The partnership of paint

by John W. Masury & Son

In her scheme of things, she uses gold and pink, lilac and amethyst, crimson and green, blue and purple, yellow and brown, orange, buff and neutral silvers and drab. Go where you will in the flower months and you cannot get away from her combinations of colors.

In March she brings the trailing arbutus into blossom with its delicate pink flowers nestling in a bed of green. April comes with her lap filled with wild honeysuckle, with its red spurs that seem to be a reception committee to balmy days and renewed life. So it goes as the season advances. Nature is never violent in her selections of color. From the departure of snow to the turning of the leaves in Autumn, she teaches us the use of color, and never once going wrong. With May comes the beautiful wild lady’s slipper, followed in June by the grass-pink. The spring season is a pink and green season, and with the warmer days, meadow and roadside, woods and swamps become dotted with stronger colors until in September the golden-rod and Jo Pye weed vie with each other in the carnival of beauty.

So, if we would put harmony in the surroundings which make home, we will do well to follow the order and the skill of this scheme of universal decoration.

Let us consider, if you please, the spirit of home-making as nature herself and the home and the rooms within it as nature and the seasons passing in review. It is the purpose of this book to treat of the home in its entirety and of all the elements that go to make it. For inasmuch as all things are relative, it becomes imperative to consider the details as well as the project of general requirements.

Let us picture and see the home from the outside and the inside points of view. Let us see the physical structure and its uses. Let us not only make walls but a place to live, ready for its owner to walk into, sink into an easy-chair and meet eye rest and mental satisfaction, called comfort.

Choosing the Site

LET us assume that this home is to be built in the country, or at least in a suburb where there is still enough of nature’s garb to give proper setting. There is nothing so good for a background as nature-made landscape; and if we cannot dwell in a home that is a part of it, we can choose a spot where some of its elements have been spared the axe of over-zealous man.

See to it that your site has trees that may be permitted to remain if this is possible. And see to it too that their roots are not mutilated in the business of building. The next matter of importance is room at the front for a flower garden, however small it may be. For a front garden is like the opening chapter of a book. It gives an idea of what to expect as one proceeds up the path to the presentation of an idea. The more green with which you can surround your home, the prettier it will be; the more inviting from the outside, the more restful within. A man who spent his working hours in the city once said that he wouldn’t take a thousand dollars a morning for the view which he had with his breakfast and the green he saw from his easy-chair on his porch.

The home should be a part of the landscape. It should not be a violent spot either in design or color. It should look as if it grew in its surroundings with the flowers and shrubs and trees. It should be designed by a good architect. It is no part of this little book to create rules. It is rather a suggestion or series of suggestions which may or may not be fully accepted as your taste may prompt.

It may be that you have already built your home, but these suggestions are quite as applicable as to a new home. To meet entirely your specific needs it would be necessary to consult an interior decorator of good repute. These pages are intended to apply in a general way, though details are discussed at some length. To return to the structure: There are no better examples of domestic architecture than many of the simple homes of New England. These are almost invariably white with green trim. Their interiors were designed for comfort. Their gardens are literally festivals of color from early Spring until late Autumn. They are restrained in character, refreshingly free of “ornament,” dignified, restful and pleasant. They come nearer fulfilling the true conception of “Home” than any type of building which has since been evolved.