THE new point of view in the decoration of the home may be characterized as the artist's as opposed to the upholsterer's. What would you think of an artist who, sitting before an empty canvas, indulged in the following reflections : "I want to paint a landscape, but I don't know just what kind I want to paint. Let me see - a landscape must have trees! Well, who painted the best trees? I think Corot did, yes undoubtedly Corot did, so I can't go far wrong by starting with a clump of Corot trees. Then I 'd like to have a farmhouse. I always did like farmhouses in landscapes. Those old farmhouses of Constable's had a lot of charm! And water! There must be water - who's that chap who paints such good running water - oh, Thurlow! Next for the little realistic touches that the old fellows got into their pictures. What did they use? Guess I 'll run up to the Museum and see. Then when I get those in it will be up to me to decide whether I want it spring or autumn, morning or evening - and that reminds me - moonlights are being done a lot lately! But I don't have to worry about those things now because when I get that far along I can go down to the art store and get the opinion of the fellow down there on those matters."

If you substitute furniture for trees, wall decorations for farmhouses, "objets d'art" for realistic touches, and the upholsterer or decorator for the fellow at the art store, you will have the frame of mind in which a great many people set out to create the environment in which the greater part of their lives are to be spent.

It is a common short-coming of the average home-maker to appreciate the fine points of an old chair, rug or bit of fabric, and, at the same time, to be totally unconscious of the fact that these objects may have no decorative value in the setting in which they are placed. Many prosperous homes are quite devoid of the decorative sense which is often displayed in the simplest corner of the peasant's cottage.

During the evolution of certain forms and details of decoration, the sense of general proportion disappeared and the essential point of the entire decorative ideal -the ability to grasp the whole and to bring to it a fresh and unified conception - was abandoned somewhere on the way.

With the great development of the decorative resources of this country there has come new blood and new spirit into the movement. Artists and sincere decorators have begun to realize that the problem has been attacked from the wrong end and that an interior, instead of being a mere assemblage of individual objects, has at bottom the same elements and aims as other forms of artistic expression and must also be governed by the same laws.

Before an artist, if he is worthy to be called by the name, begins a picture, before he makes ready the materials, or is even endowed with a definite impulse to create, he has in mind, either consciously or unconsciously, certain fundamental rules of artistic composition. He knows, primarily, that a picture must express an idea; that it can express only one dominant idea; and that no matter how interesting or beautiful may be certain details which he sees in connection with it, unless they have some definite purpose in the composition, they not only do not add to, but detract from the effect of the whole; and that no matter how good the technical execution may be the picture will probably rise or fall by the sheer emotional quality of its color.

These same principles may be applied to interior decoration as Unity, Utility, and Color.

First and foremost it must be decided what you wish to attain, what you want your house to stand for! The first requisite of any decoration, whether it be expressed in furnishings, in marble or paint, must be an idea,

Do not attempt to decorate a home without a unified idea or intention - all the beautiful things you put into it otherwise will be of little avail.

In Japan a single decorative idea is behind the home of the poorest laborer and that of the aristocrat or connoisseur. It is to secure the best possible background for displaying the dignity and importance of the family's collection of art treasures - the bright colored kakemonas, the fine prints, the carvings and porcelains, and for ike-bana, the art of the living flower. Everything in the house is conserved to that end. The walls are plain and neutral, the structural lines are straight and unobtrusive, and the low type of furniture is out of the line of vision. Although the materials may vary greatly in quality, the general effect is never without charm and distinction.

Certain schemes of house decoration are suited to certain people as certain styles of dresses are particularly becoming to them. A French writer has said, "The knowledge of being well dressed imparts a bliss-fulness to the soul which religion is powerless to bestow." In a like manner the knowledge of being well housed, of having created for one's self an environment which is an adequate expression of one's tastes and individuality, of having established a harmony between the inner and the outer life, lends to living a certain poise and power which can seldom be derived from other sources.

A vague presentiment of the importance of personality as a basis for decoration has been felt among decorators for some time and is responsible, to a large degree, for the rise of the so-called "period house" or

"period room." If people tended toward ostentation and luxury they were straightway installed in the gold and brocade surroundings of the Louis XIV epoch. If they manifested evidences of sterner ideals they were interpreted as Jacobean; while, if by any chance, they expressed an inclination for something unusual or out of the ordinary, they were consigned to a strange and fantastical style called Moorish or Byzantine.

Period decoration, like ready-made clothing, is a great saver of time and thought, but its propensity to misfits and monotony is preserved in like ratio.