Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-12
co TLY FURNITURE.
OUR UpHoLsrERY-wHAT MONEY MAY
BUY-RIcH THINGS.
The Rarely Beautiful Goods Rich People
Put into Their Houses-Luxury,
Art and Taste.

1
Put into Their Houses-Luxury,
Art and Taste.
The taste for the beautiful inds wide
scope in modern furnishing, and a
home where wealth and taste go hand in
hand is Joy forever to the artistic SOUL
The successful upholsterer of to-day muat
| per force be an artist, must know how to
blend colors and drape gracefully, never
losing sight of the beautiful, and yet al
WAYS remembering that homes are meant
to live in, not merely to look at, and thus
never sacrificing comfort to estheticism.
Gone are the days of spindle legged chairs
and straight backed sofas the seats OF the
period are "beds of ease, luxurious nests
which realize the dream of the Sybarite. |
Nor is it enough that the millionaire may
select his seats among an almost unlimited
variety of softly. cushioned shapes luxury
goes further STILL and fits each member of
| the family with his or her especial chair,
constructed with reference to taste, size
and figure.
AN EASY CHAIR.
| Not long since one of our rich men Or
dered chair for his wife, whose weak
back craved rest which lying down did not
always afford. The result was rocker at
once yielding and elastic, with gracefully |
curved back and sofa cushions, the flexible
springs of which adapted themselves to
every movement of the occupant. giving
gentle yet firm support always to the weak
| spot. Jus. as careful nurse holds young
baby, and yet to the eye the char seemed
in no wise different from an ordinary
cushioned spring rocker. Regular sets of
| furniture, all TO match, are no longer the
accepted style-instead the upholsterer
makes sofa, one large armchair and a
smaller chair en- suite, ard then varies the
effect with fancy seats of all sorts, wicker
chairs, ebonized or gilded and fitted with
movable cushions dainty rockers, Louis
| XIV. chairs, with backs and seats wrought
| on tapestry in Gobelin designs of dragons
and feur de lis; Turkish ottomans, which
are merely frames holding piles of soft
cushions tete-a-tete chairs, and SO on in
endless variety, blending colors and max.
ing contrasts as carefully as florist makes
up bouquet.
DRAPERIEs, ETC.
If double parlors are to be furnished, or
large parlor which calls for two sofas,
the two are different from each other and !
yet harmonize-carpets, curtains and seats |
all uniting to form one harmonious whole,
| in which, however, there is no suggestion
of sameness. But while all this calls for |
the hand and eye of an artist, the mate.
| rails with which he works leave small ex. |
cuse for him who fails to use them to ad- |
vantage. In draperies, for instance, which |
term includes cartains, portieres and lam
brequins, and which are now such an i'm
portant feature in upholstery, the materials |
| are too numerous to be catalogued outside |
| of dry goods advertisement, ranging from /.
rich Persian stuffs and Gobelin tapestries |
! glistening with gold, at $40 and $50 per |
| yard, or S22 for single width, to the pretty |
and inexpensive crstonne, costing perhaps
as many cents as the former does dollars. |
Turcoman stripes, rich shellas, giving the
effect of rich plush, alike on both sides,
are an economical purchase in spite of first |
cost, since, comparatively speaking, they
last forever.
Beautiful curtains are made of silk-faced |
tapestry or satine in solid color, with wide
dado or Persian tapestry framed in plush |
with straight valance at the top to match |
| the dado. Portieres for single door hang |
straight and smooth like window-shade, |
closing the door and forming a panel of
tapestry framed in plush, to be swept aside |
at will with touch of the hand. Win
dows and double doors and the entrance
to alcoves call for more voluminous draper.
| les, a full curtain on each side, and |
perhaps lambrequin above. Poles and
rings are the one idea in cornices, and |
slight pull on silken cord furls the dra-
perry instantly, leaving door and window
open, and closes it again as readily.
LAcEs.
| Where the upholsterer furnishes the
mantel it matches the curtain, but in the
present craze for art embroidery the ladies
of the house often enrich this with their
own needlework, in which case care must |
be taken to have it in harmony with the
other fittings of the room for which it is |
designed. We know of one house in |
which curtains, portieres, lambrequins and
table and piano covers are all the work of
the mistress, the material being heavy
satin with plush dados and fringes em.
broidered by hand in point Russo stitches
done in many. .colored silks. Lace curtains
also are in wide range, beginning with the
cheap yet pretty Nottingham laces, and
going up, up, until at last it reached the
costly Brussels point, which is fine enough
for dress, and wrought in applique fig
ures on handmade net. Next to Brus-
sells lace in its varying grades comes the
old fashioned Swiss tambour, which is hand
some enough to satisfy most persons, and
then, lower still, is French guipure. mod
crate in price and unrivaled in durability.
| Net centers, with borders and guipure al
| ternatipg with plain net stripes are the
| fashionable patterns in these. Noting
! ham lace is chosen for bedrooms and for
country houses. In this the first choice is
the Scotch guipure, which closely initiates
the French fabric.
| MADRAS CURTAINS.
| Madras curtains, beautiful and effective,
are shown in bewildering variety. A great
| point in favor of them is that while they
are gayly colored the figures and colors
show on both sides and are visible inside
and outside the window alike by night and
day. Among choice designs are detached
| floral figures on a light ground, floral
stripes and q charming oriental effect in
cross stripes of maroon and gold, picked
out with pale blue. This last lights up
beautifully, the maroon frightening into
crimson and gold, flashing out in all its
cleaning brilliancy whenever the gaslight
! falls upon it. A desirable style for back
windows is shown in Madras curtain with
dado and border in oriental design, the
center being in leaves on dark back
ground, the effect against the light giving
the impression.of the pattern suspended in
the air, or painted on the window, as the
background disappears altogether as the
light shines through.
WHAT THE RICH HAVE.
During the winter the deep windows of
city houses have as many as three pairs of
curtains and pair of shades thus, there
are sash curtains Of muslin next the sash,
| fastened back with ribbon bands in dia-
mond shape next there is the shade of
glazed linen; then come full curtains of
muslin grenadine or lace, left to hang in
| flowing folds or else tied back with RIB
bons, and finally, inside the room, are
heavy. draperies Of rich damask, satin or
raw silk. With the advent Of spring the
stuff curtains are removed, and only the
two pairs of muslin or lace curtains and
the shades remain.
COUNTRY HOUSES.
For country houses in midsummer the
sash curtains and shades are sufficient
drapery without flowing curtains, except
| in drawing rooms. The sash curtains are
gathered quite full at the top, placed di-
rectly against the window, drawn closely
back to the sides at point about two.
thirds down in the length Of the sash, and
A L l. r l.