It is hoped that this book will be of practical aid to that large body of intelligent people who are seeking to create for themselves expressive and individual environments of life. It does not aim to set down cut and dried rules and principles, or to attempt to enforce any particular type or style of decoration, but to suggest new possibilities and open new trains of thought by setting forth those fresh and stimulating currents which are influencing the creators of what has been called "the new taste" in interior decoration.

True decoration can never be achieved by ordering an assemblage of furniture from the shop, or by turning over the complete responsibility to the professional decorator. It is far more the result of a gradual adjustment between taste and expression - and as change of taste is usually a sign of growth, so change in our ideals of decoration must be provided for in order to reach a free and spontaneous expression in the end. If this book serves only to impress on the minds of young people the wisdom of laying the foundations of their home simply and unpretentiously and allowing it to evolve and grow with them and their widening interests and experience, instead of burdening themselves with too much and too expensive furniture in the beginning which puts a ban on expansion - it will consider it has fulfilled a worthy mission.

I am indebted for the material and illustrations to those courageous modern decorators and individuals who have severed their bondage to past and present conventions and sought to use their own ingenuity and thought to lay the foundations for a modern period. I wish especially to acknowledge the kindly assistance I have received from the Ascherman Studio, Baron de Meyer, Jeanne Durant Rice, Fayette Barnum, Paul Zimmerman, Bertha Holley, Anton Hellman, Ralph Adams Cram, and Henry Fitch Taylor for the use of his valuable color chart. The design on the cover was inspired by one of Mr. E. Aschermann's original stencil motifs.