South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-08-21
A Plain Rug is
Always Safe Choice
Floor Covering Must be Fit
ted Carefully to It's
Surroundings.

To snow the Importance OF hitting a
floor covering TO its'surroundings not
only taking into account the cOloring,
but also the character of the other fur
nishings. an exquisite Kirman rug that
would be beautiful in a drawing room,
or a plain light-toned carpet, equally
pleasing in a dainty bedroom, would
prove in the living room-aside from
all practical question: very uncom-
Portable choice. Why? Because a floor
must first Of all carry sufficient depth
of tone TO support" the rest Of the
room, or one can never feel that II Is
firmly planted under foo. And in these
days, when a rug so often leaves a
wide margin Of light wood on all sides,
we must be especially careful TO put
the necessary body of color into the
floor covering, else our foundation Will
not be adequate for the room, writes
Agnes Rowe Fairman in Good House
keeping. II is a fact that, where the
furnishings have been well balanced in
this respect, a visitor may be uncon-
scious OF whether the carpet is costly
or cheap, but let the same kind Of
floor covering in the same place be
three shades lighter, and people will
never be quite at ease there. Every
one will be vaguely aware that some
thing is wrong with the room. Incl
dentally, a few small rugs of rich col
oring will often correct the difficulty,
if laid on a plain carpet that is too
light.
Next comes the question of the plain
carpet versus a design-and the plain
floor is first in popular and artistic
favor today. OF course, there are old
and rich oriental rugs that have a way
Of making themselves at home in all
sorts Of rooms under all sorts of condi-
tons and color schemes, but oriental
"a n a 81
best of them are not exceptions to the
rule that a large pattern imposes linn
itations in the arrangement of furni-
ture, which in small homes are not
easily met. For the dining room with
it's prescribed order of things, a cen
trail medallion on a wide field is often
q happy choice, and here, too, we may
use to good effect the fascinating
Chinese rug with its odd, bold figures.
But if we had to spend whole days or
long evenings with it, we might soon
not care for a design that by its very
beauty commands attention, yet can so
readily be learned by heart. So, for
most rooms, it is wise TO be on the safe
side with small repeat pattern, or
scattered medalliOns on well covered
ground. By its very monotOny the car
pet then becomes inconspicuous on the
floor.
And there we have one reason for
the present vogue Of the plain rug.
For, unless one can afford TO put some
thing of rare beauty or real interest on
the floor, like a good Oriental, why call
attention to the floor covering at all
by introducing a design? Why allow
the pattern of an inexpensive rug to
detract from things of greater value in
the room? Another argument is that
the plain floor, like the plain wall, is
always a safe choice, because it sets
off to good advantage whatever may be
put on it. And still another very sound
argument is that most of the rooms
in most of our homes today are small,
and the moment you bring any design
into the floor covering you take away
from the apparent size of the floor
space. BY the best decorators today
even the inoffensive band borders that
have been so popular are being dis
carded in favor of the perfectly plain
carpet or rug. Finally, and point that
is too often overlooked, the carpeting
in one solid color of several rooms and
hall that open into one another or
at least with one kind of a fabric in
slightly different tones, will be very
attractive, add much to the effect of
spaciousness, and give a sense of unity
to the whole house.