20th Century Home Decorating Guide

The custom of appropriate and harmoniousfurniture in our living rooms, is the amount of
treatment of home decorating, interiorjudgment and discretion displayed. Two favorable
decorations and suitable furniture, seems to haveexamples of the present fashion, representing the
been in a great measure abandoned during theinterior of the Saloon and Drawing Room at
present century, owing perhaps to theSandringham House, are here reproduced.
indifference of architects of the time to thisHow The Gather Inheritance Influenced On The
subsidiary but necessary portion of their work, orHome Decorations
perhaps to a desire for economy, which preferredThere is at the present time an ambition on the
the cheapness of painted and artificially grainedpart of many well-to-do persons to imitate the
pine-wood, with decorative effects produced byeffect produced in houses of old families where,
wall papers, to the more solid but expensivefor generations, valuable and memorable articles
though less showy wood-panelling, architecturalof decorative furniture have been accumulated,
mouldings, well-made panelled doors and chimneyjust as pictures, plate and china have been
pieces, which one finds, down to quite the end ofpreserved; and failing the inheritance of such
the last century, even in houses of moderatehousehold gods, it is the practice to acquire, or as
rentals. Furniture therefore became independentthe modern term goes, "to collect," old furniture
and "beginning to account herself an Art,of different styles and periods, until the room
transgressed her limits"... and "grew to the conceitbecomes incongruous and overcrowded, an
that it could stand by itself, and, as well as itsevidence of the wealth, rather than of the taste,
betters, went a way of its own."of the owner. As it frequently happens that such
Interior Conservatory Finishingcollections are made very hastily, and in the brief
The interiors, handed over from the builder, as itintervals of a busy commercial or political life, the
were, in blank, are filled up from the upholsterer'sselections are not the best or most suitable; and
store, the curiosity shop, and the auction room,where so much is required in a short space of
while a large contribution from the conservatorytime, it becomes impossible to devote a sufficient
or the nearest florist gives the finishing touch to asum of money to procure a really valuable
mixture, which characterizes the present tastespecimen of the kind desired; in its place an
for furnishing a boudoir or a drawing room.effective and low priced reproduction of an old
There is, of course, in very many cases anpattern (with all the faults inseparable from such
individuality gained by the "omnium gatherum" ofconditions) is added to the conglomeration of
such a mode of furnishing. The cabinet whicharticles requiring attention, and taking up space.
reminds its owner of a tour in Italy, the quaintThe limited accommodation of houses built on
stool from Tangier, and the embroidered pianoground which is too valuable to allow spacious halls
cover from Spain, are to those who travel,and large apartments, makes this want of
pleasant souvenirs; as are also the presents fromdiscretion and judgment the more objectionable.
friends (when they have taste and judgment), theThere can be no doubt that want of care and
screens and flower-stands, and the photographs,restraint in the selection of furniture, by the
which are reminiscences of the forms and facespurchasing public, affects its character, both as to
separated from us by distance or death. The testdesign and workmanship.
of the whole question of such an arrangement of