■ 
 
 
 V 
 
 
THE ART OF FURNISHING. 
 
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 in 2018 with funding from 
 Getty Research Institute 
 
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 https://archive.org/details/artoffurnishingoOOhjch 
 
THE ART OF FURNISHING 
 
 ON RATIONAL AND AESTHETIC 
 PRINCIPLES. 
 
 BY 
 
 H. J. C. 
 
 HENRY S. KING AND CO., LONDON. 
 1876. 
 
(The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved .) 
 
 THE GETTY CENTER 
 LIBRARY 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Never, perhaps, have the twin subjects of furniture 
 and decoration received so large a share of public 
 attention as at the present time. 
 
 Magazines and periodicals readily allot space to 
 the topic ; and architects are eagerly consulted as 
 to style, colour, and general arrangement of the 
 interior fittings of the house. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, a vast amount of activity, 
 literary and otherwise, there is, with the one excep¬ 
 tion of Mr. Eastlake’s eminently serviceable, though 
 somewhat severe and inflexible, “ Hints on House¬ 
 hold Taste,’’ no ready handbook for the guidance of 
 those who find themselves suddenly confronted with 
 the complex details of painting, papering, and furnish¬ 
 ing a house, matters to which neither their ordinary 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 avocations nor special tastes have led them to give 
 any previous thought. 
 
 It is with the hope of suggesting some intelligible 
 mode of procedure that the following pages are 
 written, in which the reader is taken, step by step, 
 through the not unpleasant task of decorating, and 
 then furnishing (of course in a supervising-—-not a 
 mechanical sense) an ordinary dwelling-house. 
 
 The writer has purposely avoided introducing any 
 designs illustrative of the principles he advocates, 
 since “ style ” is progressive and subject to varia¬ 
 tion, while the principles themselves, so far as they 
 are correct, are immutable. 
 
 South Hampstead, 
 
 December, 1875 . 
 
 I 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I.—OF THE DECORATION. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE HALL AND STAIRCASE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DINING-ROOM .. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DRAWING-ROOM 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 I 
 
 THE BEDROOMS . 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ATTICS AND BASEMENT 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I 
 
 • 4 
 
 • 7 
 
 . 11 
 
 .. 23 
 
 • • 30 
 
 THE NURSERIES 
 
 ... 32 
 
Contents, 
 
 vm 
 
 part If— OF THE FURNITURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE HALL ... 
 
 THE DINING-ROOM 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DRAWING-ROOM 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 THE BEDROOMS 
 
 CHAPTER v. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ... 36 
 
 44 
 
 73 
 
 99 
 
 ON STYLE 
 
 MISCELLANEA 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 104 
 
 107 
 
 IN CONCLUSION 
 
 ... 112 
 
The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 
 PART I. 
 
 OF THE DECORATION. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Having chosen your house, make a note of its 
 general plan, and mark the aspect of the various 
 rooms. 
 
 Without a fair idea of the size and form of 
 your rooms it will be impossible to set to work, 
 even in imagination, to furnish them; while “ as¬ 
 pect” is an all-important consideration, otherwise 
 you may run into the error of giving the north 
 side of the house a colder look, and making your 
 south rooms uncomfortably hot. 
 
 2 
 
2 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 A little care, however, will enable us to modify 
 existing conditions where unfavourable, or to 
 intensify them where desirable. And first, in a 
 scheme of furnishing, we would consider 
 
 THE WALLS. 
 
 Your house may have been inhabited before, or 
 perhaps it is newly built. In either case the 
 probability is that the walls are already papered 
 or painted, and with equal probability the paper- 
 hangings are unsuitable, or at best only passable. 
 It is a singular thing that the builder should 
 be allowed to take the initiative in decorating 
 a house, without the slightest reference to the 
 wishes of those who may occupy and furnish it. 
 It might be better if he would content himself 
 with putting on a first coat of paint only. 
 
 Now, as the walls constitute a background—an 
 atmosphere, so to speak, of tone or colour, from 
 which the occupants are never free, and which 
 must exercise, not a mere sentimental, but a 
 positive influence upon their nervous organism, 
 we would say: By all means have your normal 
 surroundings as much as possible in harmony 
 with your individual taste, and with the special 
 
The Walls. 
 
 3 
 
 requirements of the several apartments. We 
 insist upon this being the key-note of the whole, 
 from which all other details of the room must 
 spring harmoniously. Let us begin, as we enter, 
 with the Hall and Staircase. 
 
 2* 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE HALL AND STAIRCASE. 
 
 The invariable “ Sienna marble ” paper has its 
 merits, presenting a mellow tone, neither too 
 dark nor too hot—qualities, however, which may 
 be obtained in greater variety without the mean¬ 
 ingless representation of marble halls and stair¬ 
 cases in houses otherwise built of brick and 
 stucco. 
 
 Paint is perhaps the best for a staircase; or 
 the lower wall may be painted to a height vary¬ 
 ing from three to five feet, and the upper part 
 coloured, in distemper, a lighter tint than the 
 lower part (or dado). A dividing line, darker 
 still, should be struck between the two portions, 
 and the woodwork (doors, skirtings, &c.) should 
 be painted in dark corresponding tones. 
 
 But if it is desired to paper the Hall and Stair- 
 
The Hall and Staircase. 5 
 
 case, there are now papers to be had of special 
 design for the purpose, which may be either var¬ 
 nished or not, or the lower part only varnished. 
 
 As to the colours most suitable, that will depend 
 in a measure on the amount of light obtainable. 
 The Staircase is a passage, not a dwelling-room, 
 and admits of lighter treatment, inasmuch as we 
 have not to consider the effect of the walls as a 
 background to persons or things. We incline to 
 an effect of coolness and airiness, combined with 
 a pleasant softness of tone. If patterned, the 
 pattern should have a softly-stencilled effect, and 
 not be obtrusive. 
 
 On the other hand, since the Staircase is not 
 subject to the restraints imposed upon the other 
 apartments, a bolder and more vigorous treat¬ 
 ment may be adopted. The architectural features, 
 for instance, may offer facilities for effective 
 decoration, and your Hall and Staircase may 
 present charming glimpses of classic or mediaeval 
 periods; or we may find ourselves surrounded 
 with imagery of tropical luxuriance, while the 
 forms and fragrance of real plants will complete 
 the delusion. Only, the apartments must be 
 sumptuous in proportion, or our expectations 
 
6 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 will be raised, to be disappointed further on. 
 In a general way, however, the Staircase will 
 claim only a moderate share of attention. 
 
 Creamy yellow or buff, pale fawn, pale sal¬ 
 mon, or light tones of Indian red, pale sage- 
 greens, turquoise blue, are among the tints to 
 be recommended. 
 
 Greys are apt to have a gloomy effect, unless 
 relieved by pictures or prints. 
 
 For yellow or buff walls, the dado and wood¬ 
 work may be chocolate or olive brown, or a dark 
 blue toned down with black. For pale salmon, 
 dark bronze-green. For pale sage-green, either 
 darker tints of the same, or dull green-blue, 
 olive-browns, or Indian red. With turquoise- 
 blue, chocolate will contrast best, or maroon. 
 
 Take care not to let your entrance (or Hall) 
 overpower the rooms which are entered from it, 
 but let it be subordinate, and leading up to the 
 colours of the reception rooms. 
 
 From the Hall we pass to the Dining-room. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DINING-ROOM. 
 
 Here, one or two considerations meet us. Is 
 the room intended to be used solely, or chiefly, 
 for the purpose of dining ? or is it to constitute 
 dining-room, morning-room, breakfast-room, and 
 library in one ? In fact, is the greater portion of 
 the day to be spent in this room ? If so, let us 
 treat it accordingly, and not hamper ourselves 
 with restrictions as to what is the proper and 
 usual mode to observe in the treatment of a 
 Dining-room. 
 
 For a Dining-room, as such, a certain richness 
 and heaviness of decoration is not unbecoming. 
 Where oil paintings are hung, plain sage or olive 
 green, or dull red walls make a good background: 
 these may be painted, or suitable papers are to be 
 found. 
 
8 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 Pompeian red has been considerably used, and 
 is very effective with black woodwork. There are 
 likewise the French leather papers, Japanese and 
 real leathers, painted canvas, or even some of the 
 printed cretonnes, and a variety of means open to 
 those who can afford them of covering the walls, 
 all of which however demand, for their rightful 
 carrying out, a panelled dado, painted, or left in 
 the natural wood. 
 
 If, however, the room is to be both Dining-room 
 and sitting-room, we would have a less conven¬ 
 tional treatment. There should be a warmth 
 and quiet cheerfulness, an air of sprightliness 
 and yet repose, and, above all, an absence of 
 monotony. And here we do not think the end 
 can be better answered than by the judicious 
 employment of some of the really decorative 
 papers that are being produced just now under 
 the influence of a few leading minds. In some 
 of these there is a variety of outline and a blend¬ 
 ing of subtle tints, which, while forming a com¬ 
 parative monotone against which pictures and 
 objects may stand out, afford, in their absence, 
 a singularly fascinating study for the eye, with¬ 
 out being wearisome or over-engrossing. Har- 
 
9 
 
 The Dining-room. 
 
 monising or contrasting dados are usually made 
 for these papers, which heighten their effect, and, 
 at the same time, help to break the line of the 
 wall against which the furniture stands. A dado 
 should be higher or lower than the middle of 
 the wall (usually lower), but must never cut the 
 space into two equal parts. The dado and skirt¬ 
 ing should not be less than three feet six inches 
 high. No rules can be laid down for the colours 
 to be employed here. If the conditions before 
 mentioned are borne in mind, we do not know 
 that we need limit the use of any subdued tints 
 or well-balanced combinations. The position of 
 the room will again govern the warmth or cool¬ 
 ness of the colours. If the ceiling is not 
 decorated, at least there is no reason why the 
 dead chalkiness of the whitewash should not be 
 relieved by the admixture of a little ochre or 
 lake, or other colour harmonising or contrasting 
 with the walls. Excepting with very light walls, 
 a toned ceiling is much more agreeable than 
 pure white, and costs no more. The tinting of 
 a cornice, or ornamenting a ceiling with bands 
 and lines of colour, requires care and some little 
 skill. 
 
io The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 As regards the woodwork, the time-honoured 
 fashion of graining in imitation of natural woods 
 can only be defended on the score of durability, 
 and the facility with which it can be patched 
 and touched up. Plain colours, harmonising 
 with the wall colours, are preferable, or even a 
 coating of varnish alone, where the joinery is 
 fairly good. If paint, it can be varnished, which 
 is most lasting, or finished with an “ egg-shell 
 gloss.” 
 
 In room decoration, and in a Dining-room 
 especially, a broad massing of colours is far more 
 effective than too much fussy “ picking out ” of 
 mouldings, and elaboration of delicate lines and 
 arabesque ornament, which, at a little distance, 
 are, for all practical purposes, lost, or worse than 
 thrown away. As for mouldings and projections, 
 it is doubtful whether the labour expended in 
 tinting these produces, in many cases, so good 
 an effect as if they were left to the natural play 
 of light and shade. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DRAWING-ROOM. 
 
 This room claims special attention. Here 
 “ beauty, sweetness, and light ” are to culmi¬ 
 nate. The purpose of a Drawing-room is relaxa¬ 
 tion and social enjoyment, hence all the powers 
 of our art and mind may be lavished upon this 
 room, which should be the embodiment of oui 
 finer nature, and often does most faithfully re¬ 
 present us in our individual characteristics, our 
 tastes, and capacities. 
 
 Other rooms are, so to speak, work-rooms, and 
 take their tone from the necessary pursuits to 
 which they are more or less set apart; but in 
 this room fancy reigns supreme, and our spirits 
 find free scope, unfettered by the weightier cares 
 of life. Whatever of poetry, of art, or of culture 
 there is in us will manifest itself in the fittings 
 
12 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 and accessories of the with-drawing room. But 
 we concern ourselves at present only with the 
 walls. 
 
 We cannot say that we like a dark Drawing¬ 
 room-—-of the two, we should prefer a white and 
 gold room—but here, again, the apathetic indif¬ 
 ference with which we have followed each other 
 in the not very brilliant idea of white paint and 
 gilding, is a sufficient reason for renouncing a 
 style which has little claim to artistic merit, but 
 which owes its success chiefly to its brilliancy 
 and power of reflecting light. These two latter 
 qualities, or, rather, this conjoint quality, is not 
 to be lost sight of in a room in which a spirit 
 of gaiety rather than of gloom is to prevail, but 
 is quite compatible, nevertheless, with warmer 
 hues than the colourless medium of white. 
 
 Avoid a similarity Between the Dining-room 
 
 # 
 
 and Drawing-room. As the transition is usually 
 from the one to the other, it is best to seek a 
 pleasing contrast of colour. Grey, or white 
 with grey or gold, is of course a safe medium, 
 as it presents no difficulties in the way of after 
 furnishing; but, at best, it is tame. 
 
 Let us assume the Dining-room to be red. 
 
13 
 
 The Drawing-room. 
 
 ’We would then have a cool green tone for the 
 Drawing-room; or, if the former is green—say, 
 olive or sage-—a pale salmon-pink hue would make 
 a good contrast. Or something between harmony 
 and contrast is obtained by opposing olive-green 
 to a pale turquoise or Nile blue. 
 
 We cannot too strongly advocate this employ¬ 
 ment of varied effects of colour throughout a 
 house, as we believe a vast amount of pleasure 
 and satisfaction will thus be derived. 
 
 Pale lemon-yellow is another tone that ought to 
 be more frequently used for drawing-rooms. This, 
 or a fuller apricot-yellow, is most effective with 
 black woodwork, and nothing can light up better 
 than the former. 
 
 To briefly suggest a few of the colours that may 
 be safely used for the Dining-room and Drawing¬ 
 room, and the relation in which they best accord, 
 
 t 
 
 we will give the following table :— 
 
 DINING-ROOM. DRAWING-ROOM. 
 
 Dull red ... 
 
 Dark olive or sage. Pale apricot-yellow. 
 
 ( Grey blue to turquoise. 
 { Pale sage-green. 
 Salmon-pink. 
 
 Dark olive or sage ... 
 
 Turquoise or Nile blue. 
 J Lemon-yellow. 
 
 Dull peacock-blue. j Citrine. 
 
 Chocolate or fine browns ... Pale blues. 
 
14 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 These contrasts may also be used for the dado 
 and upper wall of the same room. 
 
 No tabulated list, however, will stand in place 
 of personal thought, but if the few contrasts given 
 are analysed, they will be found to contain the 
 principles of harmony; and if the reader has neither 
 the scientific knowledge nor natural faculty for 
 discerning colour, we should only lead him astray 
 by any lengthened list of secondary and tertiary 
 combinations.* 
 
 Science may do something, but the eye is the 
 true standard by which colour must be judged. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that in speaking of 
 the colour of a room we do not necessarily mean 
 that the walls are of one simple tint or wash of 
 colour: the pattern and colouring may be complex, 
 and yet there shall be one predominating hue which 
 shall give the tone to the room. A well-mixed 
 Indian or Persian carpet will contain an almost 
 endless number of colours, and yet there is often 
 one predominating tint or bloom—colour—and this 
 effect may be obtained in wall paper, though the 
 precise application may not be so desirable. 
 
 * A useful “ Manual of Colour ” is that by R. Redgrave 
 Esq., R.A. Chapman and Hall. 
 
The Drawing-room. 
 
 15 
 
 It may be noticed that we have omitted from 
 our list any mention of violet as a wall colour, and 
 we cannot pass by the omission without a reason. 
 
 Violet, it is well known, contrasts with pale 
 greenish yellow, and might be used as a bordering 
 or dado for cowslip-yellow; and a somewhat dull 
 (muddy) plum-violet will make a novel wall colour 
 and a good background for pictures ; but we can¬ 
 not recommend violet, as ordinarily understood. 
 We doubt its lasting properties, and we prefer to 
 restrict its use to the dresses of the occupants of a 
 room rather than employ it as a ground colour, in 
 which case it not unfrequently comes into serious 
 collision with many a tasteful expression of femi¬ 
 nine art, to the detriment of both walls and 
 dresses. 
 
 It does not become us, although we may have 
 our predilections, to attempt in a popular treatise 
 to force upon the conviction of our readers the 
 superiority of one particular style or epoch. More¬ 
 over we can, without hypocrisy, appreciate in¬ 
 trinsic merit in almost every style of art when at 
 its best. It is the period of decline that acts so 
 banefully, when, through assiduous toil and patient 
 care, the culminating point is reached and a school 
 
16 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 is formed. Then step in fashion and wealth and 
 pride, and the artisan and the artist are surfeited 
 with orders for the production of greater and 
 greater magnificence. Price is of no moment, and 
 that which before was a labour of love, is ,hence¬ 
 forth a scramble for wealth, and few indeed are 
 the heroes who refuse the dazzling bait. It is so 
 largely to-day in the province of fine art. Indus¬ 
 trial art we are thankful to say has not yet reached 
 the highest point in fortune’s wheel. 
 
 It is noticeable that the Drawing-room, how¬ 
 ever other rooms may, from circumstances of their 
 own, have escaped, has mostly been the scape¬ 
 goat upon which the sins of taste and fashion have 
 been laid. As regards the PI all—there has been 
 no need to alter the hard outlines of the accus¬ 
 tomed furniture, neither visitors nor ourselves 
 being wont to rest long here. The Dining-room 
 has mainly been let alone, on the ground of long 
 association and the somewhat unalterable nature 
 of its requirements; but the Drawing-room (from 
 a perfectly allowable assumption that here taste 
 may be permitted to express itself) is generally 
 the room in which everything that is irrational 
 and slavishly despicable is carefully crowded 
 
The Drawing-room. 1 7 
 
 together. If it is asked what it is we condemn, 
 we say, distinctly, the unthinking use of large 
 masses of gilding and glass and marble; of patchy, 
 realistic bunches of flowers on walls and carpets ; 
 of light, flimsy, ill-constructed chairs and tables 
 that will not fulfil their purpose; and of luxuri- 
 ously debilitating puffy sofas and chairs which our 
 ancestors would have scorned. We do not deny 
 that at times a chair or sofa of this sort may be a 
 boon, but for every-day use and for long sitting in 
 they are highly objectionable. 
 
 As for gilding and plate glass, we believe the 
 essential vulgarity of their immoderate use is 
 fast being perceived. We could never under¬ 
 stand the preference given to white marble in 
 English dwellings. It is cold, and uncongenial 
 to the eye and to the touch; and for furniture, 
 coloured marbles would harmonize better. 
 
 As a matter of course, in the decoration of 
 the house, the Drawing-room has frequently come 
 off worst. The favourite wall paper lately has 
 been a white or grey, plain or watered ground, 
 with a stamped and gilded bunch of flowers, or 
 a huge fleur-de-lis at regular intervals, the bunches 
 of flowers presenting no better effect than might 
 
 3 
 
18 The A rt of Furnishing. 
 
 have been got with a splash of liquid gold from 
 a brush, directed on the most rudimentary geo¬ 
 metric plan. A picture hanging on such a wall 
 generally cuts into three or four of the said gilded 
 nosegays. Of course, with a smaller pattern 
 studded more closely, the effect is not so bad. 
 Another fashion is to divide the walls into panels, 
 with a border, and a grey or other plain tinted 
 margin. There is not much to be said against 
 this plan, except that in rooms of moderate 
 size it destroys the breadth and unity of the 
 whole. It affords, however, the opportunity for 
 a delicate filling or panel, and a border of either 
 a geometric or a conventionally-flowered pattern 
 of any variety of colouring. We own to a liking 
 for the dado and upper paper, with or without 
 a frieze above, as it gives the room a continuity 
 which it lacks in the panelled method. 
 
 In either case wall accommodation is provided 
 for pictures, though the unbroken length of wall 
 must be acknowledged fittest where a number 
 have to be hung, as it is extremely difficult to 
 arrange odd-sized pictures on walls already cut 
 into square or oblong spaces. 
 
 We have now in our mind a [Drawing-room, 
 
The Drawing-room. 19 
 
 the principal walls of which are covered with 
 Italian lake scenery, executed, apparently, in 
 distemper colour on the walls, but, on a closer 
 inspection, it will be found to be the ordinary 
 process of wall paper, only printed in wider 
 widths, and the joins arranged horizontally in¬ 
 stead of vertically. 
 
 Imitation Corinthian columns, with arches of 
 masonry springing from their capitals, are made 
 to enclose each scene, forming a kind of pro¬ 
 scenium. 
 
 The execution is spirited and effective, and we 
 believe better than anything of the same kind 
 to be got at the present time. These date 
 thirty or forty years back. 
 
 At first sight, however, it is apparent that a 
 room decorated in this way is totally unsuited 
 to pictures; the various pieces of wall are, in 
 fact, themselves so many pictures. There are, 
 it is true, one or two small spaces filled in 
 with a plain grey panel and border, on which 
 a picture or two might be hung, but the effect, 
 beside the larger distempered scenes, would be 
 lost. 
 
 The difficulty with a room of this sort is that 
 3 * 
 
20 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 the furniture necessarily comes into the scheme 
 of the decoration—taking the place of objects 
 in the foreground of a picture, and requires to 
 be arranged with some reference to the laws of 
 perspective, particularly where a piece of fur¬ 
 niture actually cuts into one of the scenes. 
 
 There are other disadvantages, such as the 
 confused background it presents, and the pos¬ 
 sibility of the pictured landscape (unless really 
 a work of art) becoming wearisome and mo¬ 
 notonous. 
 
 We would rather, as a general principle, treat 
 a wall as a wall, preserving its flatness (or 
 vertical plane), at the same time endeavouring 
 to avoid monotony and crudeness, either of 
 design or colour. 
 
 This is the common-sense as well as the 
 artistic view of the interior decoration of or¬ 
 dinary dwelling-rooms. 
 
 Once for all, neither in wall papers nor carpets 
 should the pattern be. made to stand forward (in 
 prominent relief), as if it could be clutched by 
 the hand or caught in the foot. To a trained 
 mind and eye this always occasions a disagree¬ 
 able sensation, and is, in truth, a want of fitness 
 
The Drawing-room . 21 
 
 or propriety in design, the first principle of which 
 is to remember the purpose and position of the 
 thing designed for. 
 
 Gold is frequently of great service in enhancing 
 the effect of a paper, especially for a Drawing¬ 
 room. It is, however, expensive, and the Dutch 
 metal commonly used in its place is apt to turn 
 black. 
 
 Detached patches of ornament in a paper are 
 bad; the design should be continuous, or “all 
 over,” as it is called; and the colouring should 
 be mainly in secondary or tertiary combinations, 
 the primaries, red, blue, and yellow, being spar¬ 
 ingly used in their positive state. 
 
 We believe a modern authority in wall papers 
 starts on the hypothesis that everything in the 
 decoration and furnishing of a room should be 
 subordinated to the one chief object of interest 
 and beauty, the human countenance. 
 
 Certain it is that too brilliant a wall, or chair 
 covering, is not best calculated to set off the faces 
 and fashions of the occupants of a room. 
 
 To sum up, we conclude a Drawing-room should 
 be of medium tint, not dark, and such as will 
 light up well; the walls adapted for prints and 
 
22 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 water-colours rather than oil paintings ; the pre¬ 
 vailing hue of the walls carefully chosen to suit, 
 not only the blonde or brunette who may chance 
 to be mistress of the house, but as much as pos¬ 
 sible varied complexions ; and, lastly, that the 
 room should present a pleasant contrast to, and 
 form an agreeable relief from, the Dining-room. 
 If our fair reader will only set her wits to work 
 to embody these suggestions, we prophesy a safe 
 beginning for the after-work of furnishing. 
 
 And now to the Bedrooms—for we think the 
 Library or the Breakfast-room may be left to fall 
 under some of the foregoing remarks—merely ob¬ 
 serving that the walls of a Library or Study 
 should be marked by quiet and repose, without 
 gloom, and should be such as will neither perplex 
 the brain nor fatigue the vision. Soft, low-toned 
 greens, fawn colour, soft browns, grey, blue, 
 olive, or citrine may be used. 
 
 For the display of old china it is sometimes 
 useful to stop the wall paper a couple of feet or 
 more short of the ceiling, and at this juncture 
 to run a shallow moulded shelf round the room, 
 with a groove in it for plates. The upper portion 
 or background may then be a plain colour, suit¬ 
 able to the “ articles of vertu” to be displayed. 
 

 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE BEDROOMS. 
 
 Judging from the exhaustless supply of wall¬ 
 paper patterns (ranging from a penny to three¬ 
 pence per yard) through which we are invited to 
 wade whenever we require to paper a Bedroom, it 
 might be thought that here at least every variety 
 of taste and condition must be met. 
 
 But classify this astounding mass of inventive 
 genius under two or three heads. Are not the 
 majority of the patterns rapidly divided into dia¬ 
 mond shapes with dots or sprigs in the centre ; 
 perpendicular waved lines with the aforesaid sprigs 
 or dots ; sprigs and dots without either diagonal 
 or wavy lines \ or even dots alone. In fact, all 
 manner of meaningless and wearisome repetition 
 of lines and spots, which afford no other relaxation 
 for the throbbing head or weary brain than that 
 
24 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 of endless arithmetical problems—often to the 
 utter distraction of the poor invalid. 
 
 A wall paper had far better be in some rambling 
 pattern, where it is impossible to discern begifi- 
 ning or ending. If the eye be induced to attempt 
 to track the lines to their conclusion—the effort 
 will most likely act as a soporific. 
 
 Touching the question of colour, we are fain 
 to own we cannot imagine a Bedroom with very 
 dark walls, nor with very hot - looking walls. 
 Coolness seems a necessity next to cleanliness. 
 
 Aerial half-tints are our favourites, with scarcely 
 any pattern, or if any, only faintly described by 
 a lighter or darker tone of the ground. There is a 
 deceptiveness—a seeming transparency in such a 
 paper—similar to the atmospheric effects of sky 
 and cloud, which intercept but never seem 
 abruptly to stop the vision. 
 
 Papers of this description, with part dead or 
 dull and part glazed (satin as it is termed), in 
 pale rose, pale blue, pale green, or pale amber, 
 are sure to make a good room, and will wear a 
 long time. 
 
 Borders at top and bottom may be used or not: 
 great care is required in selecting a bordering, 
 
The Bedrooms. 
 
 25 
 
 or it will do more harm than good. The colours 
 may either harmonize or contrast, but should 
 in no case be too strong. 
 
 If the room is low, a border will be disadvan¬ 
 tageous, by bringing it still lower. 
 
 The ceiling and cornice are improved by a tint 
 of the same colour as the wall paper, but of 
 course lighter. The doors and woodwork should 
 also be painted in tones of corresponding colour. 
 
 A fashion has prevailed of late of hanging the 
 walls with papers (chiefly French) printed to match 
 that most invaluable of printed fabrics, the cre¬ 
 tonne chintz. Walls and bed furniture, curtains 
 and chair or sofa coverings are all of a piece. We 
 dislike the effect greatly. There is no relief, no 
 
 , t 
 
 repose, scarcely the light and shadow necessary to 
 picturesqueness, for the similarity and general 
 spottiness of furniture and walls effaces the clear 
 outlines on which so much depends. Papers in 
 imitation of fluted or quilted stuffs or satins 
 are not desirable in point of taste, all imita¬ 
 tion of this sort proving unsatisfactory in the 
 long run. The delicate colouring, however, of 
 some of these redeems them from vulgarity, 
 and makes amends for the falsity of the design. 
 
26 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 In considering a paper for a Bedroom, as 
 indeed with every room, some idea should be 
 formed of the room as a whole, in order to 
 preserve harmony throughout. 
 
 If your bed and window curtains are to be white, 
 grey or white walls would be appallingly flat 
 and cold. 
 
 If, on the contrary, the curtains are of a plain 
 or mixed colouring, the walls should either partake 
 of the same or of contrasting tones, or perhaps in 
 this case they may be grey or nearly white, if pre¬ 
 ferred, with a border, to give some warmth and 
 colour. 
 
 Borders should be carried round the top and 
 bottom of the room only, and not down the angles 
 and round windows or fireplaces. If a room is 
 panelled, that is a different thing; the borders will 
 then be worked round each panel, and a plain 
 coloured outer margin (or “ stile”) should surround 
 and separate one panel from another. 
 
 A Bedroom and Dressing-room communicating 
 are better treated alike. 
 
 A novel effect may be obtained with the better 
 class of modern wall papers, by covering the wall 
 about three - quarters of the way up with a 
 
The Bedrooms. 
 
 27 
 
 geometric or severely conventionalised paper, 
 and the remaining upper portion of the wall 
 with a bold - patterned paper of branches or 
 birds, fruit or flowers, or other free rendering 
 of animal or vegetable life, the upper and lower 
 papers to be divided sharply off by a border or 
 moulding. Some trouble may be experienced 
 in finding suitable patterns for this mode . of 
 decoration, and such as will harmonise and not 
 produce a harsh and disjointed effect; but we 
 affirm they are to be found, though it is not our 
 business to act as an advertising medium. 
 
 By the plan suggested we get a pleasing fresco 
 running round the room, and this upper decoration 
 or frieze, which in a room ten or twelve feet high 
 might be from two to three feet deep, need in no 
 way interfere with the hanging of pictures or of 
 mottoes, which many people are fond of having 
 in bedrooms, since the cords for these may be 
 affixed to nails placed under or upon the divid¬ 
 ing line or border, or even a light picture rod 
 may be fixed here if desired. The idea is equally 
 applicable to other rooms. 
 
 Our remarks, hitherto, in reference to this part 
 of our subject have been directed more particu- 
 
28 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 larly to the principal Bedrooms, and not to those 
 of the younger members of a family. 
 
 A young girl’s Bedroom, for instance, may 
 reasonably call for lighter treatment, but with all 
 deference for the cherished “white muslin over 
 pink,” and all that sort of thing, we cannot help 
 thinking a room of this description might be 
 gracefully and appropriately decorated without 
 having recourse to a species of millinery and 
 “ flummery,” which in their proper sphere of 
 dress may be elevated into an art, but in the 
 furnishing of a room are out of place and un¬ 
 meaning. 
 
 Adopt a lighter style by all means, let the 
 special tastes of the occupant of the room be con¬ 
 sulted, but let the room itself be a means of edu¬ 
 cation in the laws and principles that underlie 
 sound taste. 
 
 This involuntary action of every-day surround¬ 
 ings upon our nature and tastes cannot be over 
 estimated, and should do much towards guiding 
 and moulding the genius of another generation. 
 
 For a youth or young man, on the other hand, 
 we would deprecate all those “ rose-water idio¬ 
 syncrasies,” as Mr. Carlyle would call them, and 
 
The Bedrooms. 
 
 29 
 
 which strike us as effeminate, although by some 
 strange inconsistency we have often found them 
 associated with otherwise hardy and gallant 
 soldiers of the field and tent. 
 
 For a Bath-room there is nothing we think 
 better than the varnished “ tile ” papers, except 
 the tiles themselves. The varnished papers, 
 however, will resist the action of the water 
 (from continued splashing) for a long while, and 
 are made in a variety of patterns. They are 
 also useful for lavatories. 
 
 Of course they are an imitation, but we are not 
 so prejudiced as to renounce an imitation which 
 has so much to recommend it, and are fain to make 
 this an exception to the general rule. 
 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ATTICS AND BASEMENT. 
 
 Considering the frequent changes of servants 
 to which perforce we have had to accustom our¬ 
 selves of late, we think a cheap paper of a neat 
 cheerful description is the desideratum for these 
 rooms. It will be better and healthier to renew 
 the paper nowand again, rather than put on any¬ 
 thing more expensive in the first instance. 
 
 Taking a sudden descent from the Bedrooms to 
 the Basement, we have little fault to find with the 
 generality of Kitchens and down-stairs passages, 
 and cheerfully endorse the use of distemper or size 
 colour, though paint is of course preferable, as it 
 can be washed. 
 
 The tone of buff mostly used is good, as it 
 reflects plenty of light, and has not a cold or grey 
 look. 
 
The Attics and Basement. 
 
 A good plan for passages especially is to paint 
 a high dado (say 4 ft. 6 in. or 5 ft.) of a darker 
 buff or brown, with a line still darker on top, and 
 colour the walls above this line in distemper. 
 The painted dado takes off the rough usage the 
 lower part of the wall is subject to, and can be 
 carefully washed down, whereas if the wall is 
 entirely distempered it cannot be cleaned with¬ 
 out showing marks. 
 
 We turn once more to the upper stories, and 
 this branch of our subject is completed. 
 
CHAPTER VII. , 
 
 THE NURSERIES. 
 
 These should vary with the various stages of 
 childhood. As the old wall papers become faded 
 and dingy, they may he replaced by others of a 
 higher educational tone and purpose (in a deco¬ 
 rative sense of course we mean), for we still 
 persist in our theory of the ethical mission of 
 decorative art, however humble. 
 
 A person of an ingenious turn of mind might 
 think it more to the purpose to make the 
 walls of a Nursery directly educational (in the 
 school sense of the term), by a geographical or 
 
 arithmetical wall paper, cleverly designed, with a 
 
 view to the easy acquisition of those branches of 
 study during meal times or waking hours. 
 
 But first let us say we doubt the value of con¬ 
 fused and desultory instruction in subjects such 
 
The Nurseries. 
 
 as these ; and, further, this mode of treatment 
 would be to ignore the first principles of wall 
 decoration, and to forget that a wall is a wall, 
 and not a black board or large - sized diagram. 
 
 Ingenuity is not art. It may be ingenious, by 
 the artful contrivance of plate glass, to make a 
 wall look like a doorway, or an opening into 
 another apartment ; but it is obviously incon¬ 
 venient, on essaying to walk through the ap¬ 
 parent open space, to find yourself confronted by 
 a rigid sheet of glass. Yet this is no imaginary 
 case. 
 
 Somewhere in his writings Mr. Ruskin ridicules 
 the idea of walls being treated in a flat conven¬ 
 tional way, and adduces Correggio as an ex¬ 
 ample of a great painter who set at defiance the 
 laws of sober wall decoration, and threw his whole 
 genius and energy into a sublime effort to make 
 the wall he was commissioned to decorate look 
 as unlike a vulgar wall as possible, preferring 
 to paint open trellis-work of vines, with clouds 
 and sky beyond, and children peeping through. 
 
 But here was a true work of art, a picture in 
 fact; yet, we think, scarcely a wall in its true 
 meaning. At all events it must have proved 
 
 4 
 
34 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 extremely awkward had the mistress of the house 
 wished to place a buffet or cabinet in this particular 
 spot, and she must have been puzzled between her 
 sense of the best arrangement of her room on the 
 one hand, and deference to the great painter on 
 the other. But doubtless Correggio foresaw all 
 these little matronly anxieties, and adapted his 
 space accordingly. And here we bring to a close 
 the first part of our subject, viz., of interior sur¬ 
 face decoration. Of the outside of the house we 
 say nothing. Architects (with a few exceptions) 
 are at their wits’ end as to what style of building 
 to give us. In the mean time it seems to us the 
 wiser course to see that we get sound constiuction, 
 the best possible ventilation and drainage, as con¬ 
 veniently planned rooms and staircases as may 
 be, and to leave the rest to luck. The interiors of 
 our houses are however completely at our com¬ 
 mand, and we think it will be seen, from the 
 observations thrown out, that the thoughtful and 
 successful treatment of the walls, from their 
 primitive ghastly state to the final stage of beauty 
 and completeness, demands something more than 
 the exercise of a little vague indiscriminate taste 
 in selecting a few wall papers in the retailer s shop, 
 
The Nurseries. 
 
 35 
 
 which may chance to look pretty at the time, and 
 too often are designed on no other principle than 
 that of inane prettiness, devoid of all vitality and 
 purpose. 
 
PART II. 
 
 OF THE FURNITURE. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The first condition of “ Furniture is that it 
 shall be useful; the second, that it shall be 
 beautiful. Utility and beauty have been harshly 
 and ignorantly divorced, yet perfection is rarely 
 attained in the latter except the former be united 
 with it, and beauty (of a rational and concrete 
 kind) follows closely on utility, as its necessary 
 sequence and outcome. 
 
 We shall endeavour, in advising upon Furniture, 
 at all times to give the first place to qualities of 
 usefulness, durability, and perfection of workman¬ 
 ship ; and the second, to a consideration of how 
 far beauty and pictqresqueness may be attainable 
 or admissible. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 37 
 
 We shall again take the rooms in the same 
 order as before, so as to be able easily to refer to 
 them in considering walls and furniture in their 
 conjoint relation of distance (or background) and 
 foreground objects. 
 
 In treating of the general furniture of a room, 
 we shall have to touch upon the various industries 
 of the cabinet-maker, the upholsterer, the carpet 
 weaver, the maker of curtain stuffs and printed 
 fabrics, and the brass and iron worker. 
 
 Foremost amongst these, however, we rank the 
 art of cabinet-making; first, as comprising the 
 bulk of furniture proper, and second as involving 
 higher issues than any other branch connected 
 with furnishing. In nothing is a purchaser 
 so easily deceived as in cabinet work. Cabinet¬ 
 making is essentially an art, and consists in a 
 clear understanding of the nature of the mate¬ 
 rial which has to be worked and the various 
 modes of construction, so as to obtain the greatest 
 amount of strength with the least waste either of 
 labour or material. 
 
 The carpenter is always an honourable person. 
 Why should not the cabinet-maker be equally so ? 
 For the simple reason that the carpenter is forced, 
 
38 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 in much of his work (floors, joists, roofs, and other 
 responsible timbers), to remember that lives may 
 depend upon the thoroughness of his work; 
 whereas the cabinet-maker’s craft, though requir¬ 
 ing greater precision and accuracy of finish, seldom 
 has to resist any great strain, and the consequence 
 is that much of the furniture sent out is considered 
 durable enough if it has just sufficient tenacity to 
 hold together with careful usage. And the public 
 encourages' this state of things by asking over 
 and over again for the cheaper article, without 
 attempting to form any sound judgment in the 
 matter. 
 
 The fact is, if a piece of cabinet furniture is 
 well made it will probably last a hundred years or 
 more, and still be in a fair condition ; but if badly 
 made in the first instance, it will be a source of 
 annoyance and expense from the day it is pur¬ 
 chased to the no distant period when it may be 
 sold for one-fourth its original cost, or banished 
 into the attic or lumber-room. 
 
 It is notorious that we get so accustomed to 
 continual breakages in our furniture (weak joints 
 becoming fractured, and bits of carving dropping 
 off), as to regard them in the same light as 
 
Introduction. 39 
 
 taxes and water rates, inevitable items in our 
 yearly expenditure. 
 
 This need not be if people would pay more 
 regard to soundness of construction and less to 
 meretricious ornament. 
 
 We have admitted it is not the easiest thing 
 to tell at a glance whether a chair or a cabinet 
 or a sideboard is likely to last a lifetime, or 
 whether it will “ spring a leak” the day after we 
 get it home; and for this reason we should 
 like to give a few broad hints for the guidance 
 of untechnical purchasers. 
 
 Many people seem to think the nature of wood 
 will allow of its being turned and twisted about 
 at pleasure; but a moment’s reflection will 
 convince the reader of the absurdity and impos¬ 
 sibility of this. 
 
 The trunk of a tree may be described as a 
 cluster of fibres running in the direction of 
 its length, and through which the sap flows. 
 These fibres constitute what is termed the 
 “grain” of a wood, and are more or less 
 compact in different kinds of timber, thus 
 divine rise to the terms ‘ close grained, 
 “open grained,” &c. The closer the grain the 
 
40 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 harder the wood. A shortness of grain also 
 renders a wood more liable to snap when 
 used as legs, columns, &c. 
 
 We have said that the grain runs with 
 the length /of the trunk. If we want to cut a 
 stick out of the trunk of a large tree (which 
 by the way we never do, as the offshoots 
 form better ready-made sticks and more elastic), 
 we cut in the direction of its length, and the 
 fibre or grain running its natural way gives 
 to the stick the greatest possible strength. 
 But let us suppose the tree to be of large 
 enough circumference to allow of the same¬ 
 sized stick being cut across the trunk, at right 
 angles to its upward growth. After infinite 
 trouble we hack out a piece similar in size to 
 the first. Now with your hands try the strength 
 9f the two. The first, with the grain running 
 lengthways, will not yield ; the second, cut 
 right across the trunk, snaps with more or 
 less ease. It was cut across the grain, and is 
 merely composed of a succession of short 
 fibres, which have a minimum of cohesive 
 power. 
 
 Every one knows the ease with which, say, 
 
Introduction. 
 
 4i 
 
 the side of a wooden box or packing-case can 
 be split in the direction of the grain, and how 
 next to impossible it is to chop it the teverse 
 way. 
 
 Therefore, the first principle in the use of 
 timber, if we would obtain the greatest amount 
 of strength, is to let the grain run in the 
 natural direction with the length of our work, 
 and not with its breadth or narrowest way. 
 
 Let us proceed a little further and see where the 
 principle is abused. Suppose we cut a plank or 
 board an inch or two thick out of the middle of the 
 aforesaid tree, from top to bottom of the trunk, in 
 the direction cf or with the grain. This board, 
 let us say, measures one foot six inches wide, and 
 any length you please. We want to cut a chair- 
 back out of this plank, say one of the modern 
 circular chair-backs peculiar to this century. Try 
 it on a piece of paper or cardboard, ruled across 
 with parallel lines to represent the grain of the 
 wood. You will find when you have drawn the out¬ 
 lines of the chair-back that in parts the grain will 
 be only an inch or two long, and at such a point 
 the chair would soon snap. Therefore the chair- 
 maker finds it imperative to form the back out of 
 
42 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 three or four different pieces, in order to get any 
 length of grain; but even then the grain at parts 
 is very short, and this perhaps just at the point 
 where he requires to peg or “dowel” his joint. 
 The same danger also threatens the curved or 
 “ cabriole leg,” particularly when the curve is 
 unusually great. 
 
 The strongest form that can be given to the 
 back of a chair is where the two upright pieces 
 are straight, or nearly so, and the cross pieces 
 also straight, and mortised into the side uprights. 
 
 The legs of a chair are fixed in two ways. 
 Either they are pegged up into the seat framing, 
 as in light caned or bedroom chairs, or else the 
 ends of the seat rails are mortised into the upper 
 part or square shoulder of the leg, which is by far 
 the strongest way of framing, and should be em¬ 
 ployed for dining-room chairs, and whenever the 
 seat of the chair is stuffed. Where the legs are 
 only “ pegged ” it is necessary to strengthen them 
 by rails from one to the other, but with a chair 
 properly framed these are not essential, though of 
 course they add to its strength, and, artistically, 
 they give a balance to the chair and prevent it 
 looking top-heavy. Besides, it enables us to dis- 
 
Introduction. 
 
 43 
 
 pense with a clumsier leg than necessary. And 
 here allow us to remark of furniture collectively 
 —we hold it to be an indisputable advantage, in 
 these days when the area of ordinary houses is 
 decidedly limited, and when periodical migration 
 is so prevalent, that our household furniture 
 should be as compact and light as may be com¬ 
 patible with the laws of construction and sound 
 taste. 
 
 But we hasten on to an imaginary furnishing of 
 the various rooms of our representative house, 
 reserving further observations of a general cha¬ 
 racter to find their place incidentally, while we 
 consider whether certain rules may not be laid 
 down for each apartment in turn. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE HALL. v 
 
 The Hall or Vestibule is the first division of a 
 house that meets the eye on entering, and we think 
 should either be of a quiet and undemonstrative 
 nature, or else it should give the key-note to the 
 entire house. In any case the furniture as well 
 as the decoration should be in a lower key than 
 the rest of the house, never richer. 
 
 Unless your Hall chance to be large, we recom¬ 
 mend keeping the furniture as condensed as 
 possible, and having as little of it as needful for 
 the exigencies of an entrance-room or passage. 
 
 A small side table, a chair or two, an umbrella- 
 stand, some appliance for hats and coats, are the 
 necessary requisites of a Hall. 
 
 The hat and umbrella-stand may be combined, 
 or that eminently practical invention, a rail and 
 
The Hall . 
 
 45 
 
 pegs fixed to the wall, may be substituted for the 
 usually unsteady and inelegant hat-stand ; while 
 a brass or bronzed rail fixed to the wall, with a 
 painted zinc pan on the floor, will do duty for the 
 umbrella-stand. 
 
 Cast-iron hat-stands and hall tables, with plate 
 glass mirrors and marble tops, we abhor: there 
 is a chilly, skeleton, machine look about them, 
 which strikes horror into us at the first glance. 
 
 Iron is not the material out of which to make 
 furniture, excepting bedsteads (for reasons which 
 need not detain us) and Crystal Palace refresh¬ 
 ment tables, for purposes of stability and perhaps 
 cheapness. 
 
 " , N 
 
 You can never make an artistic room with 
 iron furnituire; and, moreover, although the term 
 “iron” is almost a synonym for strength, the 
 iron Hall furniture offered for sale is none of 
 the strongest, and when once broken in any 
 part, cannot be made good except in the clum¬ 
 siest way. 
 
 The ordinary pattern hat-stand, however, look¬ 
 ing like a series of outspread arms on an at¬ 
 tenuated frame, is quite as bad in its way, being 
 less steady and almost as ugly. There are some 
 
46 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 good hat-stands now made, having at each end 
 a quarter-circle rail for umbrellas, and a table 
 between. The only thing is, the table or the 
 umbrellas are generally in the way of the coats, 
 and this seems the great difficulty to overcome 
 in attempting to combine the objects of a hat- 
 stand, hall table, and umbrella-stand, in one. 
 We have seen a clever expansion of the idea of 
 the original hat-rail, in which there are two 
 parallel rails (one above the other), connected 
 by ornamental turned pieces, or spindles. On 
 the lower of these are fixed the hooks for coats 
 or cloaks, while from the upper rail are pro¬ 
 jected a couple of nine or ten-inch turned pieces, 
 which support a light rod, on the same principle 
 as the hat-rails affixed to the walls of public 
 dining-rooms. The hats rest upon this project¬ 
 ing rail, while the coats hang on the hooks or 
 pegs beneath ; and we very much incline to the 
 opinion that nothing more useful (though per¬ 
 haps more elaborate) in the way of a practical 
 hat and cloak-stand can well be devised. There 
 are a great many hat - stands of considerable^ 
 merit in point of abstract design, but which very 
 indifferently answer their purpose, though they 
 
The Hall. 
 
 47 
 
 may be an effective piece of furniture while not 
 in use. Simplicity of outline is preferable in 
 Hall furniture. 
 
 The choice of colour will depend upon the 
 treatment of the walls. Light or dark oak, or 
 American walnut, are useful woods, or stained 
 black (ebonized) furniture, if the decoration ad¬ 
 mits of it. We have seen a hall table, hat-rail, 
 and bench of deal, painted a plain colour—say, 
 olive - green or chocolate, suitable to the sur¬ 
 rounding colouring—which is inexpensive and 
 unobjectionable, though not of course so durable 
 as a harder wood. 
 
 If you have an outer and inner Hall, so much 
 the better. It keeps the inner Hall more private 
 and less draughty. The two are usually divided 
 by glass doors, which give a good opportunity 
 for introducing stained glass instead of the or¬ 
 dinary ground glass. The best plan is to glaze 
 the upper portion of the doors with transparent 
 sheet or plate glass, and temporarily fix the 
 stained glass (which should be in a separate 
 frame) against the lower part of the glazed 
 panels, sufficiently high to intercept the view 
 from the outer hall. 
 
48 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 The pattern stained should not entirely cover 
 the glass, nor be too heavily coloured, or it will 
 darken the light. If there are no doors, and 
 your Hall is long enough, it may be divided off 
 by curtains, suspended by a rod from the ceil¬ 
 ing ; or, better still, a sheet of glass (two feet 
 to three feet deep) may be framed in between 
 the walls and ceiling, and the curtains suspended 
 from beneath the glass. This will allow of light 
 being thrown into the inner Hall. 
 
 There can be little doubt that for the floor 
 of a Hall nothing surpasses the encaustic tiles 
 now so popular. They are easily kept clean, 
 are cool, and afford an occasional relief from 
 the hot carpeted rooms, and they are everlast¬ 
 ing. 
 
 The expense incurred in putting down a tiled 
 floor is, however, a rather heavy item; and as 
 the tiles cannot be removed without replacing 
 the original floor, it is not worth doing unless 
 we are sure of remaining in the house for a 
 number of years. Next to a tiled floor we 
 prefer the old-fashioned oil-cloth, even to the 
 more recent inventions of kamptulicon, linoleum, 
 and similar compounds of cork and indiarubber 
 
The Hall. 
 
 49 
 
 None of the latter have the smooth brilliant 
 surface of oil - cloth, although they possess a 
 greater softness and elasticity. 
 
 There is room yet, in spite of the variety of 
 patterns in floor-cloths, for some improvement. 
 The favourite tile patterns are frequently very 
 happy combinations of colour, and have a pleas¬ 
 ing effect. The imitation will, however, weary 
 us out soon, if it have not already done so ; and 
 what we want are designs peculiar to floor-cloth 
 itself, and not a pretentious imitation of some¬ 
 thing costlier. 
 
 Too many colours should be avoided, as also too 
 small and scattered a pattern. Greater breadth 
 of effect is obtained by a moderate uniformity of 
 colour, such as chocolate and buff, Indian red 
 and buff. The once much-used black and white 
 marble floor-cloths are too grey and gloomy to 
 suit the advanced love of colour among us, how¬ 
 ever they might have satisfied a previous gene¬ 
 ration. Matting, if coarse, holds the dust, and 
 if fine will scarcely stand the rough wear of an 
 entrance-hall. 
 
 We have not unfrequently seen Brussel’s 
 carpet used, but think it unsuitable, considering 
 
 5 
 
50 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 the inevitable dust and traffic to which it is 
 subject. It may be very charming to have a 
 noiseless floor-covering over the hall, on which 
 no footsteps reverberate, but for ourselves we 
 prefer a hard cool floor in this part of the 
 house. 
 
 A word concerning the Stairs, which, from 
 their peculiar elevation, are unavoidably notice¬ 
 able, sometimes distressingly so, when they 
 happen to face the entrance-doorway. These 
 form an integral part of the Hall, and in many 
 old houses still in existence in London the broad 
 Staircase, with its massive handrail and balus¬ 
 trades, is a remarkably handsome feature. Now- 
 a-days, when space is costly, the Staircase has to 
 be cramped into the closest possible compass, so 
 that it behoves us to dn our best to mitigate 
 the effects of this economy on the part of the 
 builder. Nothing detracts more from the appear¬ 
 ance of a Hall and Staircase than a narrow, mean 
 stair - carpeting. Aim at a broad effect in the 
 stairway. Axminster, Brussels, or self-coloured 
 felts are the best for the purpose, and should 
 cover the stair with the exception of a narrow 
 margin on each side, which may be painted 
 
The Hall. 
 
 51 
 
 cream white, or stone colour, or darker shades 
 if preferred, or the wall decoration seems to 
 require it. The stair-carpet should, of course, 
 be carefully chosen to harmonize with the 
 general scheme of the Staircase and Hall. 
 
 5 * 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 \ Egg I 
 
 THE DINING-ROOM. 
 
 We have already decorated the walls. It 
 concerns us now to study the various pieces of 
 furniture required, their positions and propor¬ 
 tions, so as to leave room to move about; of 
 what kind of wood, and consequently colour, 
 they shall be, and of what their coverings. 
 Also the colour and texture of our curtains 
 and carpets. 
 
 First of all as to the wood. If the walls 
 are dull red you may have ebonized wood, or 
 light oak, or very dark oak, but we cannot 
 recommend mahogany, which is a kind of red 
 orange, nor American walnut, which, unless ar¬ 
 tificially darkened, is too weak a brown against 
 red or crimson. 
 
 Mahogany or walnut stand well against sage 
 
53 
 
 The Dining-room. 
 
 Qr olive-green, or dull grey-blue. Before de¬ 
 ciding however on any particular wood, it is 
 best to try the effect of it against the papers 
 you intend to choose for the room. 
 
 The furniture of a Dining-room should of 
 course be more substantial than that of the 
 Drawing-room, and most people will agree with 
 us in claiming for this room at least a degree 
 of simplicity, if not austerity. Redundancy of 
 ornament, a lavish profusion of carving and 
 scroll work, together with arabesque forms of 
 decoration, introducing bunches of grapes and 
 devotees of Bacchus, may be suggestive of un¬ 
 limited feasting, and suitable to civic banquet¬ 
 ing halls. But we are not always feasting, and 
 the maxim that “ man eats to live,” is better 
 represented by a plain, substantial, and homely 
 kind of furniture, which, by its very simplicity* 
 enhances the viands placed upon it. Nor need 
 such furniture be wanting in beauty, for we 
 would have it exquisitely proportioned and adapted 
 to the wants of a Dining-room; and, albeit simple 
 and severe in outline, it need not lack grace and 
 refinement, nor, if desired, costly though unob¬ 
 trusive and judiciously-restrained enrichment. 
 
54 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 Take, for instance, the modern sideboard— 
 the “ handsome mahogany sideboard, with noble 
 plate-glass back.” To what particular feeling 
 or feelings does the article in question appeal. 
 We believe mainly to an ignorant sense of 
 magnificence. The abundance of coarse unin¬ 
 telligible scroll work and carving, the rich 
 treacley polish hiding all defects of workman¬ 
 ship, and above all the mass of plate glass 
 expanding the room into twice its real dimen¬ 
 sions, all contribute to produce a false im¬ 
 pression of grandeur. Now, all these elements— 
 carving, glass, and polish-—are valuable adjuncts 
 when used with judgment. It is just because 
 they have been wrongly used that they have 
 earned the well-merited censure of indignant 
 and able writers. 
 
 The carving has been execrable ; the polish 
 profuse to satiety, producing a vulgar glitter 
 utterly inartistic; the huge plate-glass back in¬ 
 securely fixed, frequently looking top-heavy, and 
 of no practical use or beauty whatsoever, except 
 to reflect the room and duplicate the tazza or 
 bronzes with which the board is solemnly 
 graced. 
 
55 
 
 The Dining-room. 
 
 The general form of the lower part of the 
 sideboard is good, consisting as it mostly does 
 of two pedestals or cupboards, with an open 
 space between, and two or three drawers just 
 under the top. The cupboards are contrived 
 to hold bottles and sundry requisites of the 
 table, and the drawers are convenient enough. 
 The space between may be better utilized by 
 a shelf across it,, which gives a nicer balance, 
 and even small cupboards may be fitted in 
 here, if more storage-room is wanted. It is, 
 however, in the backs of our sideboards that 
 there is most room for improvement. Here, 
 as a rule, is a great waste of opportunity for 
 effect and useful display. 
 
 There can be no reason why a sideboard 
 back should be a mere looking-glass, when it 
 may be part curio-cabinet, part bookcase, and 
 part mirror, combined, and at the same time, 
 if well designed, none the less a sideboard 
 back and an integral part of the sideboard 
 itself. 
 
 “ But I do not want books in my Dining-room,” 
 says the man with a well-stocked library. Pos¬ 
 sibly not, but in many a Dining-room, which is 
 
56 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 also a sitting-room, a shelf or two neatly contrived 
 in the sideboard back would be uncommonly 
 useful for the few handy books too frequently 
 scattered about the room. 
 
 In this view of a sideboard, however, every one 
 must be guided to some extent by his individual 
 tastes. If you have no old china worth showing, 
 do not have a sideboard with a lot of useless 
 shelves. 
 
 If you like plate glass you may have a good 
 strip of it running the whole length of the side¬ 
 board, not too high, say twenty-four inches for 
 an ordinary room. 
 
 If this is inserted in a frame, so as to stand 
 some inches higher than the sideboard top, it will 
 give all the reflection that is needed. It is better 
 for lightness and variety of effect to divide the 
 plate into three—the centre piece being longer 
 than the end pieces. 
 
 A bevelled edge is a great improvement to small 
 pieces of plate glass, and gives a gemlike lustre 
 and completeness to the glass. Tiles, painted 
 leather, and carving in low relief, are all effective 
 additions either to a sideboard or a cabinet, but 
 they/require taste in adapting, and should always 
 
57 
 
 The Dining-room . 
 
 be subservient to the general aim of the work they 
 are introduced upon, and never disturb the unity 
 of the whole. Above all, ornamental details of 
 this sort require to be well executed, and special 
 knowledge and aptitude are necessary to make 
 a good painter of tiles or decorative panels, as a 
 perfectly natural rendering of either figures, flowers, 
 or fruit is too obtrusive a mode of treatment, and 
 brings the objects into undue prominence, thus 
 producing a broken, scattered effect, instead of the 
 unity we are pleading for. 
 
 In choosing a sideboard, give the preference to 
 straight lines—curves in the constructive lines 
 most surely denote weakness, or occasion loss of 
 room. 
 
 Round-cornered furniture is perhaps a little 
 less dangerous than square with small children, 
 but this is its sole advantage. Avoid lumps of 
 carving stuck on. They are easily detected, or if 
 you are uncertain, ask the salesman the question. 
 If he know he will scarcely fail to tell you. 
 
 See that the doors and drawers are sensibly 
 arranged, and show themselves for what they are, 
 and are provided with handles by which to open 
 them. The key is a bad substitute for a handle. 
 
5 ^ The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 Besides the sideboard, there are the table, 
 chairs, sofa, chimney - glass, &c., all of which 
 must harmonize with each other and with the 
 sideboard, though not to the extent some people 
 seem to think, there being something painfully 
 stiff in the too precise matching of each piece of 
 a “ set” of furniture in a room. 
 
 A small table or fancy chair or cabinet of a 
 different, though not discordant wood and colour, 
 is often a great relief in a room otherwise fur¬ 
 nished to match. 
 
 A popular writer on the subject of furniture 
 has derided with great vehemence the modern 
 “ telescope ” dining-table, and offered several sug¬ 
 gestions in its place. 
 
 We do not find, however, any great revolution 
 in the matter of expanding dining-tables, and are 
 inclined to think their great convenience will 
 prove a barrier to any widespread reform. 
 
 We own the old Jacobean table looks better in 
 a picture, but our rule is utility first, picturesque¬ 
 ness second. The writer in question, however, 
 very properly inveighs against the absurdly-turned 
 leg of the modern table, with its huge, ungainly 
 swellings and hollows. The turner’s art is get- 
 
59 
 
 The Dining-room. 
 
 ting into the right groove again, and better things 
 in chair and table legs may be hoped for. 
 
 Take care to get the best proportion and sizes 
 possible for your dining-table, as much comfoit 
 depends on this. If the top is too narrow, plates 
 and dishes will be huddled together ; if too broad, 
 the room space on either side will be infringed 
 upon. 
 
 The length of the table when closed should not 
 be too great, or it will be cumbrous to move, and 
 the extra leaves should be of convenient widths 
 for extending the table to various lengths. 
 
 In a squarish room the table need be only a 
 foot or eighteen inches longer than broad. In a 
 long room the length may be increased to suit the 
 wants of the family and the look of the room. 
 
 Half-circular ends to a table may make a more 
 compact dinner party, but we prefer a square or 
 parallelogram with the corners slightly rounded. 
 
 A dining-room chair should be strong, not too 
 heavy to move, and comfortable. The seat should 
 be stuffed. A good horsehair stuffing makes a 
 wholesomer seat to our mind than soft yielding 
 springs. The back may be stuffed or not : it does 
 not so much matter for comfort whether it be of 
 
60 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 padding or wood, provided support is given to the 
 spinal column of the sitter, for which purpose 
 the back of the chair must not be too upright. 
 Care should be taken also to have the seat of 
 sufficient depth. 
 
 An easy chair, as every one knows, is often a 
 mockery. Sometimes, however, it happens that 
 we get a real easy chair, and even then find it 
 does not suit us. 
 
 The truth is, a chair intended solely as a 
 luxurious lounge is ill-adapted for steady and 
 prolonged reading; while a chair in every way 
 perfect as a comfortable reading arm-chair, will 
 not conform to our wishes, nor bend itself to 
 our shape when we throw down the book and 
 slack every tendon and ligament in our body. 
 The two things are not compatible except in a 
 mechanical adjusting chair, but this reminds us 
 too closely of the dentist to be usually agreeable. 
 
 The best material for covering dining-chairs is 
 undoubtedly morocco. There are inferior quali¬ 
 ties in dressed, skins, sometimes very difficult to 
 detect from the real thing. 
 
 We recommend, if you wish to get morocco, 
 that you stipulate for it in unmistakable terms. 
 
The Dining-roo 7 n. 61 
 
 If the salesman assures you a chair is covered in 
 best leather, you may be sure it is not morocco, 
 but roan, which has not the wear in it, though 
 very similar in appearance. 
 
 Utrecht velvet will wear longer than anything, 
 hut it is hot, and clings to one’s garments. 
 
 Morocco skins may be dyed almost any shade. 
 Deep madder reds, fine browns, olive-greens, &c., 
 are now mostly kept on hand by the leather mer¬ 
 chants, and are useful colours for furnishing. 
 
 The reader will bear in mind our previous 
 remarks on chairs, and be guided by them in 
 making choice for the Dining-room, where, indeed, 
 a more severe outline is permissible than in the 
 Drawing-room. 
 
 By far the most useful form of sofa is that in 
 which the back and two ends are on a level (on 
 the same line of elevation). It may be con¬ 
 venient to have one end rather higher than the 
 other, but this raises a difficulty in the outline of 
 the back, and will not make so good an appear¬ 
 ance. All elaborate contortions in the shaping of 
 sofas or couches should be avoided: they are 
 always in bad taste, and where there is a margin 
 of wood to show, render it exceedingly dangerous 
 
62 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 to attempt to rest the head, for fear of coming 
 into collision with one or other of these abnormal 
 bumps. 
 
 We have no objection to a good-sized chimney- 
 glass over the mantelpiece, provided the frame is 
 not all gilt. If is much better taste, and adds to 
 the quietness and dignity of the apartment, to 
 have the frame of wood, relieved with gilding, or 
 black, or other inlay or staining. 
 
 It will be patent to most of our readers that 
 there has been a style of glass in vogue of late, 
 which is not so much a glass as a combination 
 of bevelled mirrors, small shelves (supported on 
 brackets or columns), gilt or painted panels, &c., 
 and which may be termed part cabinet, part 
 glass, having for its main object the felicitous 
 display of old china and nick-nacks. There is 
 some sense and a good deal of fashion mixed up 
 with the idea. * 
 
 If well arranged, and with a view to the orna¬ 
 ments in store for it, the thing may be quaint and 
 effective, and the bits of mirror made to answer 
 every purpose by being brought sufficiently on 
 a level with the reflected beauty of the lady 
 of the house, who will have the good sense 
 
The Dining-room. 63 
 
 to be attired consonantly with the period of her 
 surroundings. Besides, a bird’s-eye view of the 
 room can be had in a comparatively small mirror, 
 which is really more impressive than the image 
 of a broad expanse of wall or ceiling. 
 
 As for the floor, we advise you, if you are likely 
 to remain in the house, or if it is your own and 
 you can afford it, to put down a border of wood 
 parquetry. If not, there is a species of thin wood 
 parquetry, which is less in price, and easily put 
 down without cutting away the floor. 
 
 Failing this, there is the linoleum floor-cloth, 
 or there are many patterns in oil-cloth, but there 
 is a hard forbidding aspect about oil-cloth which 
 is somewhat unpleasant in a room. 
 
 Coloured India mattings are sometimes used ; 
 or the floor, if at all good, may be stained. The 
 pity is that most floors are so rough and the boards 
 so far apart, leaving yawning cracks between, that 
 it is labour lost to attempt to get anything like a 
 decent polished surface. 
 
 We protest, however, on many grounds, against 
 covering a room all over with carpet, and nailing 
 it close into the corners and recesses. It harbours 
 dirt which can never be thoroughly swept out, and 
 
64 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 it renders the process of taking up the carpets 
 unnecessarily troublesome and expensive, so that 
 they are left down for, perhaps, a year or two, 
 whereas it would be conducive to health if they 
 were shaken more frequently. 
 
 A margin of not less than fifteen inches (eighteen 
 inches or two feet is better) will not contract the 
 apparent size of your room very materially, and 
 you can then have a square or oblong carpet, with 
 a border, either made in one, as a “Turkey” 
 or “Axminster” carpet, or seamed up, as in a 
 “ Brussels.” 
 
 A Turkey carpet should not be so large as to go 
 under the furniture, but should stand clear of it. 
 With Brussels it does not greatly signify, as the 
 substance is much thinner. 
 
 Brussels carpet is, without doubt, the cheapest 
 and best wearing for ordinary purposes, though 
 for a Dining-room a good Turkey carpet will prove 
 in the long run an economical investment; and 
 the difference to the tread is so great, that if once 
 we get accustomed to it a Brussels carpet hence¬ 
 forth loses its charm. 
 
 Nevertheless, very excellent patterns are now 
 made in the English Brussels and pile carpets, 
 
The Dining-room. 65 
 
 with suitable borders, and these are not a bad 
 substitute, when cleverly put together, for a seam¬ 
 less carpet. 
 
 From an art point of view, a carpet cannot be 
 treated otherwise than as a background to the 
 furniture, quite as much, if not more, than the 
 walls, excepting in a room where no furniture is, 
 where alone we could tolerate those gorgeous 
 Aubusson carpets (looking like a magnificent des¬ 
 sert plate), with a large expanse of white ground, 
 and bouquets, wreaths, baskets, and what not in 
 the centre and borders. 
 
 Indian and Persian carpet-weavers are still our 
 masters and teachers in the art of combining 
 colours, so as to form one harmonious plateau of 
 bloom. We do not, however, object to a pattern 
 being in some degree marked and obvious, or to 
 a geometric design, if not too hard; but avoid a 
 carpet where the lines or patterns cut it up into 
 detached fragments and spaces, destroying all 
 sense of unity and breadth, which in a Dining¬ 
 room are specially desirable qualities. 
 
 The border is sometimes better for being clearly 
 marked off from the centre carpet, instead of 
 flowing into it. 
 
 6 
 
66 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 The window, or windows, as the case may be, 
 next claim attention. Ordinarily a small neat 
 brass rod or pole, with simple spherical ends, 
 is a rational and effective termination to the 
 window curtains, proclaiming its use, and giving 
 a quiet brilliancy where the light often strikes 
 least. 
 
 Singular fancies have been perpetrated in the 
 matter of cornice pole-ends, but the strange hal¬ 
 lucination that bunches of tin grapes are the 
 natural product of a rigid brass pole, has by this 
 time, we hope, been exploded. The thin brass 
 stamped cornice is also a flimsy and unworthy 
 contrivance, and produces unpleasant sensations, 
 similar to those evoked by the contemplation of 
 conspicuously false jewellery. 
 
 Light wooden poles, to match the furniture in 
 colour, or black, with very little gold or colour 
 (say Indian red or vermilion) introduced, are 
 suitable. A gilt cornice in a Dining - room is 
 equally out of place with the gilt chimney-glass. 
 A wood cornice picked out with gilding is better. 
 
 A few words on curtains. Look round your 
 room. If the carpet and walls are full of pattern 
 and various colours, the curtains will be best of 
 
The Dining-room. 67 
 
 one colour only, or two shades of the same 
 colour. 
 
 There must be repose somewhere in a room. 
 If the curtains are full of pattern and colour, 
 the walls or the carpet should be quiet. Longi¬ 
 tudinal stripes in a curtain may give height, but 
 they add no grace, and you lose the variety and 
 play of effect on the folds which is obtained by 
 horizontal or cross stripes. If a curtain is bor¬ 
 dered, the border should never cross the top of 
 the curtain, but only run on the two sides and 
 bottom. It often happens that curtains of some 
 plain self-coloured stuff, serge, cloth, or velvet, 
 produce a better effect than any variegated ma¬ 
 terial. 
 
 Curtains of some quiet soothing hue, hanging 
 in natural folds, catching the light on their 
 edges, and deepening away into richer shades 
 of colour, will sometimes give a singularly simple 
 and artistic finish to a room, otherwise taste¬ 
 fully furnished, which the most elaborately 
 wrought hangings would fail to effect. This 
 is the more striking where the landscape or 
 outlook is rich in natural tints and forms, for 
 then the view is heightened by the quiet un- 
 6 * 
 
68 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 obtrusive colour of the curtains which practi¬ 
 cally frame it in. 
 
 With narrow windows, the French style may 
 be adopted of letting the curtains meet at the 
 top, and then drawing them sharply away to 
 each side, and confining them with hands of 
 the same stuff, at the height of about four 
 feet from the ground. The fashion is too arti¬ 
 ficial to please us, and with wide windows 
 should not be attempted. 
 
 We sum up the hints on the furnishing of a 
 Dining-room by a short description of a room 
 we have in our mind. 
 
 The walls, above the dado, are papered with 
 an olive-toned paper, or, rather, the ground is 
 actually a very dull slaty-blue, over which are 
 trailed the stems and leaves of the orange tree, 
 with the rounded fruit in various sizes and stages 
 of maturity, from the tender green to the warm 
 orange-yellow. The soft amber-white blossom 
 of the orange tree is interspersed, and little birds 
 in azure plumage peep in and out among the 
 leaves and fruit. The whole colouring, however, 
 of this paper is so deliciously cool and subdued, 
 that scarcely one thing stands out above another, 
 
The Dining-room. 6.9 
 
 so that it is some time before you grasp the 
 whole of the design ; and when you have made 
 it out, it is not easy to trace the repeats in the 
 pattern, so cleverly are the details varied and 
 interwoven. 
 
 Below this is a dado of plain flock paper of 
 a deep crimson, almost ruby tone, and divided 
 off from the upper paper by a broad black and 
 gold line. The dado paper is not put on in 
 widths, as the joins are sure to show more or 
 less in a plain flock, but is run in one con¬ 
 tinuous length round the room. 
 
 The ceiling is toned down to a deep cream 
 colour. 
 
 The furniture is of light oak, of almost primi¬ 
 tive simplicity of form, but substantial and useful, 
 and not too large for the room. The sideboard 
 has no glass, but a shelf runs along the low 
 straight back, on which stand various pieces of 
 plate and glass, in daily use, an old silver urn 
 of exquisite classic form being a prominent ob¬ 
 ject. Over the- mantelpiece is a low mirror 
 framed in oak, and with a shelf above, on which 
 stand a few bits of Oriental china. 
 
 The chairs and couch are also of light oak, 
 
70 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 rather severe in style, with seats stuffed mode¬ 
 rately hard in bronze green leather, which con¬ 
 trasts well against the deep-red dado. The chairs 
 have a stuffed cross-piece or strap about eight 
 inches broad across the back, and we think 
 would be improved by another rail of some sort 
 midway, as a support to the back. 
 
 There is an arm-chair, with a rather upright 
 back—very comfortable to read in, and provided 
 with a wedge-shaped cushion, to render it more 
 easy as a lounge. 
 
 Also another chair with arms, a kind of writ¬ 
 ing-chair, of a somewhat pontifical shape, quite 
 out of order with the rest, though in the same 
 wood, and somehow or other seeming a kind of 
 relief, 
 
 A small round table in a dark figured wood— 
 pollard oak or amboyna—likewise forms a plea¬ 
 sant variation. 
 
 The carpet is Brussels, Persian in style, and 
 composed of various colours—red, blue, green, 
 orange, &c.—'the bloom colour at a distance 
 being a kind of rose purple. 
 
 The carpet has a distinctly marked border, 
 and is oblong in shape, except at the window 
 
The Dining-room. 7 1 
 
 end of the room, where it runs into a three- 
 sided bay. 
 
 The floor margin round the carpet is covered 
 with linoleum, printed in a clever imitation of 
 wood parquet, which, although we cannot defend 
 it in principle, has an excellent effect. 
 
 The curtains (it was summer time) were some 
 unbleached copy of guipure lace in squares and 
 diamonds, with a scrolled border, and suspended 
 from a small brass pole, which was carried round 
 the bay window. 
 
 A brass gaselier, evidently copied from an old 
 Flemish model, hung from the centre of the 
 ceiling. 
 
 There were no pictures on the walls: they 
 were not needed, although the paper was sub¬ 
 dued enough to admit of them. 
 
 The entire effect was that of a quiet and 
 comfortable home-like room, with nothing of dul- 
 ness or monotony; and the warm dado added a 
 richness calculated to counteract the depressing 
 influence of the gloomiest sky. 
 
 The whole thing, moreover, was in good taste, 
 and any ruffled feelings which you might have 
 had on entering must involuntarily have been 
 
7 2 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 smoothed down before you had been seated ten 
 minutes. 
 
 It was a fair illustration of an every-day useful 
 sort of Dining-room, and of the care and thought 
 that may be brought to bear upon it. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DRAWING-ROOM. 
 
 This room has little in common with the Dining¬ 
 room, and should be less severe in its treatment, 
 and suited as nearly as can be to the varied 
 purposes of recreation, social and intellectual, 
 uniformly associated with its name. 
 
 No gay or gloomy conclave gathers round the 
 festive board—no really serious work is supposed 
 to be done here ; the sweets of life only are dis¬ 
 tilled, the flowers of life gathered. 
 
 People do not want, in the ordinary conver¬ 
 sation and desultory employment of this room, 
 to sit up as if they were at a dinner - table, 
 therefore it is useless to have a lot of stiff high 
 chairs. Three or four of a sort will do no harm. 
 Beyond this it is best to vary the seats as much 
 as possible, taking care they are not too high ; 
 
74 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 also that one or two are sufficiently high in the 
 seat for elderly gentlemen, who object to being 
 dropped into a seat from which they find it 
 impossible to lift themselves without assistance. 
 
 Convenient ottomans in out-of-the-way angles 
 and recesses are of use, as they relieve the centre 
 of the room. 
 
 The floor of a Drawing-room should never be 
 too crowded with furniture, and the old-fashioned 
 centre table is an intolerable nuisance, and much 
 better replaced by the centre ottoman, if there is 
 room for one—not unless. 
 
 Unlike the Dining-room, we apprehend no 
 particular reason exists for a single broad effect 
 here. On the contrary, we would rather aim 
 to break up the room, if this is not already 
 dofie by the builder in the formation of the 
 walls. 
 
 We much prefer not being able to see all over a 
 Drawing-room at a glance, and the prettiest room 
 can always be made out of a somewhat irregular 
 planning of the walls. Sometimes there happens 
 to be a smaller room communicating, which, 
 besides being a convenient addition v gives an 
 opportunity of an effective side view, and relieves 
 
The Drawing-room. 75 
 
 the monotony of the four walls by which we are 
 ordinarily hemmed in, and from which there is no 
 escape except by way of the door. It is snug, no 
 doubt, to have but one outlet to a room, but we 
 cannot help thinking there is a pleasanter sense 
 of freedom in being able to enter at one door and 
 pass out at another; therefore we say do not be 
 afraid of a house not built quite on the square or 
 four-wall principle, provided the accommodation 
 is in no way interfered with, and that valuable 
 space is not sacrificed to picturesque arrangement. 
 
 As it will happen, however, in the present state 
 of building, that the best we can hope for is to 
 have rooms of fair size and sensibly proportioned, 
 it will be wiser to leave out of the question a 
 prettily broken form of room, and endeavour to 
 do the best we can within the four walls usually 
 allotted to us. 
 
 We have before remarked the use of wall 
 ottomans and seats placed in convenient niches, 
 and we repeat that the seats in a Drawing-room 
 should commence near the wall line, so as to 
 leave as large an area of the floor as possible for 
 after filling up. Chairs ranged round a wall are 
 not elegant, but ottomans, settees, and divans 
 
j 6 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 find their place here naturally, and afford a 
 pleasant view of the room, while the intervening 
 furniture helps the sense of distance, and carries 1 
 the eye gently away to the opposite wall. 
 
 All that tends to soften too hard and prominent 
 outlines; all that lends distance to effects that 
 would otherwise be harshly and painfully near; 
 all that gives variety and an indescribable charm 
 to the mind and sense, should be cultivated in 
 the fitting up of a drawing-room. 
 
 A Dining-room may be set out with as much 
 precision as the aisles and pews of a church. A 
 Drawing-room admits of as much freedom of 
 arrangement as we like, under certain graceful 
 restraints. 
 
 The two rooms certainly differ as widely as a 
 London square differs from a tastefully laid out 
 garden, with natural winding paths threading 
 their way between trees and shrubs and mounds. 
 
 We propose to regard what may be termed the 
 set pieces of furniture in a Drawing-room (not the 
 chairs) as so many points of interest; and to this 
 end, apart from purposes of practical utility, they 
 should be dispersed about the walls, and not 
 crowded at any one part. 
 
The Drawing-room. 7 7 
 
 It will thus be easier to divide attention, and to 
 counteract that centralisation of interest which 
 sometimes occurs, and is mostly undesirable. 
 
 Choose out a convenient spot for your piano¬ 
 forte, as much in the dark as possible, as it is likely 
 to be an eyesore unless you go to the expense of 
 a specially made case. Then consider the best 
 form of cabinet for your room, and, if possible, 
 plant it at the other end away from the piano. A 
 moderate-sized writing-table or occasional-table 
 may stand in a recess or window. If in a win¬ 
 dow, leave room to get round it. One or two 
 small tables about the room are very useful for 
 many purposes besides the “ five o’clock tea.” 
 
 A small cabinet for music will generally fill in 
 somewhere along the wall, and leaves no excuse 
 for music to be scattered about untidily till it is 
 torn or lost. 
 
 Avoid rickety tables and flower-stands that are 
 apt to be overturned by the touch of a passing 
 dress. A flower-stand or a fern-case can be made 
 as firmly as necessary, and your friends may 
 be saved the mortification of inadvertently, and 
 through no fault of their own, upsetting a valu¬ 
 able cargo. 
 
73 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 If a room seems too long, or you want to break 
 the line somewhere, a low folding screen, with 
 painted or embroidered panels in a light frame¬ 
 work (wicker or perforated wood), may be intro¬ 
 duced with good effect. 
 
 It has been a fashion of late years to fill up the 
 end of a room, or part of one side, sometimes 
 both, with a voluminous arrangement of gilding 
 and plate glass, termed a console glass. For¬ 
 merly this was supported by a console table 
 en suite, with a marble top, but latterly the table 
 has been superseded by a jardiniere for flowers or 
 ferns, which is also made to do duty as a seat 
 when required, by removing the flowers and sub¬ 
 stituting a stuffed top or lid. The effect, when 
 filled with flowers, may be pretty, but the plants 
 always seem to us out of place and unnatural, 
 and, individually, we object to full-length views of 
 ourself at every turn. But this is a matter of 
 opinion. 
 
 A cabinet with a central mirror, enough for all 
 purposes of reflection, would be far better. You 
 cannot put much of yourself, except your image, 
 into a sheet of glass, however large, but you can 
 impress a good deal of your character into and 
 
The Drawing-room. 79 
 
 upon a cabinet. Not, however, the chijfonniere of 
 well-known form, with its plate-glass back and 
 marble top. This may have been a tolerably 
 useful kind of clumsy cupboard (though you 
 generally had to open the doors by gripping a 
 piece of the carving with your finger tips), but 
 we are glad our acquaintanceship with this un¬ 
 comfortable piece of furniture is limited to the 
 short period of our sojourn at the sea-side. 
 
 It was at one of our east-coast resorts that 
 most of this was written, and in the room we 
 occupied, a chijfonniere , such as just described, 
 played a prominent part. The back was fitted 
 with plate glass, and also the doors in the cup¬ 
 board below, so that you got a reflection of your 
 legs and boots apparently walking up a steep 
 incline of tapestry Brussels. 
 
 The key, so the landlady informed us, was 
 lost, and as there was no handle of any kind, 
 it was a matter of some ingenuity, and required 
 no little control of temper, to open the doors at 
 all. Yet it will probably never occur to her to 
 have a knob or handle fixed in, for fear of doing 
 something outrageous, and marring the look of 
 this elegant work of art. 
 
8o 
 
 The Art of Furjiishing. 
 
 A better form and purer style of cabinet, with 
 the ends carried round in a quarter circle, suc¬ 
 ceeded the rococo chiffonniere. This was no 
 doubt copied from some of the best existing 
 examples of renaissance art, and we have no 
 fault to find with it as far as it goes, but it 
 does not go far enough. It stops short of the 
 two essentials of utility and variety. The same 
 form has been manufactured and sent out by 
 hundreds and by thousands, with very trifling 
 alterations in colour and details — fancy wood 
 being replaced latterly by black and gold. 
 
 The centre door would have a china plaque 
 in “Watteau” style of delineation, or, in the 
 quieter sorts, of imitation “ Wedgwood.” The 
 end doors were probably of glass, bent to the 
 curve of the top, causing an awkward reflection 
 of the light, which prevented the few cups and 
 saucers or other ornaments from being seen. 
 Still this was a harmless enough cabinet, and 
 a great improvement on what had gone before. 
 
 We think it a mistake, however, to keep all 
 the pieces of furniture so low, as it is impossible 
 to make a picturesque room without some va¬ 
 riety of height and diversity of shadow. 
 
The Drawing-room. 81 
 
 The only tall things admitted amongst modern 
 Drawing-room furniture (saving, of course, cer¬ 
 tain wall ornaments, which seem necessary 
 adjuncts to a party or ball) have been the 
 mirrors, but then these have no substance, and 
 merely represent so much space in a gold 
 frame. 
 
 The imaginary space may be peopled with 
 visionary forms, but still it is space, and too 
 much of it is, in an artistic sense, worse than 
 useless; though in a small room it may give a 
 sensation of breathing room, and claim some 
 concession on that score alone. 
 
 To turn aside for a moment on the subject 
 of unirrors, we took exception just now to the 
 colossal piece of glass reaching from the ceiling 
 nearly to the floor, at the base of which is 
 placed a convertible flower-stand and seat. 
 
 There is, however, no reason why some ar¬ 
 rangement of an ottoman or sofa, with a back 
 of sufficient height to catch the head, and sur¬ 
 mounted by a mirror of moderate dimensions, 
 should not be devised, and prove both useful and 
 effective. The mirror may of course be in¬ 
 dependent of the seat, and may be in part 
 
 7 
 
82 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 mirror—with side panels filled in with decora¬ 
 tive embroidery, painting, or any of the multi¬ 
 farious handiwork of China and Japan, which 
 can be procured so cheaply. Deftly twisted 
 sconces in brass may be fixed each side the 
 frame. 
 
 To return to our cabinet—it requires no stretch 
 of imagination, if we once lay aside preconceived 
 ideas of a certain stereotyped form, to compre¬ 
 hend that a cabinet may be so constructed as to 
 display any ornaments placed upon it to the very 
 best advantage, and this in itself, perhaps, would 
 lead to a more conscientious selection of orna¬ 
 mental gew-gaws than generally prevails; since, 
 in the heterogeneous confusion of Bohemian glass 
 and Birmingham lacquer, aided by the mere¬ 
 tricious reflection of plate glass, it matters little, 
 so long as we have plenty of glitter, by what 
 means it is produced. 
 
 Smaller ornaments should not be displayed 
 near the ground, but on shelves or in cases 
 more on a level with the eye, the larger and 
 more massive pieces being reserved for the lower 
 shelves. Part of the cabinet may be enclosed 
 by a solid panelled door or doors: it is useful, 
 
83 
 
 The Drawing-room. 
 
 and gives a balance to the whole, or if you want 
 cupboard-room, the lower part may be entirely 
 enclosed. This is a question of convenience. 
 A curtain of velvet or embroidered cloth is 
 sometimes introduced. It is decorative, and it 
 may be considered untidy. This is a question 
 of taste. 
 
 The more you can break up a cabinet into an 
 orderly arrangement of parts, scientifically pro¬ 
 portioned, the greater will be the pleasure derived 
 from its after contemplation : the task of taking 
 in the whole at a glance will be rendered diffi¬ 
 cult, if not impossible, and if the recondite 
 nature of the lines is equalled by corresponding 
 subtlety of colour, and crowned by a truly 
 artistic arrangement of the contents, we shall 
 have a near approach to a perfect drawing-room 
 cabinet. 
 
 Every one will not have old or even modern 
 china or Venetian glass with which to decorate 
 their rooms, but we hold that a cabinet may be 
 made to contain books, portfolios, music, trinkets, 
 and portable drawing-room property of various 
 sorts, and yet be an artistic piece of furniture, 
 and infinitely more useful than its more pre- 
 
 y # 
 
84 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 tentious neighbour. As a rule, silvered glass 
 should occupy some portion of the back; if in 
 small pieces, the edges should be bevelled; in 
 large sizes it is not so imperative. 
 
 We prefer, even in a drawing-room cabinet, 
 that the outline, or “ sky blotch,” as an archi¬ 
 tect would term it, should be bounded by straight 
 lines rather than curves—though an arc or arbi¬ 
 trary curve may sometimes be a relief. There 
 should, however, be some flow of lines, at once 
 graceful and appropriate, within the bounding 
 lines, and the artist may be allowed a wide 
 margin with regard to the internal details. 
 
 Nevertheless it must be borne in mind that, 
 in designing furniture of this sort, well-studied 
 proportion is far more than mere linear dex¬ 
 terity. 
 
 It might be assumed that such inevitable 
 concomitants of drawing-room furniture as the 
 occasional or the sofa-table could safely be left 
 with the facile producers of this useful article ; 
 but, alas, though the markets are overstocked 
 with fancy tables of various sorts and sizes, 
 three-fourths of them may safely be rejected 
 on the ground of general debility. 
 
The Drawing-room. 85 
 
 We have sadly fallen out of the old-fashioned 
 rut of table making, and, tiring of first prin¬ 
 ciples, our designers and manufacturers have 
 given the reins to fancy, quite regardless of 
 whither that' erratic goddess would land them. 
 
 A table is nothing if not firm, and yet this 
 primary condition is seldom fulfilled. 
 
 The basis of simple construction is seen in 
 the kitchen table, and with considerable modifi¬ 
 cations the same formation is applicable to a 
 much higher class of table. 
 
 Instead, however, of studying “ eternal fit¬ 
 ness,” we endeavour to balance our table on the 
 slenderest possible columns, reduced to a mini¬ 
 mum of strength by excessive carving or turn¬ 
 ing away of the wood where it ought to be left 
 of a fair thickness. From these columns spring 
 elegant carved branches or claws, and for fear 
 so vulgar a thing as a castor should be visible, 
 a hole is sometimes scooped almost through the 
 wood, and a castor (much too small) is in¬ 
 serted. The consequence is, one of the castors 
 soon gives way under the weight of the table, 
 which thus acquires that chronic limp so often 
 observable. 
 
86 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 The stand of a- table may be made in various 
 ways. The chief point is to get the top sup¬ 
 ported all round and firmly, so that no ordinary 
 pressure will overturn it. The legs, or stand, 
 should never project beyond the extreme line 
 of the top, and in a writing-table should not 
 be in the way of one’s knees. 
 
 The legs of a square or oblong table need 
 not necessarily be placed at the extreme cor¬ 
 ners. If framed a little way in, they will often 
 look better. It is also well to brace them 
 together by some sort of cross rails near the 
 ground. We fear this mode of strengthening 
 has been discontinued because of the difficulty 
 it presents in packing. It is obvious that 
 whereas a couple of four-legged tables will pack 
 one within the other, the cross rails render 
 this economy of space impossible, and to the 
 cheap furniture-monger no doubt this is a con¬ 
 sideration, independently of the extra expense 
 of the rails themselves. 
 
 We doubt, however, the wisdom of allowing a 
 parsimonious utilitarianism to gain a morbid 
 ascendency over us. Moreover, people have no 
 business to be for ever moving from house to 
 
The Drawing-room . & 7 
 
 house. Migratory habits are unfortunately in¬ 
 separable from life in crowded cities, but we 
 cannot build our houses as quickly as the birds, 
 and home, and home associations are the growth 
 of years and not of months. 
 
 At least, let us cherish the theory (if in 
 practice it is often contradicted) of a permanent 
 abode, round which moss-grown memories cling, 
 and whose inanimate belongings have an im¬ 
 parted vitality and an interest not their own. 
 
 We like the idea of people and house and fur¬ 
 niture growing old together ; and, similarly, we 
 prefer that young married people should have 
 new furniture, and not scour the country for 
 old musty bureaus and chiffonnihes of defunct 
 ancestors. 
 
 But this is a digression. There is, however, 
 a distinct advantage in these struts or rails from 
 leg to leg of a table or chair, as they enable 
 it to resist a lateral pressure, and prevent dis¬ 
 location of joints, or that sudden snapping which 
 sometimes occurs if a chair is jerked sharply 
 down upon one leg. A table may be simply 
 described as a horizontal plane resting on vertical 
 (or nearly vertical) supports. 
 
88 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 These supports may sometimes be connected 
 by horizontal bars or rails from one to the 
 other. Thus a table consists, broadly, of two 
 “ °r at most —three parts. If the supports 
 are of sufficient strength, and firmly fixed to 
 the top, we have a table answering its main 
 purpose. Details of ornament may then be 
 considered. 
 
 Practically, however, there is a very large 
 proportion of ornamental drawing-room tables 
 at which you dare not sit down to write a 
 letter, or on which you hesitate to place a lamp. 
 In fact, we habitually approach a certain class 
 of tables with great caution, for fear an acci¬ 
 dental touch should communicate a disagree¬ 
 able tremor throughout the ornaments and nick- 
 nacks placed thereon. 
 
 It is beyond our purpose to attempt to eluci¬ 
 date the practical putting together of tables and 
 chairs, and even were we to do so, the amateur 
 might find it well-nigh impossible to unravel the 
 mode of construction in the next thing of the 
 kind he came across. 
 
 If, for instance, we insist (which we do not) 
 upon the cross rails of a chair or table being 
 
The Drawing-room. 89 
 
 mortised right through the upright and pinned 
 on the other side, it would seem as though we 
 had here a guarantee of sound workmanship, 
 and yet we have found this method of Jacobean 
 framing cleverly imitated by a piece glued on 
 to represent the end of the rail coming through, 
 while the hypocritical rail itself is secured by 
 a peg or a nail. 
 
 And this state of things pervades the cheap 
 work. Whatever may have been said or written 
 to the contrary, rest assured that sound well- 
 made furniture will be unavoidably dearer than 
 the more showy but less intrinsic sorts. 
 
 We do not say this is the case with the more 
 elaborate furniture of the vulgar kind. No doubt 
 a sound and well-designed article of solid wood 
 may be made for the same or less than one 
 badly made and designed, but full of senseless 
 carving and wild contortions of outlining. 
 
 But, in the matter of mere cheapness, the 
 lower class of East-end furniture bears off the 
 palm. The manufacturers in that locality have 
 cultivated the science of economic construction to 
 the extreme verge of cheapness, and unless the 
 British public will be satisfied with more solidity 
 
90 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 and less superficial gloss, and perhaps a slight 
 advance even then in the tariff, the quality of 
 the supply will not be any better, though it may 
 reflect the general improvement in ornamental 
 design. 
 
 It takes a good while to become a tolerable 
 judge of furniture, so that the safest plan is to 
 go to some house of established reputation. 
 
 A chimney-glass is perhaps the most sensible 
 thing to put over the mantelpiece. It is not 
 easily affected by the dust and smoke from the 
 fire, and being fixed at a good height from the 
 floor, is not open to the objection raised against 
 the console glass. 
 
 Here, however, there is room for the exercise 
 of ingenuity, in a departure from the mere sheet 
 of plate glass, and the substitution of something 
 more varied and effective. 
 
 The fireplace, with its projecting breastwork, 
 is a fine basis for the erection of an imposing 
 superstructure. Sometimes the mantelpiece and 
 glass are made as one united whole, the entire 
 structural parts being of wood. Where the 
 mantelpiece exists, it may be cased in with 
 wood, if preferred, and above it you may con- 
 
The Drawing-room. 91 
 
 struct an “ over mantel ” of varied parts, light 
 or heavy, with or without shelves, and with the 
 top slightly overhanging, in the form of a cove 
 or arch. Gilding, painting, or simply well- 
 chosen coloured fragments of paper, leather, or 
 stuff, will do duty in panelling out the various 
 parts, while a good-sized mirror should occupy 
 the centre. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the subject of marble 
 mantelpieces will receive more attention at the 
 hands of builders, as they are mostly very 
 difficult things to bring into the general scheme 
 of a room. 
 
 There are other incidental items, such as 
 corner shelves, girandoles, &c., &c., which we 
 must leave to an awakened taste to determine 
 and to apply, while we turn our attention to 
 the important questions of carpeting and cur¬ 
 taining. 
 
 A favourite plan, where parquetry is too ex¬ 
 pensive, is to cover the floor all over with India 
 matting, or plain coloured felting, and after¬ 
 wards spread foreign rugs and mats about here 
 and there. 
 
 It lacks unity, though there is a refreshing 
 
9 2 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 coolness about the look of the matting, espe¬ 
 cially in hot weather. 
 
 There- can, however, be no possible objection 
 to bordering the room with white or coloured 
 matting, and laying down a centre carpet, as 
 recommended for the Dining-room. It has a 
 bright and clean appearance, and musical sounds 
 strike clearer and sharper than in a room car¬ 
 peted all over. 
 
 Light-coloured carpets we must again protest 
 against. There are some whitish Persian car¬ 
 pets, but the white is invariably creamy toned, 
 often a deep buff, never the sepulchral white of 
 an English Brussels carpet. Gaudy, bright-hued 
 carpets are a complete mistake, as also large, 
 geometric, or spotty patterns. Remember, al¬ 
 ways, a carpet is a background to all the 
 colours that will be seen against it, and take 
 care that it is subdued in tone, and that the 
 colours are well blended, as by this means they 
 will counteract any too positive predominant 
 hue. 
 
 A room is incomplete without curtains: there 
 is always an unfinished look until the hard out¬ 
 line of the windows is broken by the soft folds 
 
The Drawing-room. 93 
 
 of drapery, which catch the full force of the 
 light from outside, and disperse it in modified 
 form over the room. 
 
 Besides their use in subduing the intense 
 glare of shadowless light, there is of course their 
 practical aspect in keeping out draughts, and 
 closing in the room at night, which important 
 functions should perhaps have been placed first. 
 Curtains depend for artistic effect mainly on 
 three things, viz.—colour, texture, and aptitude 
 for falling into soft and graceful folds. Hence 
 silks, cloths, velvets, and serges are all suitable 
 materials. The highly-glazed chintzes of former 
 days, though admirable in many respects, were 
 ludicrously stiff and angular, and we gladly wel¬ 
 come, in their place, the soft cretonne cloth, 
 with its wonderful variety of pattern and colour. 
 
 Mixed colours and chequered patterns are less 
 necessary in the curtains than in the walls and 
 carpets; and frequently, as we remarked in con¬ 
 sidering the Dining-room, after an exhaustive 
 search for a well-designed patterned curtain that 
 will suit our room, we are obliged to fall back 
 on some self-coloured stuff, and confess that it 
 answers every purpose. There is, however, no 
 
I 
 
 94 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 binding rule here, nor are we in the least 
 averse to a figured material so long as it is 
 not spotty, but what is known as an “ all over,” 
 or well-covered pattern, and not too violent in 
 contrasted colours. 
 
 The Spanish cross striped materials in brilliant 
 reds and yellows are rather the exception than 
 the normal standard for curtains. There is, in 
 the present day, an overwhelming supply of cur¬ 
 tain stuffs of every colour and texture, many 
 of which do equal credit to the ceaseless 
 activity of brain and loom, so that we need 
 scarcely point to any in particular; and general 
 principles affecting design in wall-papers and 
 carpets will sufficiently indicate the line to ob¬ 
 serve in approving or rejecting any pattern. 
 
 Many people confine themselves to muslin or 
 lace curtains for the Drawing-room, but, al¬ 
 though this is a-fairly passable escape from a 
 difficulty, we cannot consider it more than a 
 temporary measure. Lace curtains behind the 
 heavier stuff curtains give a certain dress and 
 finish to a room, but by themselves they are 
 too weak and transparent. 
 
 Of valances we prefer to say very little, ex- 
 
95 
 
 The Drawing-room. 
 
 cept that we abominate the grandiose bullion 
 fringes with wooden skittle pendants, encased 
 in twisted yellow silk. 
 
 Yet we have known even these, worked in 
 quiet colours harmonising with the curtains, 
 and kept to some very simple outline, to look 
 exceedingly well, and by no means barbaric. 
 
 The simpler and more natural a valance is 
 the better. 
 
 Our own opinion is that it is seldom needed. 
 A light brass pole again answers the purpose 
 as an ornamental curtain rod. Cornices neces¬ 
 sitate valances, and frequently bring the window 
 into excessive prominence, and detach it from 
 the rest of the walls in a manner injurious to 
 the '-general effect. 
 
 A word on window blinds will not be out of 
 place here. 
 
 The expedients for screening our windows seem 
 to be various, and the window blind of “ the 
 day ” is, true to its name, rapidly superseded by 
 the window blind of the day after to-morrow. 
 And yet we think the question may be resolved 
 within very narrow limits. The purpose of a 
 blind is to screen the room from outsiders, and to 
 
96 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 modify and subdue the light. And these points 
 seem best met by the usual white linen blind, or 
 the Venetian blind formed of parallel laths of 
 wood, which turn on their axis, and admit air 
 and light as required. 
 
 We wonder the tints of the Venetian blind 
 have been so few, when by painting the laths a 
 certain tone, a refraction of rays might be ob¬ 
 tained, of great benefit to the room in which they 
 fall; instead of which a powerful green is the 
 usual colour adopted, which often completely 
 nullifies the tone of the walls and curtains, and 
 shuts out the light no more effectually than a 
 paler tint would do, seeing that the laths 
 themselves are opaque. 
 
 However, in the absence of Venetian, the white 
 linen blind is the simplest means of softening the 
 light. All coloured blinds, as usually made, are 
 too strong, and overlay everything with their own 
 reflection. 
 
 Where low half-blinds are required to windows 
 overlooked from the road, the open wickerwork, 
 plain or gilded, is as inoffensive as anything. All 
 wire or gauze blinds are dismally ugly. Ground 
 glass is office-like and monotonous, and those 
 
The Drawing- room. 97 
 
 unfortunate dried ferns transfixed, between two 
 sheets of glass are worse than all. 
 
 A pretty fashion obtains of employing stained 
 glass, set in small cross-bar frames of lead, gilded. 
 The pattern is often a simple rosette and flower 
 alternated, and the effect is good both inside the 
 room and from the street. 
 
 And now let us take a rapid survey of the 
 Drawing-room we have attempted theoretically 
 to furnish. 
 
 The door is flung open, we cross the cool 
 Chinese matting, and step upon the velvety pile 
 or Persian carpet. Progress is easily made 
 across the room, or by a circuitous path, skirting 
 divans, easy chairs, and small tables. 
 
 We sink into — no, if you please, we object 
 to sink waist - deep into a mass of luxurious 
 stuffing—we seat ourselves comfortably on one of 
 the aforesaid lounges, and glance round the room. 
 The walls, mirrors, ottoman seats, pictures, seem 
 to form one continuous, harmonious, though 
 varied, panorama of pleasing forms and colours, 
 mingling and contrasting. The pieces of furniture 
 are not instantly received on the retina of the 
 eye, as so many inky blotches on a white wall, 
 
 8 
 
98 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 but slowly, and as the eye becomes accustomed 
 to the room, one by one the different points come 
 out, and by degrees their various forms and com¬ 
 ponent parts are unfolded. Bits of colour, 
 unobserved at first, starlike appear. The cur¬ 
 tains also fall into the scheme of the decoration, 
 and merge their individuality for the good of the 
 room. The open windows, shaded from the heat 
 by the gently sloping sun-blinds, are filled with 
 flowers, whose fragrance scents the air ; and when 
 -we take our leave, it is with a feeling that there 
 is an indescribable something about the room 
 which soothes and gratifies our mind and senses, 
 though, for the life of us, we cannot tell precisely 
 the causes which contribute to our satisfaction. 
 Such, we believe, is the effect produced by every 
 thoughtfully and artistically furnished room, and 
 further acquaintance with the practical arrange¬ 
 ment of such a room would only confirm the 
 opinion. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE LIBRARY. 
 
 If this room is a library proper, its arrangement 
 will naturally take the form of a series of conve¬ 
 nient book-shelves, closely and methodically filled. 
 These will range round the walls, while the 
 middle of the room will be occupied by a heavy 
 writing-table, fitted with drawers and cupboards 
 for the reception of papers and manuscripts. 
 
 Nine times out of ten, however, the library—-so 
 called is also the smoking-room, morning-room, 
 school-room, or ante-room, and, when this is the 
 case, it is a mere farce to treat it with the austere 
 solemnity of a bond fide library. It may then 
 partake of a mixed character, and become a 
 pleasant and useful room. 
 
 Book-shelves are better neither too high nor 
 too low. If too near the ground the books get 
 8 * 
 
ioo The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 covered with dust, and if too high they can only 
 be reached by a chair or steps. Glass doors, 
 although we think they do not improve the look, 
 are yet indispensable if the books are w T orth pre¬ 
 serving. If the book-shelves are not too high, the 
 upper shelf, with a raised back, will be useful for 
 ornaments. 
 
 For economy, deal, stained black or painted 
 any shade, might be used in this room, and 
 indeed a certain rude effective style is permissible 
 in a nondescript room, which would be out of 
 place elsewhere. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BEDROOMS. 
 
 The furniture of a bedroom presents no great 
 difficulties in the way of selection, the different 
 pieces being dictated by the requirements of rest 
 * and of the toilet. 
 
 Modern bedroom furniture, however, especially 
 the commonest sort in mahogany or birchwood, 
 still comprises some of the worst examples of 
 constructive design. 
 
 The dressing-table and washstand are often a 
 mass of coarse and extravagant curves, the legs 
 resembling the fore-legs of a bull-dog, but having 
 none of their sturdiness. 
 
 An oval mirror, supported by clumsily carved 
 brackets, completes the “ elegant toilet table.” 
 The old “Queen Anne” style of table, of which 
 this is perhaps a gross caricature, was a vastly 
 
102 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 different thing, the curved lines having some 
 beauty and restraint, and the legs never being 
 scrolled so recklessly as to threaten the tenacity 
 of the grain. 
 
 If the “ curved ” style is to be carried out at 
 all, it must be well and carefully done, or it is 
 better left alone. 
 
 For ordinary purposes, a sensible form of 
 turned work is sufficient for the legs of the 
 washstand, dressing-table, chairs, &c., and pre¬ 
 ference should be given to straight lines in the 
 furniture itself. 
 
 Choose solid woods in preference to veneer, 
 as, in veneered furniture, you never know how 
 much common deal is underneath. 
 
 Walnut, ash, oak, mahogany, birch, or pine 
 may be used. Bear in mind the general colour 
 of a wood has more to do with the effect of 
 your room than any fanciful grain or figure it 
 may possess. 
 
 Wooden knobs to doors and drawers are in¬ 
 elegant appendages, and most likely owe their 
 origin to the small cost at which they can be 
 produced. Brass or bronzed handles are less 
 in the way, and form ornamental items. There 
 
The Bedrooms. 
 
 103 
 
 is no necessity, however, for too ostentatious a 
 display of brass. Simplicity in the furniture of 
 a bedroom, is, we think, desirable, rather than 
 richness or profuse ornamentation. 
 
 The bedstead was formerly of wood, now it is 
 generally of brass or iron. The wood bedstead 
 more completely furnishes the room, but it is 
 usually more expensive, and less easily kept 
 clean than the metallic bedstead. 
 
 In iron and brass the best patterns to adhere 
 to are those formed by parallel bars and circles. 
 
 The bedstead is seldom now so closely cur¬ 
 tained and canopied as formerly, and wisely so, 
 since, except at the head, curtains are worse 
 than useless, as they prevent the free access of 
 air. Many people abjure curtains altogether. 
 
 The floor of this room should certainlv never 
 be carpeted to the walls; a broad margin should 
 be left all round, which may be covered with 
 matting, or any of the soft warm floor-cloths 
 made of cork and indiarubber. 
 
 A centre carpet of Brussels, Kidderminster, or 
 felt, can then be thrown down. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON STYLE. 
 
 The question whether a house should be fur¬ 
 nished throughout in one style, or whether 
 each room may represent a different period, is 
 easily disposed of. A house should be furnished 
 throughout harmoniously, and not be a series 
 of violent contrasts in style. 
 
 A house is the home of an individual possess¬ 
 ing character, mind, will, and, it is to be hoped, 
 certain definite principles; and therefore, except 
 in the case of persons of quixotic temperament 
 and kaleidoscopic mental vision, should not be 
 a succession of “Jack-in-the-box” surprises. 
 
 How far, however, analogous points of various 
 styles may be blended without incongruity, is 
 not so easily defined. 
 
 Just now, when every phase of European and 
 
On Style. 105 
 
 Asiatic art is being laid under contribution, we 
 see mixtures of oriental, mediaeval, and renaiss¬ 
 ance ornament grafted on to forms hovering 
 between Classic and Gothic, yet producing a 
 modern English medley, often of high excellence 
 as a work of art. These varied elements of un¬ 
 equal affinity need, however, the sound judgment 
 and bold genius of a master mind and hand to 
 weld into a compact and homogeneous whole. 
 
 That purity of style which insists on every 
 article, even to the time-piece and fire-irons in 
 a room, having the same points of family like¬ 
 ness, is a dull, narrow, uncongenial thing, and 
 those who advocate it fail to recognise the 
 broad principles underlying all true art what¬ 
 soever. 
 
 Nevertheless, the eye must accustom itself to 
 see clearly when and where to introduce fur¬ 
 niture or trifles of a different order into a room 
 already furnished in a certain style. 
 
 One thing is certain, that, whereas good fur¬ 
 niture of different periods will not unfrequently 
 stand side by side without prejudice to either 
 style, and that notwithstanding a difference of 
 centuries in point of age, it is utterly impossible 
 
io6 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 to reconcile a badly-designed thing with either 
 the one or the other. There is no ground of 
 assimilation. 
 
 A really serious source of discord in a room 
 is a want of balance or consistency; silk cur¬ 
 tains and woollen furniture coverings ; a rare 
 marquetry cabinet flanked by clumsy featureless 
 chairs of the early Victorian era; and, in orna¬ 
 ments, Bohemian glass mixed up with old Vene¬ 
 tian. There must be an equality maintained 
 throughout. The room must be set in a certain 
 key, and, if allowed to fall out of it for the sake 
 of variety, should speedily return into its normal 
 channel. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 MISCELLANEA. 
 
 Your fenders, fire-irons, and gaselier or chande¬ 
 lier, wall sconces, and ornamental items, should 
 all have the same careful and discriminate se¬ 
 lection. The improvement in metal-work has 
 been very marked of late, so that there is some 
 chance of being able to secure a sensible form 
 of fender. 
 
 The gaselier, with some notable exceptions, 
 still retains many objectionable features. It is, 
 however, infinitely improved. We see few of 
 the gaunt extending triple arms of bygone days; 
 the lights are more compact, often a cluster of 
 five or more ; and we think the disagreeable in¬ 
 vention of balance weights and telescopic action 
 is growing into disfavour. 
 
 The vases and other ornaments which adorn 
 
io8 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 our rooms too often fall into our hands without 
 our having a word in their selection, and in¬ 
 grate indeed should we be to evince the faintest 
 shadow of discourtesy in our reception of the 
 smallest token of esteem or affection. The 
 principle which regards the motive of a gift is 
 deeper than that which contemplates with critical 
 nicety the attributes of the thing given. 
 
 Where, however, we are choosing any orna¬ 
 ment for ourselves, we must have regard to form 
 and colour as well as suitability to the position 
 it is intended to occupy. 
 
 In affecting old china, we would counsel choice 
 of such as possesses some rare merit of colour, or 
 form, or device, rather than that which depends 
 solely for its marketable value on its scarcity. 
 A few years ago it was almost impossible to find 
 a really good bit of colour amongst modern porce¬ 
 lain. Full primary colours, no doubt there 
 were, though mostly employed in flower or sub¬ 
 ject groups, but any subtlety of colour, or any 
 quaintness or variety of form, was not to be 
 found; so that artists and collectors were forced 
 to hunt up the comparatively few pieces of good 
 ancient pottery to be found in country places, 
 
Miscellanea. 
 
 109 
 
 or in the hands of dealers. Now there are 
 spinging up here and there men of intelligence 
 and spirit, who are stimulating the genius of 
 the country in producing useful and ornamental 
 ware of a very high artistic order, and we re¬ 
 commend those who have neither time nor in¬ 
 clination to study ceramic trade-marks, to confine 
 their purchases to these modern specimens, and 
 thus avoid the risk of being either duped or 
 ruined. 
 
 Embroidery is another art which might render 
 great service in the finishing of our rooms. As 
 a rule, however, attempts in this direction have 
 been unsatisfactory in the extreme. The me¬ 
 chanical stitch of ordinary Berlin wool-work is 
 dull and uninteresting, and fails to achieve any¬ 
 thing worthy of such self-denying and mono¬ 
 tonous labour. A revolution is on foot in this 
 branch of feminine industry, and we trust a 
 few years will suffice to enforce some useful 
 and long-needed lessons in the application of 
 needlework to domestic decoration. 
 
 The natural flowers and leaves, awkwardly and 
 unnaturally rendered at best, the over-powerful 
 colours, and their frequent unhappy combina- 
 
I IO 
 
 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 tions, are amongst our distressing recollections 
 in this particular department. Young ladies 
 might just as well practise from drawing-slates 
 and call it drawing. It develops no faculty of 
 the artist. The only virtue it tends to promote 
 (if it does not exhaust) is patience. No doubt 
 an acquaintance with the rules of simple ad¬ 
 dition, and a sufficiently good eye to distinguish 
 green from red, are necessary qualifications. Be¬ 
 yond these there is little to be learnt. Yet the 
 number of ugly ill-proportioned chairs, which 
 have been made solely because this or that piece 
 of work took so many months or years to com¬ 
 plete, would form an astounding catalogue. 
 
 Take a piece of Indian or Japanese embroidery 
 —not the closely covered Indian work—we can¬ 
 not afford to waste so much time-—hut say, a 
 bit of picturesque embroidery on black satin. 
 There is, perhaps, a bird—what kind of bird it 
 may be difficult to tell—but note the firm sweep 
 of the lines in the wings and tail, the wonder¬ 
 fully delicate touches in the feathered plumage, 
 the vivid realism of the eye, the beak, the 
 talons. And then study those marvellous cloud 
 and water lines, indicating, beyond possibility of 
 
Miscellanea. 
 
 111 
 
 mistake, the exact nature of the thing pourtrayed, 
 yet with a single line or two. Reeds, rushes, 
 or gorgeous exotics, are all given with the same 
 fidelity and graphic power, or a flock of double 
 stitches will represent at once a flight of birds. 
 The worker, in fact, has just the same power 
 over the needle and silks or wools as an artist 
 has T>ver his pencil and palette. 
 
 Now we do not mean, nor do we expect, that 
 every one should possess this instinctive artistic 
 faculty, but where it does in any measure exist, 
 we think we have a right to demand its exercise 
 in something worthier than the old go-cart canvas 
 stitch. Some technical instruction may be needed 
 to enable a young beginner to throw aside the 
 prejudice that may be entertained against novel 
 means of producing good results in embroidery; 
 but once fairly afloat, there will be found infinitely 
 more enjoyment and scope for ability in a form 
 of art-needlework , which presses into its service 
 every means by which a design can be worked 
 out most effectively, or best subordinated to a 
 decorative purpose when it is required to grace, 
 and not disgrace, our rooms. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IN CONCLUSION. 
 
 We are continually told to go to “ nature ” as the 
 infallible guide in all questions pertaining to art, 
 whether pictorial or decorative, and it is not 
 improbable that a great many errors of natural¬ 
 istic design have resulted from an entire miscon¬ 
 ception of the meaning of the advice given. If 
 we content ourselves with blindly copying nature, 
 we shall merely reproduce isolated fragments of 
 nature’s handiwork in the wrong place. We 
 must go to nature, not as mere copyists, but as 
 reasoning intelligent beings, with the endeavour 
 to understand the laws by which she is governed 
 and the principles on which she invariably works. 
 
 We may not, by looking at a tree, see exactly 
 how to construct a chair; nor, by studying a rose, 
 learn how to design a wall-paper. Yet, by ob- 
 
In Conciusion. 113 
 
 serving how the main branches of a tree strike 
 out from the parent stem, and how, from these, 
 the more slender offshoots are thrown out in 
 irregular and yet harmonious lines, we may 
 gather some notions of fitness and exquisite 
 adaptability—of a combination of strength and 
 lightness and elasticity—a maximum of force 
 with a minimum of expenditure, every part sup¬ 
 porting or supported by some other part; nothing 
 superfluous, no waste, no reckless prodigality of 
 resource. Here we have the essence of construc¬ 
 tive art — the utmost strength of which the 
 material is capable; the structural formation 
 clearly perceptible without being ugly or obtru¬ 
 sive ; every part having relation to every other 
 part. You perceive the tree hitherto (the trunk 
 and the branches) has merely the beauty of pro¬ 
 portion, of fitness, of vigour, and balance of 
 parts. But as these elements constitute rather a 
 relative beauty, it is necessary, for the ultimate 
 perfection of the tree, that it should assume a 
 positive beauty, hence the blossom, the leaves, and 
 the fruit; outgrowths, mark, of the construction, 
 interwoven, so to speak, in the whole scheme ; 
 no mere adjuncts, but clothing the branches 
 
 Q 
 
114 7 he Art of Furnishing. 
 
 with a perfectly natural, seemingly inevitable 
 species of ornament, yet never entirely concealing 
 the anatomy of the tree, only marking still more 
 distinctly its perfect grace and applicability, till, 
 from the fibres which strike into the earth to the 
 trembling leaf that points the slenderest stem, 
 this work of a mightier hand than man’s stands 
 out a miracle of consummate perfection, of work¬ 
 manship past mortal skill, of beauty beyond 
 possibility of human rivalry. 
 
 The difficulty, of course, is to interpret and 
 codify—if we may so speak—the laws of nature, 
 so as to render them applicable to purposes of 
 construction and decoration. 
 
 A rose-tree in full bloom is a thing of beauty, 
 but it by no means follows that, repeated at. 
 regular intervals thirty or forty times over a wall 
 it will convey the same sense of beauty. Nature 
 never acts thus; besides, there are conditions of 
 atmosphere and of distance which mitigate out¬ 
 door effects, but which are altogether absent in a 
 room, hence the necessity for getting effects of 
 distance by moderating and toning down the 
 colours on a wall. 
 
 We have, however, said enough for the present 
 
In Conclusion. 
 
 ii5 
 
 on the affinity between nature’s laws and those 
 which should govern industrial and decorative 
 art. One fallacy in relation to art in general we 
 would enter a protest against, namely, the notion 
 that real, abiding, intelligent taste can ever, in its 
 essence, be dissociated from a love of all that is 
 true and noble and sublime. 
 
 We have heard it said that “ taste ” is the 
 result of feeling —a faculty, that is to say, of the 
 heart rather than the head. We rather think it 
 is a product of both. If, however, the possession 
 of a refined taste is coincident with the higher 
 culture of our intellectual and our emotional 
 nature, and especially of the latter, it should 
 clearly be accompanied by a wide-spread sym¬ 
 pathy and a breadth of charity for all that, in 
 the truest and noblest sense, claims the one or 
 demands the other. That narrowness of spirit 
 and concentration of self-interest which is satis¬ 
 fied with the mere contemplation of forms and 
 emblems in themselves abstractly beautiful, is, 
 we have no hesitation in saying, no mark of taste 
 —certainly not as we understand it, or believe its 
 fullest interpretation to be. Taste, whatever else 
 it may be, is the embodiment of qualities which 
 
116 The Art of Furnishing. 
 
 the world cannot do without — qualities whose 
 first practical action is rather to cultivate mercy 
 than to foster sentiment; to provide homes for 
 the homeless than to deck the costly mansion, and 
 so down through the cycles of industry. Taste, 
 art, aesthetics—these are the rainbow hues flung 
 off upon life’s checkered skies from influences 
 akin to those of the ever active, ever gracious 
 rain that watereth the earth, and of the sun that 
 blesseth “ the springing ” of herbs and fruits and 
 flowers—ministrants to man of health, of susten¬ 
 ance, and of delight. 
 
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