The Up-to-Date Interior.

Authorities on the home had been calling for simplified, healthful interiors since the turn of the century. The formal, dark rooms filled with overstuffed furniture that were typical of nineteenthcentury houses were vilified as old-fashioned and tasteless. Instead magazines and homemakers' manuals instructed American homeowners to take advantage of the latest technology to create an auspicious atmosphere for family life.

The Flexible Floor Plan.

A key component of interior design in the 1910s was the open floor plan, inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. No longer was each space meant to serve a single, specific purpose, as in Victorian houses, with their parlors, sitting rooms, and library. Instead, the first floor of a house built in the 1910s typically consisted of a porch, a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen, each room open to the next...