Scale in the department of form refers to the relative sizes of objects or portions of them, and it is of so great importance that several references were made to it in the first section of this chapter, among the matters where we should especially be careful to use our perceptions. It extends from the rooms themselves to everything we may place within them.

The ceiling of a room should be neither unduly high nor low for its other dimensions, and if it seems unpleasant in either direction we should do what we can to remedy the defect, as suggested in the chapter on Movement. If it be very narrow for its length, the arrangement of furniture may accomplish something in remedying this appearance.

Each object placed in the room should be in proper accord with the room, the space occupied, and with the other objects employed. There will naturally and properly be a large variation in the size and apparent weight of these articles, but our own perceptions, if carefully used, will quickly tell us if any of them be out of due proportion with what is to accompany it. We would not, for example, use a tremendous overstuffed couch in a room with light and graceful furniture. We should indeed be extremely cautious in employing overstuffed pieces in small rooms: it is only the slender ones that are not of too great bulk. Persons moving from large premises to small houses or apartments are especially confronted with this problem of scale because of the size of their furniture; and in considering what pieces to retain and what to dispose of it should never be overlooked. It should also be remembered in the purchase of new furniture for small premises. On the floor of a large shop dimensions are very deceiving and the eye alone cannot be trusted. The spaces to be occupied should be measured, and the pieces sent on approval wherever possible. Height and projection into the room must be taken into account as well as breadth.

We may often determine the proper proportions for a new article to be purchased for a given position by trying in that position pieces we already have. In the case of a chair, as the readiest example, we may experiment with several old ones till it is seen which is best for the location to be occupied by a new one, and then take its measurements. We can mentally make allowances for small differences - such as thinking that an inch or two variation in height of back or breadth of seat would be unobjectionable.

The idea that furniture must be in suites is a decidedly erroneous one, but the suite did have the advantage of the furniture composing it usually being in scale - a table leg, for instance, is made heavier than a chair leg, and a sideboard is generally in proper proportion to the accompanying table and chairs. It is not, however, difficult for us to see that the pieces of furniture we place in each room rightly agree in size, shape and bulk, and that each is not either too large or too small for the position occupied.

A right scale in other things than furniture is equally necessary - pictures, mirrors or hangings are often troublesome, but it is better to omit or to substitute rather than employ any of them wrongly.

We may use small rugs, or we may use one rug nearly covering the floor, but one fulfilling neither purpose looks absurd and immediately proclaims itself a misfit.

Particular attention should be paid to the size of such accessories as lamps, vases, plant-boxes, candlesticks, and the like, seeing that none of these objects are overpoweringly large or too small for the places they occupy or to accompany the other objects. In not less than three cases out of five mantel ornaments in the average home would be found out of scale in one respect or the other.

We have by no means done with scale when we have looked after these matters. If your rug is a patterned one is that pattern appropriate in size to the room and its other furnishings? Is it large and sprawling in a small room with slender, light furniture; or is it fine and delicate in a large room with sturdy characteristics? - then that floor had better go bare. How does the design of the rug compare in size with that of the furniture-covering or the hangings, if any two of these be patterned? It is not well, by the way, that all three should be; for the relief of plain colour in one of these is usually needed. Is the design of the textile appropriate in size and character to the furniture on which it is employed? Is the design on the curtain right for the window? If lamp and shade both carry patterns do they well agree? Is the shade, itself, of correct size and proportion for the lamp?

Does it seem as if these matters entailed considerable trouble? So do all other affairs of life, unless we slip through it in a shiftless manner. We have the homely phrase of the proof of the pudding being in the eating, but we need scarcely even put it to the test if no attention has been paid to the proportions of its ingredients.