This section is from the book "The New Interior: Modern Decorations For The Modern Home", by Hazel H. Adler. Also available from Amazon: The New Interior: Modern Decorations for the Modern Home.
One long-stemmed rose in a slender vase which will keep it in position, is a thing of beauty in line, which should give joy to a whole household; a group of three at different stages of opening, with their leaves, is an example of beauty of form which would furnish a notable decoration. The chrysanthemum and poppy are almost equally adaptable.
In the opinion of artists and many decorators no room is complete without growing plants, and their arrangement to emphasize the beauty of line or color is well worth care and study.
Bay trees in pottery tubs are often used effectively in halls, and beside doorways and mantels. Window boxes are always gratifying to the eye. One deep bay window off a dining-room was covered on the inside with a greenish blue lattice over which ivy was sparingly trained.
Color contrasts can be supplied by sofa cushions, table runners, desk fittings, and in hundreds of other charming and spontaneous ways, but care must be exercised that there are not too many points of strong conflicting interest in a room. The emphatic point of interest in the large quiet studio of one modern decorator was a round table upon which an unhemmed square of black velvet was used as a cover with a double fold of brilliant green crepe de chine laid across the center of it and extending down the sides. Upon it was placed a large lamp with a black base and a plain buff shade, a bright blue pottery flower bowl, and a deep red vase. An exquisite green jade desk set gave an irresistible touch to one somber library.
Modern sofa cushions offer a wide field of decorative interest, and many opportunities to achieve individual effects. Sometimes they are absolutely plain - of velvet, corded silk, linen, or denim in bright modern colorings. They may be batiked, block printed, or stenciled, or they may be embroidered in wool, in cotton, or silk, but their value lies in their decorative grouping and colorings, far more than in their individual conception. The rarely beautiful ones turned out by the Los Angeles Society of Arts and Crafts, however, are works of art and can be used with the same effect as a decorative painting or piece of porcelain.
Every part of an interior, every wall space, mantelpiece, corner, or group of furniture offers opportunity for a charming grouping of still life. The artistic treatment of windows is particularly felicitous in the long narrow rooms of city houses where the windows are usually at one end and there are few other well balanced structural features upon which to concentrate decoration.
In the living-room of a city house, window hangings of hand dyed green Chinese velvet were used by one modern decorator. The valence was formed by a succession of points from the ends of which fell large crystal drops. Next to the glass there was a layer of plain cream silk net, and then came a layer of a cobwebby lacy pattern, then one of plain green, and, finally, toward the room, another layer of plain cream was used. The effect was that of a soft green shimmer which was delightful with the crystals and the darker green of the hangings. In the center of the window expanse was placed a single object - a chair of cane and wood of deep ivory with effective touches of black. The carpet was black with a conventionalized design in gray at infrequent intervals and the walls were gray, paneled with stripes of black. The remainder of the furniture was in brilliant green or ivory, but the window was the point of emphasis in the room and the feature which attracted and held your attention.
Another delightful window had thin Japanese silk curtains of bluish lavender. The window was on the first floor looking directly out on the street and the curtains were always drawn and hung to the floor. They were edged with plain silk fringe of the same color and decorated with a tiny appliqued band of brilliant cerise running down the center and across the bottom several inches from the edge. A severely plain but subtly proportioned table was set in the center of this alluring background. It had a lavender lacquered top and black supports, and upon it was placed a wide-mouthed plain glass vase with greenish-gray-white blossoms arranged in the Japanese spirit. No other objects were placed nearby to detract from its beauty and, indeed, so careful had been its planning and arrangement that after it had once been viewed it was difficult to picture any other treatment which could even moderately replace its charms.
Doorways also afford an excellent nucleus for effective grouping. In a silver gray wood paneled room the doorway leading out to the piazza had a shaped valence of an all over floral pattern of linen jute in soft yellow, rose, and lavender on a gray-black background. The hangings which fell from beneath the valence and framed the square-paned glass door were of soft mauve velvet. The material of the valence was repeated in the upholstery of a chair on one side, and its colorings in the batik shade of the small cream lamp placed on a tiny black table on the opposite side. Above the chair a small painting, chosen for its bright decorative colorings, was fitted into one of the panels. In the center panels on either side of the doorway two little oval medallions were hung. Their shape was repeated in the design of the natural colored linen sofa cushion embroidered in black and mauve wool placed on the chair. The diminutive runner placed upon the table under the lamp was of the mauve velvet embroidered with black and cream wool. The ceiling cove of the room was touched with gray, rose, and yellow and the top panels were inlaid with black and gold. The doorway presented a complete and satisfying composition in color and line and bespoke the thoughtful and loving care behind it.
This doorway was balanced on the opposite side of the room by an equally well-conceived fireplace grouping. The fireplace was built of dull green square tiles and the mantelpiece of the silvery gray wood. A luxurious gray davenport faced the fire and a long black table rested against its back. Upon the davenport were soft rose and yellow cushions and upon the table a mauve velvet runner, a bowl of rose pottery, and a few books.
For the use of beautiful decorative objects we must again be guided by the wisdom of our artistic peers, the Japanese. Instead of crowding rooms with many beautiful objects, their aim is to use as few as possible at one time, allowing the beauty of each to exert its full influence. One beautiful object usually has the place of honor on a raised platform at one end of the room and whatever other decorative objects are in proximity are placed solely to enhance its beauty. Frequently the surroundings are changed from day to day, in order that new charms may be brought out and emphasized.
When one considers all the years of thought, all the human energy and skill which is put into the creation of an object of art, it seems that those into whose hands it falls should make some manner of compensation by a careful and conscientious selection of its environment.
The addition of details to a room after the fundamental objects are assembled, is an exercise in self-restraint as well as artistic discrimination. Many excellently designed rooms are ruined in this stage in their development by an over-indulgence in decoration and an under-indulgence in interesting and carefully planned detail.
 
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