The sun., 1919-10-19
ROOM SHOULD REFLECT
TRUE ATMOSPHERE OF FESTlVIT1

1t is the aim of every woman to
create a dining room which will have
the psychological effect of making eat
ing festive function. The family should
assemble for spiritual as well as phys
zeal refreshment and the background
of their inevitable meeting ground, the
dining room, II II Is carefully planned,
may contribute toward this twofold re-
suit. The various rooms in our homes
form a stage setting, as 1t were, that
unobtrusively influences the daily human
drama which is enacted in them.
To make a dining room gay or inter-
esting Is sometimes peculiarly difficult
on account of its location. 1t frequently
lies in the back part of the first floor
of house or. in an apartment, over
looks the courtyard. The idea Of the
Architect obviously has been to give
the less fortunate situation to the room
used only intermittently. But IL the
outlook Is bleak or If the supply OF
sunlight happens to be scarce, 10 there
not all the more inducement to dress
prettily that stepchild of the architect
the dining room?
Now household decoration Is a mat
ter calling primarily not for money but
for brains. Beauty may be created by
the mere skilful combination of two
colors. Take as an example OF this
the recent Transformation of dining
room belonging to a woman of very mod
crate means.
Imagine, to begin with, wooden pam
els of dull red mahogany finish, inter-
secting walls of ink blue (Blue, by
the way, Is a color of great density: 1t
ahsorbs light. 1t takes a greater amount
OF electricity to illuminate a room with
blue walls than one whose walls show
gray) Standing against the blue and
red wall were six chairs of shining
golden oak. They were part of a set
consisting of the usual assemblage of
sldeboard, serving table, centre table and
china closet.
How One Room Was Transformed.
Because the qualities of harmony and
originality were introduced into this
room with the expenditure of little
money, 1t Is worth while describing the
details of the transformation.
When releasing day came around,
the house being one which was rented,
the landlord was requested to paint over
the wooden panels in ivory enamel.
Contrasting gloriously with this was the
new wall paper OF plain orange yellow
NOT canary yellow, but the arresting
shade that has in it a hint OF red Ii
costs no more in money to combine
orange-yellow paper with ivory wood
work than to combine ink-blue with red,
and yet the former combination seems
more Conducive of sweetness and light,
The shade Of the new wall paper was
duplicated in deeper tone In the plain
golden brown of the velvet rug. But in
the midst of this radiance of warm
light the shiny oak of the furniture
seemed insignificant. The furniture
lacked dignity Moreover, It dated some-
what Golden oak, although fashion
able few years ago, nowadays is not
considerably in vogue.
The shiny oak. however being merely
a matter of finish. was not necessarily
permanent. The furniture was removed
to the shop of a neighboring cabinet
maker. who for reasonable sun
scraped it and refnished it in antique
brown.
This latter finish is sometimes
dubbed antique" because it was com
monty used upon fine old English and
Italian hand made furniture in days
gone by. II is a finish approximating
that OF good piece of mission or
craftsman furniture, perhaps a little
darker in tone and more glowing of
surface.
If a woman does not desire to go to
the trouble and expense on having her
furniture scraped she may obviate an
Objectionable finish by painting over it
in a tone TO harmonic with the rooms
background.
Extending Harmony to Chinnware.