Part 10

A house can only be considered properly furnished when it meets the real needs of the occupants. Comfortable chairs, sofas, and beds, good tables, and soft carpets, make up the most important objects, and these should be the best that the family can afford. No definite rule can be applied to the arrangement of the furniture, but balance and wall space should be considered first. Where a single opening is placed in the center of the wall, or like openings at equal distances, the wall spaces will be in balance; in the case of unequal openings, the wall spaces will be out of balance.

At balanced wall spaces, place pieces of furniture of relative size and contour. These may be tables, chairs, sofas, and pictures. Leave the more intimate and personal furniture, such as favorite chairs, sewing table, and foot stool, for a grouping at one side or in the center of the room. Lay all carpets and rugs parallel with the longest sides of the room.

In a room with unbalanced wall spaces, place against the longest spaces the largest pieces of furniture--the piano, the bookcase, the davenport--grouping perhaps a table, mirror, and chair against a smaller and opposite wall space. This permits the comfortable chairs, tables, lamps, and pottery to relieve the stiffness, allowing them to be grouped in the center of the room.

Do not indulge in too many pictures, but select a few of interest and good quality. These few should be hung on a level with the average eye. Small pictures should be hung somewhat lower.

Do not invest in many ornaments. A few bits of colored pottery, or some brass ware, is all that is required to strike a lively note. Place these so that they will balance other objects arranged on the same mantel or bookshelf. For example, a pair of brass candlesticks placed at either end of a mantel, with a pottery bowl, clock, or ornament in the center, strikes a balance. Never have a large jar on a small table or stand, or small ornaments on a large table. A good thing to remember is that ornaments decrease in value as they increase in number.

In the following pages will be found suggestive lists of articles which the rooms in a Better Home might contain. For further assistance and more detail, write the Bureau of Information.

Suggestions for Furnishing the Hall

The first impression of a house and its occupants comes as one enters through the front door into the hall. Thus, nowhere in the entire house is it more important to strike the right keynote in furnishing and decoration. If there is no closet in the hall for wraps and umbrellas, it will be necessary to have in some obscure corner a wooden strip painted the same color as the woodwork, in which are solid brass hooks, placed low enough so that the young members of the family can reach them. Also, for umbrellas, provide a plain pottery jar which will harmonize with the color scheme of walls and carpets.

On the hall table have a card tray--brass if the hardware is brass--silver if the hardware is nickel or iron--and a medium-sized pottery vase in crackle ware, or some natural color. A hall lantern or scones would be in harmony with these furnishings, and have decorative value.

A Suggested Color Scheme for the Hall

Walls--Ivory paper or paint.

Woodwork--Paint--dull finish.

Floors--Hardwood--Stained antique oak, finished with wax or varnish.

Floors--Softwood--Painted a deep yellow, or gray, or stained to represent hardwood.

Floors--Linoleum--In a tile pattern of black and white, provided the living room is not directly connected with the hall; in such case use only plain brown, grey, or Jaspe linoleum.

Below is a Suggested List of Furnishings Which the Hall Might Contain

A table--Of oak, mahogany, or walnut, either drop-leaf, gate-leg, or console.

A mirror--Gilt, or to match the wood in the table, Early American or English.

A straight chair or two--With or without rush seats, enameled black, with stencil design, or to match the wood of the tables.

A low-boy--Of mahogany or walnut, with drawers for gloves, string, etc.

A large chest--Of oak or brass-trimmed mahogany, for overshoes, etc.

One or two rugs--May be Oriental in blues, browns, tans or black; or wool braided, in blues, browns, tans or black; or Wilton, in blues, browns, tans or black; or Axminster, in blues, browns, tans or black.

A cocoa mat placed at front door.

The Living Room

As the living room is the gathering place for family and friends, it may well be considered the most important room in the house. It should take its keynote for decoration from the hall. If there is a wide doorway connecting the living room with the hall, the color scheme should be the same. As the living room serves as library also, open book shelves, painted the same as the woodwork, are essential, and more substantial than book cases.

The first requisite of such a room is that it shall be restful. Avoid using rocking chairs. Use little bric-a-brac. Nothing which does not contribute to the necessity and beauty of the room should be allowed.

Tan or ivory is good in a room which is inclined to be dark, or gray and gray-green in a room inclined to be bright.

A Suggested Color Scheme for Living Room