FURNISHING THE LIVING ROOM
The living room is the heart of the home. It is here that members of the family meet and spend a great part of their time; here that friends and guests are entertained; here that "memories are made." The woman is rare who does not recognize the importance of her living room both as a factor in family life and as an index of her own position, taste, and skill. Since the family living room is the show window of the home it is well to convey to the customers' mind that the personality of herself and her family should be reflected in this room. (See fig. 31, page [142].)
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT EVERYWHERE
Comparatively few living rooms are genuinely attractive. It is safe to say that 9 living rooms out of every 10 could be improved enormously, and often at little cost. Some are merely shabby or out of date. Many are colorless, depressing, uncomfortable, commonplace, and unlovely. Nearly all lack important elements, and are in some respect underfurnished. In innumerable cases their owners are more or less clearly aware of these defects, deplore them, and would like to correct them.
This means that always there are possibilities for new and replacement sales of living room merchandise. Moreover, it means that any woman who today asks for any article for living-room use, however unimportant or inexpensive, may be at the point where she can be influenced to consider the purchase of additional articles. A systematic effort to explore and develop these latent possibilities infallibly will result in larger sales.
ARCHITECTURAL AND DECORATIVE STYLE
Comparatively few houses are designed throughout in an architectural style so well defined as to demand adherence to the same or closely related styles in furniture. Even in the case of many houses so designed we find that the owners prefer to equip their rooms with furniture of styles more pleasing to their fancy. Often this practice results in bad decoration, but after all there is little that can be done about it. Your job is to equip yourself to be a competent adviser and to give sound advice when it is wanted.
Under ordinary circumstances, do not ask your customer the style of her living room. If she doesn't know, or if the room has no style, she may be embarrassed or vaguely displeased by the question. On the other hand, if she regards the style of the room as in any way important she will in all likelihood volunteer the information.
LIVING-ROOM WALL TREATMENTS
The walls of the living room constitute its largest and most important single element, and form the background against which all other elements must be seen. The lighter the tone of the walls, and the smoother their texture, the greater will be the reflection and diffusion of light throughout the room and the larger its apparent size.
Painted or Plastered Walls.
Calcimine and water paint are effective in simple and unpretentious living rooms of any size, but should not be used in rooms intended to be sumptuous, elegant, or formal in effect. They are most pleasant in colors, belonging to the yellow-to-orange family, such as buff, maize, putty, or in light pastels.
Walls covered with canvas and painted in oil, without paneling, and with or without effects of stippled modeling or glazing, can be used in living rooms of any type, and with furniture of any style.
Paneling, because of the severely balanced distribution of wall spaces and the effect of dignity produced by long, straight lines, tends to give a room a quality of formality and dignity which is reflected in the style and distribution of the furniture and relieved by a free use of color and ornament in the other elements of the room.
Rough plaster and compo walls, varying in unevenness of texture and depth of tone according to the scale and style of the room itself and the furniture to be used in it, are effective with houses of the cottage, Early English, and Mediterranean types and with Early Spanish, Italian, and English furniture and the cruder and heavier examples of French Provincial, Early American, and unstyled furniture.
Patterns in Papered Walls.
Wallpapers are made in an extremely wide range of variation in texture, coloring, and pattern. Properly chosen, wallpaper is a suitable wall finish for practically any style of room, and a suitable background for practically any style of furniture.
Since personal preference has a great deal to do with the selection of wallpaper, the salesman's job should be merely to assist the customer on color and appropriateness of design. Studying the papers you will note that some have formalized motifs, others simple, repeated patterns. When in doubt, stay to the simpler patterns. However, there is no set rule on the types of wallpaper to be used, good taste and personal preference being the main factors.
FLOOR COVERINGS FOR THE LIVING ROOM
The floor may be treated with a single, room-size rug, several small rugs, or linoleum.
A room-size rug usually is preferred where practicable in a small room because it causes the room to appear a little larger than when small rugs are used.
Linoleum when used in a living room may carry an inlaid design in keeping with the room or may be used as the basic floor covering with small, soft-surface rugs.
Rug Must Dominate Floor Area.
There is no rule to govern the proper width of margins, other than the general requirement for a dominant element in every composition, which means that in the case of a single large rug the effect will be unpleasant if the rug is so small that it seems to the mind less important than the total uncarpeted space. Ordinarily the side margin should not exceed one fourth of its length.
Several small rugs used together should be sufficiently alike in coloring, type of pattern, tone, and texture to ensure the unity of the floor treatment, but not identical, which would make the effect monotonous. This requirement would forbid the use together, for example, of characteristic Persian and Chinese designs, because of too sharp differences in pattern; or of pile and pileless rugs, because of too sharp differences in texture; or of light and dark rugs, because of great differences in tone.
It is never necessary, and rarely desirable, to have all of the rugs closely alike in color; but there must be pronounced elements of likeness. In general it is best to have at least one, and preferably two or three colors appear in varying degrees of importance in each rug.
Small rugs should be placed so as to be closely related to the fireplace, door, and principal pieces or groups of furniture. They are distracting and meaningless when scattered with no reference to this relationship.
Don't Place Rugs at Angle.
Small rugs should be placed straight in the room; that is, so that their edges parallel either the side or end walls. To scatter them at angles destroys the organic unity of the room.
The floor coverings should be darker in tone than the walls, but not so much darker as to contrast harshly, and so impair the harmony and restfulness of the room.
In general the scale of the floor covering design should vary directly with the size of the room. Small rugs appear inartistic with large scale designs which might seem perfectly appropriate on larger rugs. The vigor of drawing and coloring in the floor covering also should increase with the size, or rather the effect of weight and massiveness, of the furniture.
LIVING ROOM WINDOW TREATMENTS
Venetian blinds have become increasingly important as a treatment for windows in all parts of the house. Venetian blinds permit the user to control the light and add a decorative note to a room regardless of its period. Tapes of the blind should match the floor covering, the walls, or harmonize with the color scheme of the room. Although the off-white, cream, and buff blinds are most popular, colored blinds in keeping with the color scheme of the room also are in good taste. Other window treatments are roller window shades, glass curtains, and draperies.
Venetian blinds.—Most blinds are custom made and ordered to the customer's specific window size. Measurements should be taken within the molding. Venetian blinds may be used alone, with draperies, or with glass curtains and draperies. Venetian blinds harmonize with any period or setting and may be used on hall doors, kitchen, and bathroom windows as well as all other rooms of the house. Waxing maintains the slats most of which may be kept clean by washing with a bland soap and dusting regularly.
Roller window shades.—Roller window shades offer an inexpensive and easy means of controlling light and vary widely in quality, appearance, and price. Roller shades should be fairly close in hue and tone to the walls. It is necessary that the shades harmonize pleasantly with the house as seen from the outside.
Glass curtains, or the thin transparent curtains which in ordinary houses hang next to the windows, are necessary to soften the light by day; to cover what would otherwise be the bleak bare rectangle presented by an uncurtained window by night; and to provide the decorative interest of soft texture, flowing line, and soft color.
When desirable, glass curtains can be stiffened at the top and mounted on small movable rings to permit pushing back in the interest of morning sunshine or a fine view. They never should be made conspicuous by reason of striking pattern or sharp contrast with the walls. Pure white curtains can be used only in living rooms of the most delicate type, having light walls and woodwork. In most rooms use cream or light or dark ecru. Glass curtains require ample fullness of material (from 1½ to 2½ times the width of the window, depending upon fineness of mesh), and in ordinary houses should be hung either to the sill or to the bottom of the apron.
Outer hangings, or draperies, serve to subdue or control the lighting of the living room; to ensure a subtle sense of privacy and intimacy to its occupants; to soften while emphasizing the structural lines of its openings; and to add the charm of color, texture, and pattern.
The draperies should be plain if used with strikingly figured walls; figured, if used with plain walls; and either plain or figured if used with walls covered with a pattern of simple and inconspicuous design and coloring, according to personal taste or the amount of ornament in the other surfaces of the room. Figured draperies may be used with figured rugs when (1) both patterns are in the same style of design, as Chinese chintz with Chinese rugs; or (2) both patterns make a free use of the same type of line, as in an Italian damask with a Persian rug; or (3) one pattern is of marked individuality while the other is small, simple, or lacking in individuality.
In general the draperies, whether plain or figured, will repeat one of the colors important in the rug. When used with a plain neutral floor covering (as warm gray, fawn, or rose-taupe) the draperies may be unrelated to the rug in color. In this case some of the color of the draperies should appear on or near the floor, in the form of upholstery or pottery in order to ensure the repetitions essential to harmony. The tone of the draperies may be and generally should be somewhat darker than that of the walls; but never so much so as to overemphasize the draperies at the cost of the other decorative elements of the room.
The draperies usually will be run to the floor in the more formal and more sumptuously furnished rooms; and to the apron in the more informal and simply furnished rooms. The heavy materials, like silk and cotton reps, damasks, brocades, brocatelles, satins, velvets, thick taffetas, and richly colored printed linens and hand-blocked cretonnes should be hung to the floor; the very light and thin materials, like silk or rayon gauze, silk tissues and small-figured prints, voiles, organdies, thin casement cloths, whether plain, striped, or broché, should be hung to the sill or apron; while the medium-weight fabrics, like broché silks, poplins, chintzes, and the thinner taffetas, cretonnes, and linens, may be hung either way, according to decorative requirements or personal preference.
Some architectural defects may be covered up by the clever use of draperies. Oftentimes windows may be made to look larger by extended draperies across the wall.
FURNITURE AND FURNITURE GROUPINGS
Every living room is made up of groups of furniture. What these groups are depend on the size of the family, the size of the home, the number of guests who may be expected under normal conditions, and the interests of the family. The architecture will determine placement of furniture to a considerable extent. There are several possible "centers of interest." A fireplace is one of these. A long wall, with windows, may be the logical spot for the sofa. In a musical family, the piano or radio may be a focal point.
Courtesy American Furniture Mart.
Figure 38.—Outgrowth of the platform rocker is this smart spring base chair designed by Alfons Bach and upholstered in beige and brown tapestry. The open bookshelves and desks are in a new, rubbed, fawn-colored finish. The swinging arm bridge lamp has a brass base and together with the clipper ship pictures and accessories adds a dignified note. The Axminster rug is in a sand tone.
Every grouping opens the possibility of selling "add-on" items. The conversational group—sofa and at least two chairs requires at least two tables and two lamps. The reading group implies a chair—or two chairs—at least one lamp, and a piece to hold books and magazines. Usually this would be a table, but it easily could include a bookcase. (See figs. 37 and 38.) The writing group takes in desk, chair, and lamp. A well-arranged "business corner" for the living room (see fig. 36), or an attractive alcove off this room, or for the "den," may become the center of interest of the home. There, for efficient operation, may be grouped the telephone, writing desk, and typewriter, with drawers and cupboards for stationery supplies and budget records, bookshelves for reference books, and a floor lamp. From this one place all the business of the home can be carried out efficiently: Ordering, corresponding, telephoning, and check writing.
In combination, whatever the style, the seeming "weight" of each end and each side of the room must balance the opposing side, and the corners joining sides and ends must "flow" together naturally. The reading group and the conversational group may include some of the same pieces, and the desk chair may be used as an auxiliary conversation piece.
In the arrangement of furniture it must be remembered that:
1. Furniture should be so arranged as to make the most of the light (as in placing desks, reading tables, and chairs), and also to satisfy the personal habits and tastes of the members of the family.
2. In general, the center of the room should be kept clear, which gives an effect of spaciousness, facilitates easy movements and regrouping when the room is full of persons, and affords a better view of its interesting features.
In the interest of beauty and distinction, it is important to avoid:
1. Too exclusive employment of large and heavy pieces, which make a room stiff, spotty, and uninteresting when used without small tables, chairs, and cabinets.
2. Monotony in the height, color, and texture of the furniture.
AVOID REPETITION OF UPHOLSTERY PATTERNS
Living-room furniture should not be covered throughout in the same material, or even in the same pattern, coloring, or texture, because the effect would be tiresome. On the other hand, the degree of diversity must not be so great as to make the room inharmonious and confusing. Coverings of large and important pieces should fit closely into the general color scheme, while those of small chair seats, benches, or stools may serve as piquant contrasting elements. Coverings should not contrast so strongly with the floor covering as to cause the pieces to stand out like spots, and thus to mar the repose and harmony of the room. In general, plain or self-toned coverings will be used with highly figured walls or floor coverings in the case of the larger pieces, while marked emphasis upon pattern is desirable when both walls and floor covering, or hangings and floor covering are plain.