The Art of Interior Decoration | Page 6

try to get a few good shapes and
colours in inexpensive reproductions of the desired period.
If your room is small, and the bathroom opens out of it, add to the size
of the room by using the same colour scheme in the bathroom, and
conceal the plumbing and fixtures by a low screen. If the connecting
door is kept open, the effect is to enlarge greatly the appearance of the
small bedroom, whereas if the bedroom decorations are dark and the
bathroom has a light floor and walls, it abruptly cuts itself off and
emphasises the smallness of the bedroom.
Everything depends upon the appropriateness of the furniture to its
setting. We recall some much admired dining-room chairs in the home
of the Maclaines of Lochbuie in Argyleshire, west coast of Scotland.
The chairs in question are covered with sealskin from the seals caught
off that rugged coast. They are quite delightful in a remote country
house; but they would not be tolerated in London.
The question of placing photographs is not one to be treated lightly.
Remember, intimate photographs should be placed in intimate rooms,
while photographs of artists and all celebrities are appropriate for the
living room or library. It is extremely seldom that a photograph unless
of public interest is not out of place in a formal room.
To repeat, never forget that your house or flat is your home, and, that to
have any charm whatever of a personal sort, it must suggest you--not
simply the taste of a professional decorator. So work with your
decorator (if you prefer to employ one) by giving your personal
attention to styles and colours, and selecting those most sympathetic to
your own nature. Your architect will be grateful if you will show the
same interest in the details of building your home, rather than assuming

the attitude that you have engaged him in order to rid yourself of such
bother.
If you are building a pretentious house and decide upon some clearly
defined period of architecture, let us say, Georgian (English eighteenth
century) we would advise keeping your first floor mainly in that period
as to furniture and hangings, but upstairs let yourself go, that is, make
your rooms any style you like. Go in for a gay riot of colour, such
combinations as are known as Bakst colouring,--if that happens to be
your fancy. This Russian painter and designer was fortunate in having
the theatre in which to demonstrate his experiments in vivid colour
combinations, and sometimes we quite forget that he was but one of
many who have used sunset palettes.
PLATE IV
Here we have a man's office in Wall Street, New York, showing how a
lawyer with large interests surrounds himself with necessities which
contribute to his comfort, sense of beauty and art instincts.
The desk is big, solid and commodious, yet artistically unusual.
[Illustration: A Man's Office in Wall Street]
Recently the fair butterfly daughters of a mother whose taste has grown
sophisticated, complained--"But, Mother, we dislike periods, and here
you are building a Tudor house!" forgetting, by the way, that the
so-called Bakst interiors, adored by them, are equally a period.
This home, a very wonderful one, is being worked out on the plan
suggested, that is, the first floor is decorated in the period of the
exterior of the house, while the personal rooms on the upper floors
reflect, to a certain extent, the personality of their occupants.
Remember there must always be a certain relationship between all the
rooms in one suite, the relationship indicated by lines and a background
of the same, or a harmonising colour-scheme.
CHAPTER II

HOW TO CREATE A ROOM
One so often hears the complaint, "I could not possibly set out alone to
furnish a room! I don't know anything about periods. Why, a Louis
XVI chair and an Empire chair are quite the same to me. Then the
question of antiques and reproductions--why any one could mislead
me!"
If you have absolutely no interest in the arranging or rearranging of
your rooms, house or houses, of course, leave it to a decorator and give
your attention to whatever does interest you. On the other hand, as with
bridge, if you really want to play the game, you can learn it. The first
rule is to determine the actual use to which you intend putting the room.
Is it to be a bedroom merely, or a combination of bedroom and boudoir?
Is it to be a formal reception-room, or a living-room? Is it to be a
family library, or a man's study? If it is a small flat, do you aim at
absolute comfort, artistically achieved, or do you aim at formality at the
expense of comfort?
If you lean toward both comfort and formality, and own