Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-16
SHORT TALKS ON
HOUSEFURNISHINGS
BY KATE GREENLEAF LOCKE.


There are people who are so nearly
mad on the subject Of period furnish
ing as to go to absurd extremes in
it, and to these there is much to be
said that strangely has not yet been
said or written, and they may even ap-
preciate some timely warnings and
make use of some of the compromises
l would suggest.
To those who have furnished expen-
sive and ambitious houses, it is we'll
known that no style of decoration is so
disproportionately costly as the French
Unless one is prepared to be really
prodigal in expenditure, it is foolish to
attempt a Louis Quinze or a Louis
Seize room, an empire or any of what
in a well known play is humorously
called "One of the Louies." 1t is the
Louies that eat up money as the Mino-
taur gobbled up young girls-a single
piece of reception room furniture. for
instance. a commode of French walnut
with touches of gold often costs from
$500 to $500; whereas an old colonial pier
table answering the same purpose, with
another style of decoration, could be
bought on exquisite lines for seventy-five
or one hundred.
gold sofa, antique, sometimes brings
500 and 500, while modern replica
costs $50; small gold chair is $50 and
large ones in proportion, and when one
has acquired a taste for fine old tapestry
even modern Gobelin they are COM
PEELED to cut loose from calculation and
sink or swim in deep waters. 1t will
readily be seen that a small room can
thus drift into a cost of many thousands
of dollars, and yet, after all, it is only
little French ROOM Not a dollar
hoC nda6 fine init
a piece of statuary which would be
a Joy forever, or even perhaps on an
oriental rug which would send thrill
of delight down the spine of any con-
noisseur who sees 1t.
The thousands that the small room
has absorbed do not include a grand
piano or any OF these other most de-
sirable requirements This realization
sometimes nolaetIas comes as a startling disap-
started in on French furnishing. To
live up to Freych room is an expen-
sive matter indeed, and to furnish the
remainder of the house in such a way
as to correspond with this room REQUIRES
the background of a real fortune To
avoid the shoals and quicksands that
await the unwary amateur, there is no
better plan than to commit the entire
scheme to paper, pricing each article de-
sired for every room and writing it all
down before one single dollar has really
been expended.
One should never shop or consult a
decorator until they have in mind a
clear, fixed idea of what they want To
buy vaguely and promiscuously for a
house means in many cases a frustra-
ton OF the entire scheme. When this
has been carefully worked out and the
scheme adapted to the amount one pro-
poses to invest the whole matter should
go through smoothly
1t should not be forgotten that the orna-
ments. in French ROOM must always
be of the most expensive description
nothing less than sevres and the finest
limoges. dresden and rock crystal in vases
and ornaments should be placed among
buhl and marguerite furniture To con-
suit decorator before one has formulat
ed plans as to style. etc. or a distinct
idea OF how much she wishes to spend
Is also mistake. for naturally when a
beautiful scheme is unfolded before the
dazzled imagination of the amateur fur
nisher actual prices are CLOSED over and
expensive features are treated as mere
bagatelles. A shrug of the shoulders may
cost an unsuspecting woman Thousand
dollars. lifting of the eyebrow several
hundred She is supposed to be informed
as to the value of the thing she desires
but AS an actual fact in nine cases ont
OF ten she has only the vaguest ideas Of
actual cost.