Modern Tapestries

Wool tapestries of close, hard weaves, reproducing many of the designs and colors of priceless stuffs, may be purchased at prices ranging from four dollars a yard upward. These are suitable for side hangings for large windows, for door curtains, and for upholstery. They are fifty inches in width. All-wool tapestries have the advantage of being practically fadeless, but there are also many cheaper grades which come in a mixture of cotton and wool and are very beautiful in design and color. Tapestry cloth usually suggests rooms of dignified proportions and furnishings, but simpler rooms, especially those of the colonial type, are often suited to its use.

Velour, Velvet, And Damask

Mahogany furniture suggests velvet and velours for the heavy draperies. The double-faced velours at from three to four dollars a yard are very inexpensive for the appearance of richness given. Velvet and satiny wool damasks are of course more beautiful in texture, but are much more costly.

Hangings Suitable For Simple Furniture

Aras cloth at a dollar and a half a square yard is usually best with craftsman and Mission furniture and with oak furniture of the simpler kinds. The richness of the hangings should never overshadow the furniture of the room, for it should be kept in mind that the hangings are a part of the wall or background of the room picture.

Side Hangings Of Lightweight Material

Where heavy hangings are necessary at the doors, it is sometimes best to have lighter weight side hangings at the windows, but of the same color. For this use there is a material called secco silk at thirty-five cents a yard, sun-proof silk at two dollars a yard, and silk pongee at seventy cents a yard, as well as many others.

Hangings Maybe Made Up In The House

As with the inside curtains, the most economical plan is to buy the materials and have them made up in the house, using simple hems or plain gimps and bindings for finish. In searching for the desirable fabrics it is often well to pay a visit to the clothing material sections of the department stores. There curtain fabrics may sometimes be purchased which are more suitable than are the materials carried in the house furnishing departments, and there is usually a great saving in expense to the thrifty housewife. They must only answer that test of good hangings - harmony with the various parts of the rooms in which they are placed.

References

De Wolfe, Elsie The House in Good Taste. The Century Company, New York, 1913. Hangings, Chapter VII (Modern Period Furniture And Its Use).

Herts, B. Russell The Decoration and Furnishing of Apartments. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915. Curtains, Part II, Chapter VIII (Furniture Of Modern Design). Throop, Lucy Abbot.

Furnishing the Home of Good Taste. McBride, Nast & Company, New York, 1912. Curtains, pp. 181-188.