This reception room has chiefly Louis XVI furniture, which appears well with the light gray and white woodwork designed after the Adam style
There are probably two or three dozen ways that the living-room can be planned and decorated and at the same time be comfortable and attractive. I have chosen to illustrate this with a type of living-room that adapts itself to almost any house and offers the greatest amount of free space when the room is properly furnished. The room is 15 ft. × 29 ft. 6 in., with a ceiling height of 9 feet, these dimensions giving a well-proportioned room. The fireplace is in the center of the west wall, flanked on each side by two French doors which open out on a piazza. At each end of the room are two windows, balancing one another. On the east wall a wide opening with French doors permits access to the main hall. The most prominent feature of the room is the fireplace, which is accentuated and made a natural center. This is an important consideration when planning a natural grouping of the family or its guests.
Such architectural features as beamed ceilings should only be used in rooms of pretentious size. A good example of Caen stone fireplace is found here
The treatment of the room is Colonial. A low wainscot, 2 ft. 6 in. high, comprising a base, panel, and cap, is carried around the room. The ceiling is beamed with four substantial beams and a half beam to form a cornice around the room at the junction of the wall and ceiling. Over the heads of the doors and windows there is a wide wooden frieze with a cap which ties them, one might say, to the bottom of the cornice, and makes them more completely an integral part of the woodwork. The window stools form a part of the wainscot cap.
A summer living-room that achieves a brilliant note through white woodwork and figured hangings with upholstery to match
The finish of the room is white wood, given four coats of lead and oil paint, with a fifth coat of white enamel, rubbed down, and a sixth and final finishing coat of enamel of an ivory shade that dries out with a very dull satin-like luster that is very durable and not easily marred. Above the wainscot the walls are covered with a heavy background paper having a body color almost of a putty shade, enlivened in certain lights with a pinkish caste. This is accented by the panels, between the windows and doors, of a delicately hued fabric with a foliated striped design. A flat molding covers the edge of the fabric and forms the panel. In order to balance these and add character to the room, the draperies at the windows and doors are of soft blue velour, without which the scheme would be lifeless and flat. The facing of the fireplace is of Sienna marble surmounted with a simple mantel, consisting merely of a heavy classical architrave, with a shelf above and a large plate glass mirror over it. One must not lose sight of the fact that the colors of this room, while light and delicate, are all very rich and warm, due to the predominating ivory color of the woodwork, enlivened and strengthened by the richer and heavier color used in the panels and curtains.
