“Those who duly consider the influence of the fine-arts on the human mind, will not think it a small benefit to the world, to diffuse their productions as wide, and preserve them as long as possible.  The multiplying of copies of fine work, in beautiful and durable materials, must obviously have the same effect in respect to the arts as the invention of printing has upon literature and the sciences:  by their means the principal productions of both kinds will be forever preserved, and will effectually prevent the return of ignorant and barbarous ages.”

     Josiah Wedgwood:  Catalogue of 1787.

One of the most joyful obligations in life should be the planning and executing of beautiful homes, keeping ever in mind that distinction is not a matter of scale, since a vast palace may find its rival in the smallest group of rooms, provided the latter obeys the law of good line, correct proportions, harmonious colour scheme and appropriateness:  a law insisting that all useful things be beautiful things.

THE ART OF INTERIOR DECORATION

CHAPTER I

HOW TO REARRANGE A ROOM

Lucky is the man or woman of taste who has no inherited eyesores which, because of association, must not be banished!  When these exist in large numbers one thing only remains to be done:  look them over, see to what period the majority belong, and proceed as if you wanted a mid-Victorian, late Colonial or brass-bedstead room.

To rearrange a room successfully, begin by taking everything out of it (in reality or in your mind), then decide how you want it to look, or how, owing to what you own and must retain, you are obliged to have it look.  Design and colour of wall decorations, hangings, carpets, lighting fixtures, lamps and ornaments on mantel, depend upon the character of your furniture.

It is the mantel and its arrangement of ornaments that sound the keynote upon first entering a room.

Conventional simplicity in number and arrangement of ornaments gives balance and repose, hence dignity.  Dignity once established, one can afford to be individual, and introduce a riot of colours, provided they are all in the same key.  Luxurious cushions, soft rugs and a hundred and one feminine touches will create atmosphere and knit together the austere scheme of line—­the anatomy of your room.  Colour and textiles are the flesh of interior decoration.

In furnishing a small room you can add greatly to its apparent size by using plain paper and making the woodwork the same colour, or slightly darker in tone.  If you cannot find wall paper of exactly the colour and shade you wish, it is often possible to use the wrong side of a paper and produce exactly the desired effect.

In repapering old rooms with imperfect ceilings it is easy to disguise this by using a paper with a small design in the same tone.  A perfectly plain ceiling paper will show every defect in the surface of the ceiling.