The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-11-06
4 Social Room.

GoOd taste is the hrSt characteristic TO be
considered. Some one may eXclaim: Good
taste before usefuness!" Most certainly.
as good taste embraces the quality of use
fulness, Just as it does durability and
adaptedness.
Beauty and usefulness, good taste, can
now be considered in an inexpensively fur
nlshed room just as easily as it can in one
where the wherewlthal is unlimited In
obeylng the laws of good taste no furnish
, lngs should be either too fine or too poorly
| made to be for general utility purposes.
And just here We have a word to women
who are the chief directors of home ar
rangements. They it is who direct the ar
tistic, and through it the moral atmosphere
OF the house, which should always mean
home. The mind that makes the house
should be INTELLIGENT, and to this end must
be educated, cultivated.
Every woman who is not merely house
keeper but home keeper should study
architecture, decoration, and the blending
of colors. She can as easily do it by OBJ
servation as by delving in books. But, if
she finds herself illogical and unable to
draw satisfac DRY conclusions from OBJ
servations, she should have recourse to the
daily papers, and there learn the principles
, Of the three domestic sciences mentioned.
! They are treated there in detail, in almost
every issue.
Good taste announces this an age of half
| tints. 1t used to be in stately homes we
gazed upon heavy, dmk mahogany,
slipped around on hair cloth, and learned
the elevating principles of art through
dark ancestral portraits in moldy black
frames. That was the iron age. Again,
there was what might be termed glacial
| age. In 1T, we CONCEALED into artistic APP
| probation gazing at white Parian statues
and tired ourselves out holding up our own
/ weight while resting p upon white, gilded,
! slim limbed chairs, and were chilled to the
| heart, YES, to the very back bone, by a
| monotonous wilderness pervading all.
! Ice is only shade colder than iron.
| With our age of half tints, decidedness
has gone out. The green rooms and blue
rooms have gone to hunt the white ones.
Now, no two chairs should be alike, no
mantle ornaments in couples, and no
matching of same sized picture frames.
! The day of matching went out after Frank
| Stockton wrote that story where family,
/ having become possessed of one Louis
Quatorze chair, reiurnished their whole
house to match, and then went over to q
/ relatives, who had taken their old furni-
/ ture, to sit and be comfortable
! But to be practicable, let us note a few
/ suggestive items for the paror, our social
room. Poor, indeed, must be the house
+ that can not boast its parlor or best room.
/ 1t should be our best, for it is refined
feeling that prompts us to lay our best be-
/ fore our friend or the stranger guest. Self
respect requires that such place should
be furnished to please and refresh.
Certainly it should not be converted into
lounging apartment, vet chairs broad and
restful, sofa soft and coy, stools not too
elaborate or high for dainty feet, draperies
artistic and light and pictures.
brio a-brac, screens, and scraps of oriental
embroidery to interest and amuse should
all be there.
The chairs, sofas, and tables should in
appearance be handsome only in proper
ton to the bulk of the owners pocketbook.
but they should be in every case durable
and strong. varied In shape, and subdued in
colorings.
But when you come to draperies, exer-
else taste, unbiased by money value,
Often the most expensive are the most
hideous. The latest innovation in draper
les for windows comes in light shades of
coarse canvas. Their designs are brocaded
IN silk and velvet. While here and there
this is seen III conventional lines, lunches of
flowers or odd Japanesque figures are most
popular. This canvas is used for long.
fuli-length window curtains, with side and
end borders, or for half curtains, manu-
featured from the piece goods.
The material is greatly favored by the
ladies' as the medium for fine decora-
tive embroidery. The newest of all en-
hroideries Is the Oriental; bold and agrees
sive in outline, worked with q stitch much
hse oid-fasaloned herring bone. for which
soft and thick Berlin wool and silk are
used. ColoIs rich and varied. such as
cinnamon reds, orange and tawny yellows,
irdI4o blues. and creamy whites, are most
effective.