A house painted and papered with taste has next to be furnished with taste*

Where the means are large and the taste good, this may be easily achieved; but it by no means follows that expensive furnishing is tasteful furnishing. Good taste may be shown at very small expense, and bad taste at a great cost; but where the taste is equal, the means will largely assist the furnisher in making her dwelling beautiful.

The great improvement in art during the last twenty years has enabled us to obtain articles of exceeding elegance and beauty, and it is only necessary to have a just and pure taste to be able to delight the eyes and charm the mind in a modern home.

Where a purchaser-is doubtful of her taste or knowledge in furnishing a mansion, it is wise for her to trust to those of a very first-class upholsterer, but it is pleasanter every way to be able to choose for oneself, and a little knowledge of colours, and study of works of art will soon improve an uncultivated taste. Bad taste is shown in a jumble of many gaudy tints - too much gilding - too many mirrors - an overcrowding of furniture - furniture of size disproportionate to that of the room - an air of stiffness and unoccupancy. No expenditure can atone for any of these defects.