The Living Room
In the living-room the fireplace holds the center of attention. It is faced with queer old Spanish tiles inserted at intervals in plain cement, the rich colorings of which give a quaintly exotic air to the fine white woodwork. The moldings about the frame and over the mantel are unusually fine for this type of house; the support of the heavy mantel shelf and the carved dentils in the ceiling cornice are especially interesting. At the right of the fireplace is a cupboard with an upper and lower door, in the old-time fashion; the upper one has small, square, mullioned panes of glass which disclose some attractive pieces of old china and silver.
The Dining Room
In the kitchen, which was turned into the dining-room, the old fireplace had been bricked up to receive a stovepipe, and the woodwork had been plastered over and papered. The fireplace was opened up to its original size, large enough to accommodate a six-foot log, and in refacing it, the old, blackened, fire-burned bricks were used with delightful effect. The paneling about it is very simple, but the proportions are interesting, and the quaint, double-panel cupboards on each side lend the whole an insistent charm. The two, great, hand-hewn beams in the ceiling have been left exposed, and the fact that they have settled a little on their supports, sagging toward one end, only adds to the effect, just as the unevenness of a hand-drawn line is more beautiful than the accuracy of one ruled.
These three rooms opening so closely into each other have been treated so that there is a harmonious and striking vista from every point. The walls are covered with a soft, creamy gray, and the hangings of Russian crash are of the same tone. The color is supplied in fireplaces, rugs, books, pictures, and such ornaments. In the dining-room, there has been a slight accent of blue and rose in rug and table runner and candle-shades. In the living-room the deep green of the upholstery carries the strongest note. The characteristically old-time furniture, with a pleasant mingling of Dutch and English and American motifs of the eighteenth century, has been arranged with studied care to preserve the possibilities of the open vistas from room to room.
The entrance hall completes a delightful picture from the living-room; the soft gray colors of a lovely Japanese paper blend strikingly with tiny curtains of a wonderfully fresh old blue at the casement windows. The rag carpet carries this same blue up the white stairs to the second floor.