New-York tribune., 1921-07-24
Come Into the Couny--Here Is House for Home Conf
An Empty House Should Haze
A Personality, Experts Say
Only Rugs and Curtains Needed to Bring Vacant
Home to Life If 1t Has Built-In Furniture;
but Mstsi BE i'm Perfect Harmony

"Built-in furniture is very good in a
small room, because it takes and keeps
its place as 81 part of the wall and in
| creases the floor space 1t is advan-
tageous in room of great size, because
J it then becomes of architectural i'm
| portance, and may be of great decora-
tive value in mass and color il its con-
ception is in scale with the architects
! conception of the room as whole.
"Built-in furniture, on the other
hand, is for the permanent home, not
for the transitory one. 1t must be we'll
built, because you cannot change it as
you would an unsatisfactory chair or
table.
"The ideal built-in furniture repre-
sents great simplicity and perfect
we women were slaves to bulky things.
We didn't think for ourselves. Our clas-
sic houses had too much of geometrical
exactness to permit closets or win
| dow seats or open, book shelves and
we meekly endured the colossal fur
niture that was thrust upon US.
"The smaller our house the more
necessary it becomes to consider its
possibilities. We must not forget that
the fireplace with it's surmounting
mantel, the windows with their broad
| sills, the closets and cupboards are
all architectural furniture and must
objects to be brought into the room,
as we'll as in relation to the window
seats, the settles, the open book
shelves that will become a part of the
room. A closet with we'll placed shelves
and glass doors becomes as definite a
part of the furnishings of the dining
room as the chairs and table. The
thimneypiece invites book shelves in
| the recess fanking it, and the book
shelves invite settles, and so an ordi-
nary corner becomes q place for fore
gathering. group of windows invites
long window seat, with latticed
paneling that conceals the necessary,
but hideous, radiators. The kitchen,
o. course, is practically made up of
tuilt-in furniture. 1t needs no argu-
ment.
every angle of the house should b.,
given the furniture it invites, and con-
vention should be subordinated to in
genuity. When the house is finished it
will be pleasantly furnished; only ta-
bles and chairs will be imme mediately
necessary. You can wait comfortably
Tor the things you really want. There
will be no temptation to rush in and
buy lecklessly, and in the fullness of
home with finds that will become real
household gods"
The contractor who builds your home
is no more fitted to design architectural
furniture to meet such ideals as those
mentioned than is the mason, the plum
Der or the electrician. He specializes
in branches requiring skill of another
sort. A designer of furniture, could
his services be secured, would do a
worthy job. No one is better fitted,
however, to design the built-in things
that fit your particular tastes and
needs, and at the SAINT time harmonic
satisfyingly with the type of home,
than is your architect.
He understands the use of holdings,
of small panes, of kinds of wood, of
historical precedent and the many
things that go to make up an ideal
piece of permanent furniture as con-
trasted with the box-like structures
often referred to as "cabinet-wor
1t is true that one can buy from
stock, already set up, many of these
things-from bookcases and mantels to
linen cases and tray cases. Before
doing so, however, the builder should
satisfy himself, not only that its CON
struction is such as to guarantee it's
serviceability, but that the designs
have architectural merit.