A Reflection of the Spirit of To-day - Different Styles which may be Purchased and Their Use in the Home - Rugs, Upholstery, and Wall Coverings which Harmonize.

Furniture Which Reflects The Spirit Of The Present Day

Period furniture is not adapted to the use of all people. There are some persons of very modern feeling to whom the spirit of the furniture of bygone days does not seem at all appropriate for use to-day. They want something which is to them more up-to-date, more truly American. For them there is a modern type which is admired and used by a great number of people who feel the need of an inexpensive yet pleasing kind of furniture.

The Origin Of Mission Furniture

The mission furniture originated some thirty years ago in a little mission church in California. The church was an humble frame structure and the chairs made for it were of the simplest, straight-line construction possible. Because they were so simple they seemed to possess an element of beauty, and the public soon recognized this fact and called for other straight-line designs in inexpensive furniture. Furniture makers all over the country abandoned, to some extent, the manufacture of much ornate, fantastically carved, light oak furniture, and bent their energies toward the making of straight-lined dark-stained mission furniture. Many of the designs were too heavy, were lacking in a fine sense of proportion, but much of the furniture was, and still is, good.

The Proper Use Of Mission Furniture

Mission furniture is often wrongly used, however. Many people forget, or are ignorant of, the fact that this style of furniture was originally designed for the bungalow type of building, where the woodwork of the rooms is on plain lines and is stained the same tone as the furniture. While mission furniture may seem very much at home in a western house, it may be entirely out of place in a house of the middle west, and surely would be incongruous in a colonial mansion of the east.

Other Furnishings Which Harmonize

Where mission furniture is well adapted to the home in which it is placed, great care should be taken in selecting the rest of the furnishings. Plain walls are best with mission furniture. If figured wall covering is especially desired, however, only that having a very conventional pattern should be selected. No attempt at daintiness should be made in a room with this type of furniture. The side hangings at the windows should be non-transparent, of firm weave, and, if figured, should be of geometric design. Some of the newer types of domestic rugs are more suitable for use with mission furniture than oriental rugs. Oriental rugs carry with them the spirit of the past and so are not appropriate for use with furniture of a distinctly modern type. The plain Wiltons with shaded borders are often used, but the texture of the many different makes of Scotch rugs seems most fitting.

Craftsman Furniture

Craftsman furniture is an outgrowth of mission furniture. The public soon tired of so much straight-lined, heavy furniture. People called for designs retaining all the good qualities of the mission furniture, but adding a feeling of grace and a certain degree of delicacy. This demand the manufacturers succeeded in meeting in many-charming instances. The shops are now filled with modern furniture, much of which is really beautiful. Sometimes this furniture is of entirely new design. More often each piece is a successful composite of many antique motifs, so blended that an entirely new idea seems to have been originated. Some of this craftsman furniture is heavy and substantial looking, some is dainty and graceful. In all designs, however, there is a distinct lack of unnecessary ornament, and the charm depends entirely upon the extreme simplicity. Much of this furniture is very inexpensive and fills a national want for people of limited means.

(Furniture designed by Helen Speer, reproduced through the courtesy of The House Beautiful) This Playroom Is Large, Light, Airy, and Simply Furnished, but the Rocker Has Arms with Dangerously Sharp Elbows.

(Furniture designed by Helen Speer, reproduced through the courtesy of The House Beautiful).

A "Baby Pen" with Chinese Counters That Would Afford Endless Amusement, and a Hobby-horse That Looks as Sportive as He Is Safe.