Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-23
HINTS FROM JAPAN
HOUSE DECORATION IN T
TROPICS.
With a Room in India as a Model
What May Be
Done.

Written for The Evening Star.
Few American housekeepers would care
to carry the art Of elimination In house.
hold decoration so far as the Japanese, who
have nothing In many Of their rooms ex-
cept couple of cushions and a chrysan-
themum in a bamboo pot. but it is none the
less true that simplicity Is the greatest
charm of any room, If 1t be allied to a
sense of beauty.
This happy combination is usually OBJ
tanned in the houses of the white residents
in the tropics, and still more so in the
homes of the japanese. If a house is to be
comfortable in a tropical climate it must
be furnished simply and sparingly. Out of
this necessity there arises some beautiful
effects In furnishing and decoration which
ought to be studied and copied by Amert-
can women.
In India and Ceylon the bungalows are
noted for comfort and charm. They always
attract the enthusiastic admiration of the
tourist, and yet the women who create
them go to work in the most simple fashion.
A Room in India.
Take the drawing room Of an English or
an American woman living in India. 1t Is
a large, airy room, with several big win
dows, which are either undraped or only
hung with small gauze curtains. The
floors are uncarpeted, but their dark ma
hogany or cedar Is beautifully polished A
comfortable cane lounge, with many cush-
ions, Is placed near window. small
tea table or two and a few easy wicker
chairs complete the furniture of the room.
the entire cost of which Is less than tenth
of the sum usually paid for the drawing
room equipment of a middle-class American
home.
Now come those decorative touches which
add such &. charm to any room. A tail
stand, with a large dropping fern upon 1t,
is placed behind the lounge, and at the foot
of the lounge a young palm, with It's
sweeping dark green fronds. conveys a
sense of peace and repose. The room is
usually darkened by green latticed veran-
da and green jalousies. Nothing makes
a room so pleasing to the eye as a WELL
shaped, soft, green light. This is SO easily
obtained that the little trouble it gives
is well spent
Palms and Ferns.
Only palms and ferns assist this atmos-
phere and look really well. Other green
plants, although, perhaps. beautiful In
themselves, take away rather than add to
the general effect of an artistic drawing
room. There is a tendency to over-eiabora-
ton in the floral decoration of many Amer
lean homes. The solitary chrysanthemum
of the Japanese woman looks better than
the rose bowers and foliage banks which
sometimes Cypress the eye in this coun-
try.
A pretty way of decorating the mantel-
piece. or ornamental shelf. frequently
adopted in the tropics, Is to get small
wooden box, two and a half feet long and
five inches WIDE with the back three
inches high and the front only one inch.
This is filled with mixture of rich mould
and sand, in which planted as many
small ferns as the box will hold. The
ferns in front must be planted in such a
way that they fall gracefully over the
edge of the box. When this box is placed
on the mantel it makes as pretty a dec
Grafton as could possibly be devised
Softly shaded lamps and candles she'd
ding dim light, make the simply furnish
ed fern-decorated drawing room even pref
tier by night than by day