Ellsworth American., 1926-11-24
FURNISHING THE HOME

Economics, U. OF NJ e'
The home is portrayal OF the
tastes and desires of the family
| therefore great care and plenty Of
time should be used in the selection
| of it's furnishings. The home is also
a permanent affair which must sur
vive many years of usage and wear,
so it should express lasting, sincere
and dignified ideas which changing
fads will not affect.
Simplicity in the treatment of the
home furnishing is safe rule to
follow; the house throughout should
appear consistent, genuine and
harmonious. For example one could
not express harmony when delicate
mahogany furniture is used with a
beamed ceiling which requires heavy
massive furniture.
Mrs. Browns home is one which,
although small, is far more at
tractive than many more pretentious
homes. 1t does not just happen
that her home is so pleasing, but is
due to much planning in regard to
what was best suited to her type
of house. AS the amount of money
which she was allowed for house
not buy the most expensive things,
therefore, was obliged to hunt for
the inexpensive things which had
good lines, structure and were dura-
BILE
The rooms in the Brown house
are very high, so that throughout
Mrs. Brown endeavored to make
the ceilings appear lower by intro
ducing strong horizontal lines.
Therefore, she tinted the ceiling a
soft color which blended with the
wall paper and brought the ceiling
color down on the side wall about
eleven inches. She might have pro-
duced the same effect by using a
molding at the intersection of the
side wall and ceiling, thus making
the picture molding continuous with
the tops of the doors and windows.
In the kitchen and bathroom the
walls were made to appear lower by
use of wainscoting.
With the window draperies she
used a valance and hung these so
that the width of the window open
ing was emphasized Much of the
furniture was built with dominating
horizontal lines, such as long, mar
row tables, davenports and book
cases. The pictures are mostly
horizontal oblongs, and the smaller
pictures are grouped together so
that either the lower or upper edge
makes a continuous horizontal line.
If the rooms of the Brown home
were low Mrs. Brown would have
followed different proceedings.
The picture molding would be
placed at the ceiling thereby leav-
ing the side wall undivided. A
paper with unobstructive vertical
stripes would also give heightened
appearance.
Long, straight, overdraperles
both at windows and doors, ar
ranged to give effect Of height and
narrow openings increase the
height. Then instead of wide
furniture she would select tall, mar
row pieces. The chief pictures
would be vertical oblongs, and small
pictures would be grouped up and
down the side walls.
The low ceilinged rooms of the
old farm house may be treated in
this manner and appear almost
spacious.
The dining room Of the Brown
home is almost square, and as the
effect is so uninteresting, she de-
termined to lengthen one d1men-
sion, and give the room an oblong
appearance which is not so mo-
notonous. She decided to emphasize
the distance between two windows
placed on opposite sides of the
room. She first turned the rug so
that the long side ran between
these two ends, then arranged the
long pieces of furniture as the bufet
and serving table along these walls.
On the other ends, she put smaller
furniture as chairs. In anotner
room of this type, shelves, seats
and mirrows might be USED 10
lengthen the appearance or the
room.
The living room is very long and
narrow so of course the lady OF the
home wants to increase the width
and decrease the length of this
room. She did this by several de-
vices. When the outside chimney
for fireplace was built Mrs.
Brown had it constructed on the
long wall of the room thereby
breaking the long area on one side.
Then she bought two rugs and
placed them so the long edges were
parallel to the short side or the
room. thus establishing cross lines.
The furniture was placed and
grouped so that the width rather
than the length Of the room is en-
phasized, for instance, the piano Is
placed opposite the fireplace which
it balances and likewise breaks up
the wall space. The large table is
arranged so that the long side goes
across the short side Of the room
and the big chair with the cigar
stand is not at one end of the
long wall but near the center of the
room.
In papering the rooms Mrs.
Brown chose the paper both to suit
the size of the room and it's loca-
tion. Thus the small rooms are