River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1894-02-15
HOUSE FURNISHING.
Good Taste Shuns Ornate and Snowy In
farInra Tor CnsInass nd Waruafh.

Good Taste Shuns Ornate and Snowy In
teriors for Cosiness and Warmth.
The tendency of the best taste in
house-furnishing is undoubtedly to-
ward individualism, with the paradox
ical result that the fashion is to avoid
the fashion. The most distinct evil
dence of the latest and improved mode
is the revival of the French styles of
furniture, the periods of the empire, of
Henri H., and of the Louises having
received much attention. Louis Nv.
is perhaps the greater favorite, as af-
fording the most scope to the designer
and craftsman, but it is, perhaps, the
worst style for economical treatment,
its production requires the greatest
skill, and if carried out by inferior ar
lists the result is apt to be vulgar and
disappointing. Chippendale has been
in great demand, so much so that in
fact il is in danger of becoming I'M
fashionable, for perhaps the clearest
note that we can strike in fash
ionable house-furnishing is to
avoid that which the shopkeeper as.
sures you proudly sis selling" Many
of the Chippendale models are as re-
fined in line as they are durable in use;
others more fiorid in style are widely
copied and much used with their mean.
ingless carvings and applied fretwork.
II is interesting to note, however.
how the English style of furnishing
imparts the atmosphere of a more re.
fined individuality than the dainty and
grateful French things of vernis-Mar-
tin and white and gold. Great singers
and others not so great perhaps, lead
ing society women, the kind OF women
that send their daughters to be edu-
Gated in converts. and butterfly aspi-
rants for social place who give teas in
their little apartments modelled on
those they read about in the society
journals, all take kindly to this pink
and white and gold stuff with its slen.
der curving frames and immodest lit
tie cupids posing in impossible places
as if knowing they would be
tolerated just because they
hadn't their clothes on. But
in the studios of artists and the par.
lors of women of letters, in the homes
of scholars and thinkers, you will find
the more restful richness of the deep
seated oaken chairs and heavy panel.
lings, the warmth of color and absence
of knick-knacks and nudity and sachet.
The general tendency with drawing
rooms is to make them more habitat BILE,
and to provide plenty OF comfortable
chairs and cosy corners and fireside
seats. Less bric-a brac is used, and
that which is seen is either of fine and
beautiful quality or has some other
raison d'etre than simply to clutter the
place. The advantage of recesses in a
room is now so widely recognized that
where the architect has failed 70 pro-
vide them they are cunningly contrived
by means of screens or an upright piano
turned out at right angles with the
wall To shut in corner. The cold and
sparsely-furnished hall is a thing OF
the past, and richly-designed papers,
heavy portieres and eastern rugs, and
many pictures are employed to give
vivid color and homelilxe aspect to the
smallest passage. In dining rooms the
tendency is toward lighter decorative
effects than the somber ones long in
vogue on account of the gloomy base.
ment dining room so prevalent in city
houses.-N. Y. Sun.