St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-03
DOMESTIC DECORATION.
Hints Upon the Artistic Furnishing Of
Our Houses.
SOME SCHEMES OF COLOR.
Paragraphs on Variety Of Points in
The mbellishment of
Home.

/ find that the great trouble and ex
pense which arises from furnishing a
room, or house, for that matter, lies
simply in the fact that the occupant
has started with no definite ideas on the
subject. A friend of mine has an in
surance of $4,000 on his furnishings, and
it rather surprised me till he explained
it on the ground that it cost that much
to furnish his house. He figured it in
this way: He had bought, originally, a
decidedly handsome carpet with blue
prevailing. Later on he bought cur
tains with a dark green prevailing.
His furniture he bought regardless of
the other surroundings, and then being
dissatisfied with the ensemble, he had
changed this or that, and shifted them
all till naturally, with these expert
mentS, the cost was at its maximum and
the effect at its minimum. In this way,
adding little here and there. he put
$4,000 into a house which could be fur
nished in much better taste and with
much richer effect, and with less of the
crazy quilt suggestions about it, for less
than half that money.
If woman starts dressing herself by
looking through her wardrobe and bu-
reaus and selecting anything that hap
pens to look pretty, she will not have
the chic appearance of the girl with the
TWENTY-FIVE cent lawn and the tWO-Gol-
lar hal to match. The same principle
applies to house dressing. Start out
with purpose. If it's drawing room
and you wish beauty as main factor
determine your general color harmony
and select everything to lead up to 1t.
If it's a living room and comfort the
main requisite, don't litter the place
with things breakable and small chairs
and tables that are everlastiDgly in the
way. Have definite purpose. When
woman selects dress she thinks first
of all. "Will it become me?" The color
and design she considers for their spe-
cial adaptability to her complexion or
style. This same care and Judgment
should be exercised in her house fur
nishing. Said a well-knoWn decorator
the other day: Il called up recently at
Nine. KS to see what suggestions
could be made for the refurniShing of
her house. She was thoroughly dis
satisfied but couldn't tell exactly what
the trouble was. Everything was
charming and we'll balanced, but it
needed glance only to show me the
color schemes of the entire establish
ment had been left to some short
sighted furnisher who had not consid-
cred the character of the occupants.
Here was bed room got up in yellow
and black, the very BACKGROUND for a
Spanish beauty, but hardly the thing
for red-headed girl. The entire house
was furnished with sagegreen shades
which. when the sun played on them III
the morning, threw bilious greenery
tint over the bed room occupant and
frightened her at sight in the mirror of
d face apparently pale and cadaverous-
1t was all wrong. The folks in that
house had spent thousands of dollars i'll
the furnishings, but while the epochs of
design were conscien tiously followed
they had thought little OF nothing of
the color effects.
A good dressmaker thinks as much of
color as fit, but, unfortunately. ninety
nine people out of hundred, when fur
nishing house, buying this thing to-
day and that tomorrow, give no heed to
the harmOnieS of color or design, and,
as a result. when their homes are at
length fully and completely furnished,
they are depressed by their incongruous
character.
Out In one of the many delightful
suburbs of Philadelphia IS most APP
propriately furnished billiard room.
The portieres in the doorway are par
ticuiarly odd. Gray. with small dark
red and dull blue curtains, ball fringe.
long stripes of deep drab felt, appliqued
OIL, in the shape of billiard cues. the
whole suspended from cue and rest
instead of the ordinary curtain pole. A
valance across the top of felt, the same
color as the curtains, with heavy ball
fringe of various colors, the size and APP
pearance of pool balls, with the TRAN
gle. pouch, small balls and other details
of the game appliqued OH in sharp col
OrS.
Another good thing for summer
drapery particularly IS yacht cur
tain,' hanging from a couple of small
oars, gilded over the doorway top;
monte cloth, with reefng points caught
here and there in ecru or some other
quietly colored cord fringe. The whole
thing is suspended back by chain and
anchor. These details are subdued by
enameled paints and liberal use of
gilt.
The French have form of dressing
bed which is great Improvement over
the way we do things here when fire.
quently the quilt OF spread doesn't come
far enough down on the sides to hide
the unsightly blankets and sheets. They
employ side drapery. which frequently
comes clear to the f1Oor-not bed val
ance, but, as can be seen by the illus
tration, something entirely different.
The fretwork craze has seized us with
the firmneSS of that other contagious
mania, the macrane cord fever. Tran
SONS. over-door schemes. window val
anceS and mantle work are done in fret
work and nauSeum. Some Of the Jap
anese fret is worth 50 per square foot,
some less, but it is all expensive. A
very clever sort of fret is made of rope,
which. when gilded or painted, has
beautiful effect. Ordinary clothes line
is used. and the designs are made by
marking off the figure on a board sand
driving nails at the corners or turning
points III the design. Around these
nails you draw your rope, on the princi-
pie employed in making cushion lace;
when the design is shaped up, stlffen-
ing is used to preserve the form till
put in frame.
Another good fret is made by inter-
lacing ordinary rattan within a wooden
frame Still again, wire netting. col
ored or bronzed, makes a cheap and
pretty fret for transoms, the frame, of
course, being in good taste and to match
the curtains or surrounding woodwork. |
A few years ago a wall balcony was
seldom seen in a room. Now the style !
is quite prevalent. The balcony is
briefly a shelf about three inches to
foot deep (proportionate, of course, to
the size of room and edged with
brass or wood railing. Its purpose is
purely decorative. and being located |
usually at point upon the wall at the
bottom of the frieze, it serves as an eX-
ceHent receptacle for bric-a-brac. A |
corner done with interior wall balconies |
cam always be made an interesting