[FORMAL DINNER COVER IN DETAIL]
INTERIOR DECORATION
CHAPTER I: LINES AND CURVES
Straight lines in a room call for straight lines in furniture, rugs and hangings. They make a room dignified and serious in appearance. Italian Renaissance chairs and other pieces of that period, and our modern Craftsman and Mission chairs (often hard and stiff examples of the straight-line type of furniture, just as Bokhara, Kazan and Afghan rugs are of the straight-line rug) are furniture of this kind. The severe line is also produced by velvet draperies topped by straight-lined lambrequins. A straight line is to be preferred to a weak curve. And it is usually possible to redeem too straight and rigid an appearance in furniture by relieving long, straight lines (as in tables) by carved ornamentation and the application of curved lines on a secondary plane, i. e., in parts of the legs. In general, when not too rigid, straight lines in interior decoration stand for repose, sobriety and dignity.
CURVED LINES
Curved lines in decoration and furniture are of various kinds. The rococo styles (Louis XV and the Regency) are overluxurious and often weak; the curves in Arabic or Celtic ornamentation vague and obscure. The undulating curves of Persian rugs suggest movement. Curves, in general, which turn up, make an effect of animation and happiness. Wall papers and draperies used to emphasize such furniture curves lend an air of happy animation to the rooms in which they are used.
Contrast to stiff, straight lines is afforded by the use of the curved line in decoration, which offers soft, rich and lovely effects. In general, curved lines make for grace, flexibility and softness.