Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-01
HOME DECORATIONS
By H. Addington Bruce

~ ECENTLY there came to my attention a
~ book-Bernard c. Jakway's principles Of
l. Interior Decoration''-which l have read
with genuine interest. 1t is 4 work l would
recommend to all appreciative Of the impor
lance of making the home attractive-looking
and one the alert for information helpful tC
that most desirable end.
Unlike too many writers on home decoration
Mr.. Jakway makes no oppressive parading of
his professional knowledge He writes SO that
he really is understandable. And, unlike many
other experts in decoration, he has a sensible
regard for the financial limitations of most Of
those who wish to make their homes attractive
One does not have to be of the wealthy
to turn his recommendations to practical &C.
count. In fact, he is at pains to guard his
readers against the delusion that money is the
chief requisite in this proper furnishing and
decorating of the home:
GALL uniting decoration, of whatever kind Is
vanity and vexation of spirit 1t involves the
loss of comfort the sacrifice of beauty, the
waste of money.
occasionally, of course, 1t must reult from
lack of means. But far more often it result:
from lack of taste, of energy, and of simple
common sense.
"That large means are essential to the cfea-
ton of comfortable and beautiful rooms, and
that such rooms are certain to result when large
means are employed, is widespread notion
whose u1SoundneSS is exposed by multitudes
of homes.
"In point of fact, any one can furnish home
fifty and even beautifully with relatively mex
penSive Materials provided only that he have
the taste to recognize fitness and beauty inmate
| rails, the energy and patience to search out ths
right things, and the imaginative power neces.
sary to combine them in harmonious wholeS
And, to be sure. there also is needed knowl-
edge of decorative first principles. Some PEG
pie seem to possess this i1tuitively. Most peo
pie have to acquire it. Because many do moi
make any effort to acquire it, really attractive
homes are the exception rather than the rule.
There are homes. for example, which are rem.
dered nerve-streSsing and almost unlivable by
the multiplicity of the objects they contain
Cluttered with bric-a-brac, over-furnished In
every room, they do not satisfy and soothe
but overwhelm and irritate
Other homes are lacking in attractiveness
through undue zeal for the picturesque as COM
pared with the comfortable The purpose OF
the home is very different from that of the art
museum. Yet there are people who seem to
forget this in their eagerneSS to make show
places of their homes.
And then there are homes which are sadly
unhomellke because of a strange comnlinqlinc
OF the expensive and the cheap. Most distress
ing OF all, though, are the homes which actually
repel by the crude and harsh color effect in
their finiShngS and wallpapers.
TO help his readers avoid falling into errors
such as these, to help develop their aesthetic
sensibilities to give them technical instruction
in non-techncal language, Mr.. Jakway has writ
ten his book. 1t is exactly the kind of book
novices in interior decoration can most profit
ably study.
Nor is it lacking in value to those who al
READY nave made real progress toward the mas
terry OF what is truly an important art
Copyright, 1922. by The Associated Newsna-
perS)