Certain subjects, popular during a particular century, lend themselves to rooms of that century, as for example, hunting scenes are known to be of English origin and lend themselves to English settings. Elaborately dressed women of the French court shown in a court scene are best used with a French setting, and a daintily furnished girl's room requires dainty subjects on the wall such as flowers, birds, or feminine subjects.
Pictures may be hung singly, in pairs, or groups according to the manner in which they are used. A small picture placed over the center of a sofa is out of balance with the sofa. One large picture or a group of small pictures may be used depending upon the size of the picture. A sense of balance should be brought into play when hanging pictures, and common sense used not to let the picture over-balance the piece with which it is used, nor to appear dwarfed on a large wall area.
Pictures should be hung so that the center is eye level to the person standing in the room. They should be hung flat against the wall with the hooks and cords used to suspend the pictures entirely concealed. Many novel arrangements are being used effectively in contemporary decorating, and it is a good habit to watch the home furnishings pages of the newspapers and national magazines for new methods of arranging pictures.
Mirrors are playing an increasingly important part in today's decorating scheme as they have been found to serve a multiple purpose.
Architecturally, mirrors may be used to give the illusion of increased space. A wall covered with mirrors will make a room appear twice its size. Because of this illusion of space, many rooms, furnished in the modern manner use large, full wall mirrors as part of the decorative scheme.
Mirrors fall into two main classes, the Venetian type without frames, and the framed models. Mirrors may be etched, painted, sand-blasted or have decorations applied to the exterior, such as pieces of wood, flower containers, or bits of metal. Many frames are made of wood and finished in mahogany, maple, walnut, or bleached wood or gilt frames. Many times genuine gold leaf is used. Single, double, and triple beveled edges are used, in many instances the beveled edge being the only decoration on the mirror. Mirrors with beveled edges are shown with and without frames.
The old belief that mirrors vary in quality according to the thickness of the glass has been disproved. The United States Department of Commerce under its commercial standards (C. S. 27-36) has set up three grades of mirrors for classification by the manufacturers. These include:
A quality.—The best type of mirror, in which the central area of the glass is free from major defects but the mirrors may contain tiny, well-scattered bubbles (referred to by the Government as seeds) and short, faint hairlines on the back or face of the mirror. The outer area of the mirror may also contain well-scattered bubbles and faint clouds.
No. 1 quality mirrors are rated as second grade and may contain tiny, well-scattered bubbles, short faint hairlines and scattered clouds.
No. 2 quality mirrors are rated as third grade and may contain scattered bubbles, some coarse bubbles, light beams, light scratches and some cloudiness. The No. 2 mirror may also have a "bull's-eye" (distortion) if it is not visible from directly in front of the mirror.