The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-04
INSPIRATION FROM
STRANGE SOURCES
Housewives Find Hints for
Home Decoration in q
Palais de Danse.

Intensive living Is the now expression
adapted by housekeepers from another
use of the phrase and uttered by them
TO explain why they give up their large
houses and vast apartments for smaller
places, every part OF which, even TO
closet and hall. is to be actually lived
in. No place is like home under this
use Of the word Intensive" which has a
nook or corner in II untouched by the
family influence. In other words, the
moderns have banished the attic, the
parior and the spare chamber.
Under these new conditions which APP
ply we'll for town life. as for many II
must be lived to-day, decoration and
furnishing take on a new aspect. The
beautiful must be combined with the
useful In furniture and the decorative
note Is by necessity personal Every
thing must be chosen by the house
keeper with n view to this vital under
standing OF what modern small house
or apartment must be. and she It Is, not
the fashionable decorator, who Will de-
eide upon the color note. Unless she be-
gins with definite idea of what she
wants this 10 be she Is apt 10 ba
harassed by the same doubts that beset
the woman In the wall paper house "
she could but see the paper she adrnires
hung on wall she could easily tell
whether 1t was what she wanted or not.
The woman with original ideas and
oosessed by the hope of making her
own little place Intensive" wanders
about looking everywhere to discover II
these ideas have b.en applied by dec
orators at any time. Occasionally her
quest Is rewarded where she could
scarcely have hoped to find success. In
an application of black and white used
by Winter and Rau in tho latest dane
ing place decorated by them one woman
received an inspiration for the use OF
the same tones in her apartment. BY
dyeing her hangings from their Du
Barry shade to a dull blue and fringing
them with black and applying a narrow
line OF gold to door and wall panels this
clever amateur decorator made over the
professionals scheme to At her own be-
longings
As It happened the bulk OF her china
was In delft blue and the dining room,
opening of the living room. took even
more kindly to this color scheme. The
same notes in the bed chamber were
iightened by the use OF French cretonne
in blue and gold and black. The apart
ment when ready made a congruous
whole. livable everywhere, and while in
enect one large living room, which
was her dominant Idea. IL was suffi-
GENTLY diversified to avoid monotony.
Something akin to Inspiration does
frequently come to home makers in the
strangest places. And the daring use
Of color, prohibited by the chastened
taste OF the men who have studied only
hiIf apnnlnpad nv daCora
like the above in room like the Cafe
de Paris or the Club de Montmartre, has
suggested possibilities to the observant
woman who wants to make her house
different and still keep Il artistic. In
the former place there IL a dazzling
peacock curtain elaborated with old
bullion and brighter spangles. In the
shadings Of the blue color. hints must
have been taken by these decorators
from the Egyptians. who never made the
mistake of putting the layer of body
color at the top. " this one gorgeous
color scheIhe there are hints as to the
use OF blues that properly worked out
entirely. removes the sombre effect too
apt to he given by a cerulean combina
ton. Confessedly such a nest as one
inspired by this peacock combination
would be charming for a young couple
who could live up to It with ease: II
by larger family.
A still lovelier color note has been
suggested to another woman BY the
Pompeiian villa shown in the Metropok
itan Museum. When she gave up her
house and moved into Park avenue
apartment the professional decorator
whom she called in to consult advised
that the small place OF Ave rooms be
done in a prevailing golden brown.
"No." said she. ct have been recently
saturated with coral and I can see moth
ing else. Let US see what we can make
of a subordinated shade of this color
combined with an indefinite blue" The
decorator shook head doubtfully, but
carried out his clients wish for an ''in-
tensiye' apartment. II suggests Pompeii
only and is universally admired. The
family like II because they find II i'm
possible to be depressed therein.
What is TO be learned (even Il II is
for the purpose OF avoidance from form
ana color as applied by decorators en-
tireiy outside tho home limit will often
provo distinctly valuable. One may
CLEAN only a hint. but that hint carefully
nourfshed may blossom into an interior
distinctly new but at the Same time
fvable.