or
a narrow mirror with a wide table, unless a wall panel also is used to
supply the necessary width. Modern hand-woven tapestries often are used
for hall walls when their cost is not prohibitive. Other devices for
the purpose include panels made from damask, brocade, brocatelle, plain
or figured velvet, real or imitation crewel, Indian or Persian calico
prints. A panel often is used on the wall behind a low chest.
The hall table need not be of the conventional console type. When wall
space permits, any long narrow table will serve, as will a round or
square English card table, with the half-top either flat or raised
against the wall. In the very small hall a large nest of tables can be
used as a small console.
In many halls a lowboy or chest of drawers is decorative and useful.
Other possible items include the decorative cabinet, small tables,
flower stands, floor or banjo clock, screen, lamps, desk, love seat,
radio, and cane or umbrella rack. Always check the possibilities of the
hall in a house you furnish.
The general methods discussed in relation to piece and group sales
of living room merchandise apply equally to the hall. In addition it
should be noted that it is practically impossible to suggest the proper
choice of hall furnishings in the absence of measured drawings, since
both the number of pieces and their size are more definitely determined
by floor and wall space than is the case in any other room. Every sale
of hall furniture of any importance should be followed by a call at
the house as soon after delivery as possible. If the new furniture
does not fit the room, corrections may be made promptly, before any
ill-will develops. Moreover, in many cases additional merchandise can
be suggested and sold.
SECURING HOSPITABLE DINING ROOM ATMOSPHERE
The dining room should have an atmosphere of cheerfulness and
hospitality both under natural and artificial lighting; and since it is
occupied but three times a day at most, and for short periods only, its
decorative treatment may have more "snap" than would be agreeable in
the living room.
SECURING A HOSPITABLE ATMOSPHERE
To produce an atmosphere of cheerfulness and hospitality, emphasize:
Warm or light pastel colors particularly in the walls.
Ample light, properly controlled.
Curved lines, and curvilinear shapes to soften hard austere
outlines of case pieces and windows.
Gay, contrasting colors in ornamental details.
Variety and originality.
Cheerfulness and animation will be increased by increasing the
diversity of the room treatment through contrasts in hue, tone, line,
form, and texture, within the limits permitted by the requirement of
unity and harmony. This consideration demands special care in the
dining room, because the important pieces of furniture usually are
matched, with a resulting loss in diversity which must be made up in
the other elements of the room.
Here we have the chief single reason for the great number of
monotonous, uninteresting dining rooms. To the skillful salesman this
will suggest _(a)_ a sound reason for pushing sales of such accessories
as mirrors and pictures, tier tables for plants and accessories, and
for plant stands; _(b)_ an approach for the sale of broken suites
and unmatched pieces. Many women feel that their dining rooms cannot
possibly be correctly furnished unless they are equipped with a matched
suite. This is not always true. Many distinctive dining rooms have been
furnished with harmonious, unmatched pieces.
DINING ROOM WALLS
The same principles and processes discussed under living room wall
treatments apply to the decoration of the dining room, subject to the
qualification that for the reasons noted above, the dining room walls
often may have more striking patterns and sharper contrasts.
Scenic landscape or other highly decorative papers may be effective
in the dining room, although they would not serve as a living room
background.
What was said concerning the living room will afford the basis for
judging the proper relation of walls to the style of furniture. Highly
figured walls do not require choice of plain dining furniture, or vice
versa.
The general principles of harmony govern the proper relation of walls
to floor covering. Polychromatic walls require that two or more of the
colors be repeated (not necessarily accurately matched) on the floor.
The floor covering should be somewhat lower in tone, and characterized
neither by too little vigor or boldness of drawing to harmonize with
the walls, nor too much. Choice among these would depend upon personal
taste and the degree of sunniness and warmth required in the rug in
order to bring the room total up to the level desired by the buyer.
DINING ROOM FLOOR COVERINGS
The dining room may be treated with a room-size floor covering matching
or harmonizing with the living room rug or linoleum or with a single
large rug. Some housewives prefer to leave the floor bare, except
for two or three small rugs. With figured linoleum the practice is
unobjectionable, except for the loss of the sense of physical comfort
and hospitality created by pile carpets under foot. With hardwood
floors it is open to the objections that it is inhospitable; that
it is too weak in a decorative sense to support the weight of the
relatively large and heavy furniture; and that it makes the room seem
thin and poor, mars the harmony between walls and floor, and prevents a
convincing and satisfying distribution of color.
As compared with the living room, the dining room is relatively small
and its furniture relatively large, striking, and uniform. This means
that the floor covering must be adapted in scale and emphasis of
pattern and coloring to sustain the load of this heavy furniture, and
thus to prevent an effect of stiffness and spottiness in the room; and
that it must have plenty of pattern and color when the other elements
of the room are deficient in variety.
A single rug should be large enough to permit free movement of the
chairs without letting the back legs touch the bare floor. In general,
the rug should just clear the front legs of furniture placed against
the wall. In small rooms, however, it is desirable to have the rug come
to within 12 or 15 inches of the wall in order to increase the room's
apparent size.
DINING ROOM WINDOW TREATMENTS
Window shades, Venetian blinds, glass curtains, and draperies are
desirable in the dining room. Their selection is governed by the
general considerations discussed under living room window treatments,
page 182.
When a dining room has but one window or a single group of windows,
there is some danger that the draperies may give the room an effect of
spottiness and lack of balance unless care is taken to repeat the color
of the draperies in some way on two or three of the other walls. With
plain draperies, touches of the same hue should so appear, in pictures,
wall panel, screen, sideboard decorations, or some similar device.
With figured draperies containing several colors, at least one of the
important colors should be thus repeated. (See fig. 29, page 130.)
DINING ROOM LIGHTING
The dining room should be lighted by direct light, released through
a ceiling fixture. The light from this source can be turned off when
candles are used; but the ceiling will be bare and unpleasing without
this central point of interest, and most families prefer not to dine by
candlelight alone.
The fixture should have sufficient height to keep the glare of light
from the eyes of diners. The effect will be most agreeable if the light
is released through several globes of low wattage, and if each of
the globes is shaded in such a way as to keep the table in an arc of
slightly higher illumination than the rest of the room.
Side lights are effective as auxiliaries, but not as the principal
source of light.
[Illustration:
Photograph by Grignon.
Figure 40.--Many features of this eighteenth century dining room
grouping make it adaptable to contemporary homes. It is scaled to fit a
small-size dining room; it is simple in design and it provides valuable
storage space in its compact design. The pedestal legs on the table
carry through the Duncan Phyfe theme of this suite. The corner cabinet
is decorative and practical and the credenza-type buffet adds the
necessary weight to the grouping.]
DINING ROOM FURNITURE