The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-02-20
THE DWELLING.
Desirable Hints to Those About to Build .
Dwelling House.

Desirable Hints to Those About to Build .
Dwelling House.
after what plan shall / build 2"
.How shall l finish and decorate the
interior of my house?'' ..How shall I
furnish it suitably" These questions,
! in various forms, are of frequent recur-
renee in our wide correspondence.
The bird may generally be deter
mined by its nest. There are birds
that appropriate the nests of other
birds, and avail themselves of cavities
in trees and the ground that they have
not excayated. But the robin, the
oriole, the yellow-throated warbler, the
) nobler birds. build their nests to suit
their individual needs. There are
families that can live comfortably only
in houses of their own building, and
there are those that seem as much at
home in one house as in another, like
the barn-swallow or hermit crab that is
at home in any empty shell it may
chance to occupy.
The ideal house is one that suits the
family occupying it, in size, in finish, in
decoration, in furnishing. In order to
secure this most desirable end, when
one has decided to build, there should
be a family council to determine what
rooms there shall be, how located with
respect to each other, how furnished
and decorated, and then the assistance
of an architect should be obtained to
draw working plan combining all
these suggestions. Books of house
plans may be consulted with advantage,
so that all points important and desir-
able may be duly considered.
The interior finish and decoration of
house should be in harmony with its
external appearance. We do not ex-
pect to find a plain wooden house
tloored with mosaics, upholstered with
satins and with ceilings deliberately
frescoed. These finishings and decora-
tons are for palaces of stone. So of
heavy and expensive furniture.
The house is the setting of the
family. Better genuine diamond in a
plain setting than 4 bauble gorgeously
mounted. Better fine engraving in
frame of vanished pine than daub in
frame of silyer-gilt. If we can have
fine pictures in fine frames. very well,
but if we must choose between the two,
we will, if we are wise, choose the fine
picture and wait for the suitable frame.
Vulgarity never shows off TO such poor
advantage as when framed in splendor.
Very much of the effect of interior
finish depends on the colors employed.
If these are neutral, restful, harmoni-
Gus, the effect will be pleasing, though
the materials employed may be of the
cheapest. White walls and white wood
work have the merit of seeming clean,
but a gray wall may be as clean as a
white one, and it is vastly more COM
forting to the eye. Brilliantly hued
carpets are striking, but do we want to
be struck and stared out of countenance
by a carpet? A gay rug will make
dash of color and in contrast with
quiet carpet make both rug ard carpet
handsomer. According to William
NORRIS. a high authority on household
art, the proper colors for walls
are "a full pink toned both
with yellow and blue, light orangy
pink; pale golden tint and pale
copper color; these three you must be
careful over, for if You get them muddy
or dirty you are lost; tints of green from
pure and pale to deepish and gray,
always remembering that the purer the
paler, and the deeper the graver; tints
OF pure pale blue, from greenish one
to the color of starling's egg. to a
gray ultra-marine color, hard To use be-
cause so full of color, but incompar-
able when right" -. The colors of the
woodwork should be in harmony with
those of the walls, and the tints in the
furniture should blend with those of the
walls. The same authority already
quoted gives this simple rule for fur
nishing. ''Have nothing in your house
that you do not know to be useful or
believe to be beautiful" In choosing
useful articles we may have regard to
beauty of form and finish, but should
not sacrifice utility to beauty. In choos-
ing beautiful things, one must depend
on his taste and judgment as to what is
beautiful, and the more highly these
are cultivated, the finer anc nobler will
his choices be.
The craze for useless bric-a-brac and
insane decoration has had its day.
Sensible people do not care to live in
china shops or museums, or apartments
so crowded with furniture and so loaded
with ornaments that life in them is q
burden, that enthusiasm is crushed I'M
der repietion and appetite destroyed by
safety. A few well-selected decora-
tions are ample proof of the taste of the
owner and may be so disposed as not
to be in the way and hinder the labors
that 90 on about them.-M Y. Tribune.