The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-23

EQam ell IN w niue anu SO1O-4J SOSUS
q Mint of Money or it Can be Done
Very Cheeply if You Please-How
70 Furnish in the Style of Louis XIV.
and XVI
Copyrighted 1887
New YORK, April 2l.-It was a small
1,arlor stand. There was not straight line
about the frame. The slender gold legs bent
IN and ont in full round curves. The tray
which formed the top was long oval and
xyas covered with satin brocade of delicate
Aesb tint. Powered with rose sprays, whose
male pink blossoms were fully blown and
scattering the outer, pinky-white leaves.
ats going up town this afternoon" said
the salesman. sit cost 1925.
1t suggested irresistibly pastel of Marie
Antoinette as its appropriate burden and
finish. Masquerading in her peasant cos
l4ume as the wife of Miller Louis she should
lift her skirts to dance the gavotte, her will
Iowy figure on its soft gray ground smiling
ont of a frame of gold colored ribbon bows
Close by stood a low couch. 1t repro
duced the same voluptuous curves, making
them even fuller, rounder, more alluring
lis frame was of white enamel penciled
with gold, and it was upholstered with rose
colored silk. Pompadour might have
thrown herself upon it, and Boucher might
have painted her there luxuriantly beauti-
full. her blue gown cut low in wide square
to show her fair throat, all sparkle with
silver laceS and shimmering rose leaves.
The world has turned its back on sorrow.
It laughs and shows its dimples and its white
teeth this spring. Let us eat, drink and be
merry, for after us comes the flood. There's
no use wearying continually for the saliva
ton OF ones soul. The sky is blue and Co
duetry is amusing. Let us powder our hair
and dance. They were in the sight of it,
those charming counteSses and marguesses
who tripped it on the lawns of Versailles
and Marty No more of Gothic aspirations
and medieval mysticism and constant
searches after hidden meanings. Away with
aestheticism No more of the cold, hard,
uncompromising straight line. No more of
set, conventional designs. Let us go back
to the light hearted, the bright-colored, the
sunshiny. Let us swear allegiance to pref
tiness. Let us be graceful Let us shipper.
Let us be artificial, if we please. Let us try
luxury and polish and, not tenderness ex-
actly, but its picturesque, butterfly simih-
tude.
This may not be the way we think, but it
is the way we are dressing and furnishing
this spring. Never was there franker re-
nunciation of old idols. The pendulum
swings from Morris to Vatican and Bou-
cher, and Boucher in his gayest, Frenchiest
and most frivolous mood. Now, then, for
white and gold. Now, then, for rocco.
Now, then, for full pocketoooks, for the
new furniture is the costliest yet introduced
and room may cost thousands; a house, a
small or large fortune.
How would you fit drawing-room in
the reigning style" 1t was the head of
decorating firm of whom the question was
asked.
Il would make it combination of the
Louis XIV. and Louis XVI. designs. say
combination, for there are no pure styles
nowadays, but these two are the same prac-
tically, the later being only simplification
and refinement of the earlier. If were to
make a typical example of good rocco
work. as characteristic, if not as costly,
as that which is going into Mrs Hopkins
Searles' big house at Great Darlington,
Mass, should want from 81, 900 to s., 900
to do it with. Then should start with the
ceiling. This should be painted in pale blue
and pink, in clear white. in soft gray, in all
manner OF delicate light tints in designs
after Fragonard or Vatican with lutes tied
with knots of ribbons, cherubs' or womens
faces. The walls should be done in white
and gilt panels, with the spaces between
filed in with silk tapestry or white flow
cred brocadeS, or with silk damaSks in re-
productions of last century designs, or with
brocatelle The floor should be polished
wood inlaid. All the fireplace surroundings
from the renaissance andironS to the NOV
able fender, the shovel and the tongs should
lie heavily gilt bronze. The mirror and
picture frames, the clocks and the brackets
should be gilt or gold. The chandelier
should be crystal. There should be rose
Colored silk hangings or lowered damasks
or white plush at the windows. The vases,
jsrdiniers and bric-a-brac of all descrip-
tons should be Dresden or Serves china in
the most delicately finished and opulent de-
signs.
THE room decorated and ready for its
Furnishings would have cost already any
where from $500 up to $1,000 When it
comes to choosing furnitude there is the
same latitude in price. Suppose you look
at some Of the designs
Whether in the style of the two Louis or
i'll any other method of furnishing, few
people buy what used to be called
full set of furniture nowadays. The craze
of two or three years ago for fitting room
wholly with odd pieces has died also. In
refuI1lishing, parlor suit of from three to
five pieces is taken and supplemented with
whatever is desired to complete the fittings.
In Pompadour furniture the woodwork has
small latitude allowed it. Tables and desks
are fine examples of hand painting en- wood
or marQueterie, but arm-chairs, coucheS
and fancy chairs are enameled in gold or
white and gold, or more rarely in pale blue
or pink.
deeply upholstered low sofa has gold
frame. 1t is covered with pale pink satin,
Powered with running vines in white and
dull blue. 1t costs $275, though a couch Of
much the same shape with cheaper enamel
and worsted or silk and worSted brocade
cover giving a similar general effect can be
bought for $50. A low couch chair has a
frame of blue enamel picked out with gold.
1t is upholstered with Aubusson's best copy
in silk tapestry of the older Styles and it is
sold for S4l5. A fancy chair for corner use
Is study in curves. 1t twists in and it
twists out. 1t has straw seat and seat
and frame are heavily enameled in gold
with flower design, making loose wreath
about the straw. 1t is worth $50. A
standing screen is set in white enameled
frame. A piece OF old brocade with dancing
shepherdesses for design is laced into it
with gold ribbons. 1t costs $125. A desk
In satin wood is quaint affair, with its
round bulging curves 1t must have taken
expert workmen a long time to finish it, for
the top shows a NEUROLOGICAL scene cleverly
done In marqueterie the woods as carefully
and accurately shaded as if it were the
work Of the paint brush instead of the in
layer. white and gold piano is one of the
new and choice possessions A crystal chan
delier for candles may cost 81, 200.
The first Louis XIV. room fitted up in