Fortunately, the reader does not need to concern himself with the designing of furniture - the study of a lifetime - but only with its selection. Material, colour, and covering all fall into their natural places as we proceed to actual furnishing, and to a greater extent than ever before even the matter of selection of types has been cared for by the writer. The householder will find illustrated in this volume furniture of all styles, Modern and Period, and of many degrees of cost. He will discover an abundance of very inexpensive furniture but he will find no vulgar, badly-proportioned pieces with impressed ornament and varnished surface. He may or he may not choose to possess himself of the particular pieces here represented but he will in any event have a guide to what is suitable to any scale of furnishing he may desire.

An habitual acquaintance with good design will lead one inevitably to reject that which is bad in contour or ornament.

In the purchase of furniture one phase of the matter should never be overlooked; and this has been well stated by Mr. Henry W. Frohne the Editor of Good Furniture Magazine.

There is one element in every art product which no cost accountant can correctly evaluate. That element is the art value which has been put into the article and which contributes, in no small way, to its money value. For example, in producing two pieces of furniture, equal quantities of labor and material at identical costs have been employed. According to the cost accountant, these two pieces of furniture would be of equal money value. This evaluation would be correct only if the art value were equal in both cases. If one piece contained superior art value, it would be worth more than the other.

This difference may extend so far that, owing to its badness of design, the one piece would be unwelcome in our homes, while the other, at the same cost, would prove a constant delight.