As to the first, “if you can have but one, the house or the fireplace, give up the house and keep the fire. If you wish to test the soundness of this advice, build a house, furnish it extravagantly and supply furnace heat to all but one room, and in that room build upon an ample hearth a glowing fire of hickory logs, and in the presence of that genial blaze, upon the bare floor of that unfurnished room, will gather the united household.” The broader this family hearth the better. The old English baronial halls with their mighty fireplaces and their great stone hearths had more of light and beauty than all our modern improvements.
ARTISTIC FIREPLACE.
Next come the broad, open windows. Better one window five feet wide than two of two and a half feet. Better for light, warmth or interior furnishing, and better for the illuminating effect upon the whole apartment.
Stairways.
Stairs are a necessity, and their comfort and sightliness depend on several features. Steps must be broad and deep, landings wide and windowed, if may be. If they must be crowded into a narrow hallway it is better that they be made deep and sloping as space permits, and then inclosed with an archway and curtain at foot instead of a door. This also saves heat. But where the great square reception hall can be devoted to them they may be made a thing of beauty.
Woodwork.
Says one writer, “There is a widespread illusion gone out through the world that to have everything in a dwelling ‘finished in hard wood throughout,’ as the advertisements say, is the only orthodox thing. Paint smells of turpentine and heresy.” In this respect it is useless to deny that there is solid comfort in the permanency and genuineness of oak, walnut, or ash, that paint is powerless to give.
But the natural color of woods in many cases may fail to harmonize with the scheme of color to be carried out in the furnishings of the apartment.
