French Furniture

French furniture is not so suitable for living room use. It is too ornate, too elaborate in the early styles, and too delicate in the later productions, for the everyday life of a household. It is better used in formal reception rooms. French furniture is usually much more expensive than English and colonial furniture, for only the most expert craftsman can reproduce French motives and styles with a truly aesthetic accuracy. This again is another reason against using it in the living room. Good colonial furniture is comparatively inexpensive because of the greater ease with which it may be practically evolved.

Italian Furniture

Some reproductions of early Italian furniture are also very fine in the modern living room. There is a certain strength of line and solidity of structure found in the productions of the Italian Renaissance which partakes of the spirit of the present times, and gives promise of a more general use in our house furnishings in the future.

The Furniture in This Living-room Centers about the Fireplace. The Stool in the Foreground Is of the William and Mary Period and the Table Possesses Adam and Hepplewhite Characteristics.

(Courtesy of Mrs. Henry Dunlop).

The Single-toned Rug in This Colonial Living-room la Well Subordinated in Color and Tone to the Rest of the Furnishings. The Informal Use of BISYMMETRIC Balance Is Especially Worthy of Note, (Courtesy of B. T. Lindeberg).

How To Obtain Occult Balance

In arranging the furniture of the living room in order to obtain the result of occult balance, there should be, as in a room arranged in bisymmetric balance, an axis which centers the interest and about which the rest of the furniture is grouped. In a dining room, the axis of interest is always the table, which should be invariably placed in the center of the room. In the living room the axis of interest is very seldom placed in the center, but is at one side or at one end of the room. A well-proportioned fireplace is perhaps the most usual and most successful main point of interest for the living room. A large table with a reading lamp and an easy chair may serve equally well, or a piano in daily use may prove the dominant note to give occult balance to the point of interest in a room. All other furnishings should be subordinate to that interest, but should be so placed as to balance in seeming weight. If a grand piano is placed at one end of a room, there should be several groups of lesser interest at the other end of the room so that the weight of the piano will seem balanced. In a room which is poorly arranged in this way there is a feeling of tipping given, which is very unpleasant. A large tapestry or rug hung upon the wall opposite a heavy fireplace will often preserve a sense of balance, or even a single bowl of flowers properly placed in the room may give the secondary interest needed.

Comfort

Comfort should be of the greatest importance in furnishing the living room. The chairs should be inviting and restful and should be so placed as to be equally desirable for reading in the daylight or evening hours. Wherever possible, table lights should always be used, as the glow of a reading lamp is second only in creating the homelike atmosphere to the hearth fire itself. Only big restful pictures which every member of the family enjoys should be placed upon the walls, and the draperies, rugs, and furniture should reflect the character of the people who use them. The best of its kind should be there, but nothing too good for daily use should ever be placed in a living room, for it should be the most used room in the whole house, with the possible exception of the library, if the house be the home of people much given to reading or study.