The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1918-01-17
furnishings
Bv Frederick ]. haSkin

unIldt profession. one is perfume
expert, whose business consists of sup
plying the rooms of the wealthy with
precisely the proper perfumes. A Ii
brary, she explains has an entirely diff
fereDt perfume from a drawing room,
depending not SO much upon the nature
of its utility as upon its furnishings,
color scheme and light effects-in a
word, upon its personality 1t remains
for her to determine what that perfume
shall be
The other day wealthy Philadel-
phia hostess gave a benefit card party
in her home, the benefits of which were
to go to buying things for American
soldiers. For once the guests left with
out word concerning the prize-win-
ners or the various tricks they might
have made had their partners played
differently. Instead, there was an ex-
cited discussion concerning the new
pertaining of their hostess's house. 81
am sure that the bedroom was rose
geranium," one woman said positively,
'but couldn make out that of the
drawing room at Aldo you suppose 1t
was mignorette?"
The new perfume idea is the last
word in long series of words on the
art of home-furnishings, which has be-
come an art. Most of US do not care to
carrY..it as far as perfume for every
room, but all of us like attractive sur
roundings.
Only few years ago the interior
decorator was unknown. People dec
GRATED their houses mostly according to
their own Individual tastes which pro-
duced weird and uncanny effects. Thus
the average house was considered
beautiful when ornamented with the
most fam 9oya9t wallpaper; wax flow
ers aud birds behind glass cases, pic
lures Of the departed members of the
family photographed in thur codins;
large patterned carp. 3 and mous, rous,
intricate chandeliers.
All sorts and designs cf furniture
were crowded INTO one room, ara 10
attention q all vas paid 10 color The
wall might Ue mass Of large blue
chfysaushemlms and the floor d mass
ofrsi fabric daisies, but no one noticed
1t. The science Of color was something
that belonged entirely to painters and
not TO the busy housewives Of the last
century who did their own baking and
hair .L1 time, their own Washing.
The reaction froc the are Of ugl-
ness cane eventually and with con
siderable force. People, anxious to
recufy the mistakes in color effects
they had made in the past, went to the
other extreme, choosing one color and
sticking to it. Thus when your neigh
Dor told you he was going to refurnish
his library, YOU Immediately inquired.
"'What color will it be?' One year it
would be red, and few years after
wards ii would be refurnished in green,
and so o.. The diningroom, too, was
either blue or old rose or green, the
bedrooms blue or pink, the sitting room
usually brown.
There is no excuse for ugly inartistic
homes these days, Too many books
and magazines are devoted to the sub
ject OF proper home furnishings. The
first thing the modern woman considers
in furnishing Ter house or apartment is
the background-th background of
each room. The background of room
is the wall the ceiling, the floor, the
woodwork. II the house is one that she
has built herself, she can choose her
own backgrounds. Sne can have the
kind of wooG. materials and wall paper
that she likes.
But suppose she rents her house or
apartment? Then she cannot always
choose her backgrounds-no even the
wall paper. Fortunately, however,
most builders of new apartment houses
and landlords are following the policy
of papefing walls in PLAIN inconspicuous
colors these days. which makes the
problem considerably easier. For an
inconspicuous background is necessary
TO the artistic arrangement of a room.
With plan tan or grey wall, much
can be done with a room, but with a
bright figured wallpaper it is hardly
possible to get any effect at all, for
everything else in the room is pale in
contrast For the same reason, the
floor and ceiling should not attract I'M
due attention to themselves. Rugs of
some soft plain color are preferable,
with perhaps a border of darker shade.
Next to the background, the modern
kome-decorator must consider the
questions of space and light. Is she
to furnish large room or small one;
a room that is flooded with warm sun
light, or one that gets only the colo
darker light from thesnorth? SheknowE
that yellow, for instance, is what is
termed an expanding color" or that il
ref light-apparently more than il
receives-so that it sboth hghtens 8
4 Al. - b. - Il