Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-05-02
HOUSEHOLD.
FURNISHING THE HOME.

home, Mics Davis, of Wellesley, gives
as essential principles use, simplicity
and beauty. These are certain broad
principles which should govern the
choice of every article of furniture
brought into the house.
$50 many factors enter into the
furnishings of house that the high
est beauty can hardly be expected in
the ordinary household" she says,
"but harmony and individuality are
possible to any one who takes
sufficient thought. Disciples in these
days are referred to William Morris
perhaps more than to any other
apostle in the art of furnishing. We
are all more or less familiar with the
stock quotation, Have nothing IN
your house which you do not know to
be useful, or believe to be besut iful.'
To live up TO this motto is perhaps
not so difficult for the new home
maker as she might at the outset
think.
"All furniture is based, presumably,
on needs, and it's value is in direct
proportion to the way in which 1t
meets these needs. Chairs should be
bought primarily to sit upon,
secondly, or filthy, to look at;
pitchers, to pour well; tables, to
stand steadily otherwise these art1-
cles are not useful nor artistically
beautiful. Everything should have
It's functional purpose. Chairs should
fit the spine; one would have to be
deformed to be comfortable in some
of the modern shapes.
GAS in choosing, SO in furnishing
your home, be individual. The house,
in itself, may be regarded simply as
BODY. Furnishing gives, or should
breathe into it, soul. And this soul
should reflect the individuality and
personality of the mistress of the
home. The placing of rug, the
character of sofa pillow, the pic
lures, dishes, table linen, all should
speak to US of individual taste and
personality. A guest ought not to
receive the impression that the room
has been turned out by a professional
furnisher.
IA necessary, general rule for fur
nishing is to use nothing in any room
not belonging to the function of that
special room. Let everything be as
beautiful as possible, in harmony with
it's function.
"For the living room-be this the
hall, library, or room by itself-the
furnishings should be provided with
reference to their use by every mem
Der of the household. A generous
table, plenty of comfortable chairs
and restful divan, and bookcases as
many as need be. Better be under
than over furnished. Always avoid
crowding. 1t is not necessary for any
room to wear all it's pretty things at
once. Better have few pictures and
change them; less bric-a- brac, and
vary it. AS to amount and place of
ornament, we might well take alesson
from the Japanese homes and their
artistic simplicity. The couc b cush-
ions and table covering give opportu-
nifty for choice of harmonizing colOrs.
If you have many pictures, the more
neutral the tone of your wallpaper
the better background it makes for
them; if few pictures, then the wall
itself, as Morris suggests, may be
ornamented with some beautiful or
restful pattern. Try to have good
art, in photograph, engraving, or
painting. Art mans effort to de-
pict or create che beautiful-is an
inspiration in daily life, and room
hung with pictures is room hung
with thoughts, Sir Joshua Reynolds
tells US.
Nowadays the dinfng-room ie
recognized as quite as functional g
place as the kitchen. 1t is, more
over, as much family center as the
livirg-room. The furniture should
} be substantial above all, and a;
elegant as your purse admits-but
: always with the idea of function
This idea, however, is sometimes car
ried to an extreme in the matter o
pictures. One tires of game pictures
o of strings of fish and impossible col
q lectiops of impossible vegetables
J An old-fashioned mahogany side board
or side serving table goes well in thu
t dining groom. This room gives great
n opportunity for beauty in the selec
n ton of dishes and table linen; bu
5 here, as elsewhere, beauty must no
L be at the cost of utility, and on
= aspect of beauty is simplicity.
HTbo most occoulioI roOro -, I'll