Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-25
Home Decorating
Taste Comes From
Study and Tests
Lessons of Great Artists
and Master Designers
i Essential to Success.
BY OSCAR o. wIDMANN.

There are two impressions. both err
roneous, that the average layman holds
regarding the decoration and furnish
ing or home. They are that the ONLY
requisite Is good taste and that the
employment of an interior decorator is
OF necessity an expensive proposition.
Good taste, that intangible but none the
less very real quality, is, first Of all, not
an instinct, current opinion to the con-
trary Notwithstanding. It Is in almost
every case the result of much study and
comes only after considerable expert
ence.
Taste In decoration Is peculiarly de-
pendent on an intensive study Of the
best that has been done by the great
artists and master designers. coupled
with first-hand experience achieved
by the actual carrying out of certain
schemes and an intelligent observation
Of the result.
Freshness Of View.
Whereas the tendency of the best of
modern decoration is TO eschew imper-
sonal period rooms and hackneyed ar
rangementS in favor of something less
obvious and stereotyped that achieves
q certain originality, yet an effect
gained through mere being different
Is seldom one that has a lasting, pleas
test Of certain analysis. Still. a certain
freshness Of point of view is commend
able, II not essential, to the distinguished
interior.
It is just in this avoidance of the
slavlsh following of tradition that the
danger to the amateur lies. How far
may one go without being bizarre, or,
what Is probably worse, plain, dull? In
spite Of all our emancipation from the
old conventions there 10
Unable rules that maintain. There are
certain designs, fabrics, even colors,
that mt certain periods and others that
are all wrong in the same environment.
With such wrong start you can never
hope TO capture the elusive quality we
call style and with certainty will ruin
the effect the architect has created in
his background.
Proper Environment.
If your love is for French furniture
and you have neglected to inform your
architect Of this fact you are doing him
an injustice when you insist on filling
the flne Georgian house he may have
built for you with Directoire, Regency
or Louis XIV pieces. no matter how fine
in themselves; and. what much more
intimately concerns you, you have lost
the chance TO make your home a de-
lightful and charming harmonious unit.
You Will learn 10 love fine eighteenth
century English furniture in its proper
environment, but you will never be
pleased, provided, OF course, you are not
just plain blind to such things with an
architectural and decorative misalliance
There is no reason why some French
pieces may not be mixed with English
ones of about the same epoch to ad-
vantage and vice versa, but there are
some that do not agree at all Why a
Louis XVI canape in a room featuring
Sheraton. Heppelwhite and Adam can
be a delight and. on the other hand
an Empire armchair in a Chinese Chip
pendale melieu be an eyesore is a mat
ter for an expert TO determine.
Play Important Part.
Colors, fabrics, textures all play an
why crimson, strong yellow and rich
blue are more suitable to early English
furnishing or to the Italian and Span
fish sixteenth century interior than
would be rose, peach or robin's-ege
blue. Moreover tapestries, damasks
brocades and brocatelles have their af-
filiation, quite apart from their color Oh
design.
Satin, taffeta. velvets or glazed chint7
are more than mere covering for furni-
ture or a means to keep out the toe
bright sun. To use them intelligentlN
and to their best advantage. which
means in the manner that gives thu
best Anal result to the room, you have
to know what you are about. When Il
conss to intermingling these fabric.
Ae neophyte Is treading on dangerouI
eFsund.