Furnishing the Home of Good Taste / A Brief Sketch of the Period Styles in Interior Decoration with Suggestions as to Their Employment in the Homes of Today

by Lucy Abbot Throop

The height and size of a room must be taken into account in hanging curtains, for with their aid, and also that of wallpaper, we can often change a room of bad proportions to one of seemingly good ones. If a room is very low, a stripe more or less marked in the design, and the curtains straight to the floor, will make it seem higher. A high room may have the curtains reach only to the sills with a valance across the top. This style may be used in a fairly low room if the curtain material is chosen with discretion and is not of a marked design. If the windows are narrow they can be made to seem wider by having the rod for the side curtains extend about eight inches on each side of the window, and the curtain cover the frame and a part of the wall. This leaves all the window for light and air. A valance connecting the side curtains and covering the top of the net curtains will also make the window seem broader. A group of three windows can be treated as one by using only one pair of side curtains with a connecting ruffle, and a pair of net curtains at each window. Curtains may hang in straight lines or be simply looped back, but fancy festooning is not permissible. There is another attractive method of dividing the curtains in halves, the upper sections to hang so they just cover the brass rod for the lower sections, which are pushed back at the sides. These lower sections may have the rod on which they are run fastened to the window-sash if one wishes. They will then go up with the window and of course keep clean much longer, but to my mind it is not so alluring as a gently blowing curtain on a hot day. I have seen a whole house curtained most charmingly in this manner, with curtains of unbleached muslin edged with a narrow little ruffle. They hung close to the glass and reached just to the sill with the lower part pushed back at the sides. The outside view was most attractive, and the inside curtains varied according to the needs of each room.

A charming window treatment, in a room whose color scheme is carried out in the garden, giving a unique and delightful touch.

Casement windows should have the muslin curtains drawn back with a cord or a muslin band, and the side curtains should hang straight, with a little top ruffle; if the windows open into the room the curtains may be hung on the frames. The muslin curtains may be left out entirely if one wishes. Net curtains on French doors should be run on small brass rods at top and bottom, and the heavy curtains that are drawn together at night for privacy's sake should be so hung that they will not interfere with the opening of the door. There should be plenty of room under all ruffles or shaped valances where the curtains are to be drawn to allow for easy working of the cords, otherwise tempers are liable to be suddenly lost.

All windows over eighteen inches wide need two curtains, and the average allowance of fullness is at least twice the width of the window for net and any very soft material, while once and a half is usually enough for material with more body. Great care must be taken to measure curtains correctly and have them cut evenly. It is also a good plan to allow for extra length, which can be folded into the top hem and will not show, but will allow for shrinking.

Stenciling can be very attractively used for curtains and portières for country houses. Cheesecloth, scrim, aurora cloth, pongee, linen, and velours, are a few of the materials that can be used. The design and kind used in a room should be chosen with due regard to its suitability. A Louis XVI room could not possibly have arras cloth used in it, while it would be charming and appropriate in a modern bungalow. Arras cloth with an appliqué design of linen couched on it makes beautiful curtains and portières to go with the Mission or Craftsman furniture.

There is an old farmhouse on Long Island that has been made over into a most delightful country house, and the furnishing throughout is consistent and charming. The curtains are reproductions of old designs in chintz and cretonne. The living-room, with its white paneling to the ceiling, its wide fireplace, old mahogany furniture, and curtains gay with parrots and flowers, hanging over cool white muslin, is a room to conjure with.

In town houses the curtains and hangings must also harmonize with the style of furnishing. When the windows are hung with soft colored brocade, the portières are usually beautiful tapestry or rich toned velvets, and care is always taken to have the balance of color kept and the color values correct. There are silks and damasks and velvets, and many lesser stuffs, made for all the period styles, whether carried out simply or elaborately, and it is the art of getting the suitable ones for the different rooms which gives the air of harmony, beauty, and restfulness, for which the word home stands.

In hanging these more formal curtains the shaped valance is usually used with the curtains hanging straight at the sides of the window, so they can be drawn together at night. The cords and pulleys should always be in perfect working order. Another method is to have the curtains simply parted in the center, either with a valance or without, and drawn back at the sides with heavy cords and tassels, or bands of the stuff. If a draped effect is desired great care must be taken not to have it too elaborate.