The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-11-04
Decorator
Puts Ban ON
Souvenirs
BY JULIA BLANSHARD
MA Service Writer

NEW YORK, Nov. 4-Your home
should be beautifully unfinished"
if it Is to be really smart this win
ter. according to Lady Mendl, the
amazing American who leads an eX-
tremely busy double life, being FL
sic de Wolfe, interior decorator
abroad and here, and Lady Mendl,
social celebrity, known as one Of the
best dressed women on the CONT
nent.
Don't have that souvenir look
about your home" is Lady MendIs
first bit Of advice to the woman who
cares enough how her home looks
10 do something about it.
GO in for elimination, rather
than over decoration. Don't litter
your house with bric-a-brac just
because you have heard that home
decorations. like fashions, have gone
back to the more romantic and or
namental ages for their inspiration.
It isn't true
Taste in home. decorations may
change and do. But restraint and
the elimination of the unnecessary
sim are the yardsticks Of smartness.
Living Room Most Important
Light cir. and comfort are the
three things Lady Mendl under
scores as first considerations in any
and all rooms. Since the living
room is the meeting place Of the
whole family, it is the most i'm
portant room in the average home.
Her definition of living room runs
something like this:
"A living room should look as
if it had been loved and lived in
for years. It should be big and
restful, little shabby here and
there, perhaps, but all the more
satisfactory for that, like an old
shoe that goes on easily.
It should have big, welcoming,
rather sprawly chairs and sofas,
simple decorations and no junk.
Even if it is small, there should
be one grandfather chair, for it
gives more dignity to a room than
a dozen inferior ones.
"A living room needs a certain
amount of order, because there is
no rest in a disorderly place. But
no formality should be there. The
living room should reflect a certain
flavor of the family's main hobby"
Pets Help Effect
Everybody should have a place
IN the living rooms scheme, even
the pets, or "little people" as Lady
MendI GALES them. In smart room
she once was doing she made an
old Chinese lacquer box with
canopy top and little gold bells
into a perfect spot for the family
pet Peke.
Apartment homes have rules all
their own. Some of them are as
follows:
Never buy any wallpaper be-
cause it is new different or
pretty If you do small apart
ment in ivory, cream, gray or soft
green for woodwork and walls,
every single room will look bigger
than patterned papered walls and
imitation grained woodwork.
1t is unwise to try to work out
a cut-and-dried color scheme in
small apartments. If you keep your
floors and walls neutral, you can
introduce dozens of soft colors into
your home. Beware of big figured
hangings in small spaces.
Why not use plain coarse linen or
raw silk in dull blue, orange, brown
or whatever color you select for
your key tone and get the figured
complex out of your system by COW
ering the arm chair with gay
chintz?"
Bedrooms are a law unto them
selves, even in apartments, accord
ing to Lady Mendl. You can use
floral paper on their walls when the
entire rest of the apartment or
house is plain.
The bed should dominate the bed
room. Besides the bed, the impor-
tant necessities in a bedroom are
lounging chair or chaise lounge,
bedside table, good lighting to read
in bed and clock.
Either in the bedroom or if you
have a dressing room, too, there
should be high-powered lights and
good mirrors all around.
Supper to Be Held
Ladies of~the Second Reformed
church will serve dinner from IL to