Interior designer

“ The decorations and furnishings of a house depend largely on its style of architecture and the owner's taste. Further, if in any doubt, it is better to do too little than too much. Under such circumstances, too, an interior decorator is helpful ”

“ To-day Victorian cross-stitch and bead work in chairs, screens, footstools and bell-pulls, artificial flowers of wax and linen, and stuffed birds, as well as Bristol glass in blue, green and violet, are brought out from their hiding places and serve as touches of colour to give some of the notes of variety which good interior decoration demands.
To be fascinating, a person must not be too rigidly one type. There must be moments of relaxation, of light and shade in mood, or one is not charmed even by great beauty. ”

“ To repeat, never forget that your house or flat is your home, and, that to have any charm whatever of a personal sort, it must suggest you—not simply the taste of a professional decorator. So work with your decorator (if you prefer to employ one) by giving your personal attention to styles and colours, and selecting those most sympathetic to your own nature. Your architect will be grateful if you will show the same interest in the details of building your home, rather than assuming the attitude that you have engaged him in order to rid yourself of such bother. ”

“ If your rooms are to serve as a home, give them a winning, human quality, keep before your mind's eye, not royal palaces which have become museums, but homes, built and furnished by men and women whose traditions and associations gave them standards of beauty, so that they bought the choicest furniture both at home and abroad. In such a home, whether it be an intimate palace in Europe, a Colonial mansion in New England, or a Victorian interior of the best type, an extraneous period is often represented by some objet d'art as a delightful, because harmonious note of contrast. ”

“ In spite of a prevalent want of training, it is astonishing how much we have of good interior decoration, not only in houses of great importance, but in those of people of average fortunes—indeed, it is in the latter that we get the general value of the art. ”

“ It is somewhat difficult to account for the fact that what we call natural forms, of plants and flowers, which are certainly beautiful and graceful in themselves, and grow into shapes which delight us with their freedom and beauty, do not give the best satisfaction as motives for interior decoration. Construction in the architectural sense—the strength and squareness of walls, ceilings, and floors—seem to reject the yielding character of design founded upon natural forms, and demand something which answers more sympathetically to their own qualities. ”

“ It appears to me that one of the chief causes of the inferiority and defects of Modern Architecture is, that our designers are so anxious to display their taste in ornamentation. They first design the exterior, and then fit into it the interior of their building. ”

“ Homes evolve. They are not pulled, rabbit-like, out of a hat. When you build a house, the architect makes it [Pg 166] yours by getting a word picture of your ideas and pulling them down to earth in a series of business-like blueprints. If your ideas regarding decoration are nebulous, a good interior decorator can help to make them concrete. ”

“ About the early part of the nineteenth century, the custom of employing architects to design the interior fittings and the furniture of their buildings, so as to harmonize, appears to have been abandoned ”

“ Such an anomalous relationship between interior and exterior is absolutely opposed to the fundamental training of the architect of to-day. Often have I heard my professor of design, a Frenchman of rare judgment, fly out at a student caught working on his exterior before the interior was complete: "Work on your plan, finish your plan, and when that is perfect, the rest will come." ”

“ The professional is always occupied with creating and recreating rooms and can instantly summon to mind complete schemes of decoration. The amateur can also learn to mentally furnish rooms. It is a fascinating pastime when one gets the knack of it.
Beautiful things can be obtained anywhere and for the minimum price, if one has a feeling for line and colour, or for either. If the lover of the beautiful was not born with this art instinct, it may be quickly acquired. A decorator creates or rearranges one room ”

“ One is astonished to see how often the actual balance of a room is upset by the careless placing of electric fixtures. Therefore keep in mind when deciding upon the lighting of a room the following points: first, fixtures must follow in line style of architecture and furniture; second, the position of fixtures on walls must carry out the architect's scheme of proportion, line and balance; third, the material used in fixtures—brass, gilded wood, glass or wrought iron—must contribute to the decorator's scheme of line and colour ”

“ I have laid much stress upon the value of colour in interior decoration, but to complete the beauty of the home something more than happy choice of tints is required. It needs careful and educated selection of furniture and fittings, and money enough to indulge in the purchase of an intrinsically good thing instead of a medium one. It means even something more than the love of beauty and cultivation of it, and that is a perfect adherence to the law of appropriateness. ”

“ The three most recent buildings on the list—all three by the way, public libraries—are conspicuous instances of the sumptuous and dignified treatment of interior design, with the help of all the resources of decorative art; and here again, other buildings now being erected or about to be built confirm this conclusion, that our architects and the public are beginning to appreciate the importance both of the interior design of a building and of the collaboration of all the arts,—as for instance, in the new Appellate Court in New York. ”

“ In the old palaces one sees that a bit of undecorated background is provided between mantel and the architect's decoration.
If your room has a long wall space, furnish it with a large cabinet or console, or a sofa and two chairs.
Avoid blotting out your architect's cleverest points by thoughtlessly misplacing hangings. Whoever decorates should always keep the architect's intention in mind.
Avoid having an antique clock which does not go, and is used merely as an ornament. Make your rooms alive by having all the clocks running. ”

“ Moreover, they also will be harmonious because the fine lines and slender proportions of the bed affect the mind with a sense of delicacy and daintiness, and the fine texture, silken luster, and pale coloring of the taffeta affect it in precisely the same way. We can call the first type of harmony physical, and the second type emotional. Both are basically important in the art of interior decoration, and make surprisingly powerful sales levers in dealing with that 60 percent of potential buyers whose primary interest in furniture lies in what it will do to make their homes more attractive. ”

“ It is certainly true that nature cannot be left wholly to herself in the neighbourhood of the village or city home. If there be a garden, as much forethought must be exercised in planning it and as much pains taken in developing and caring for it as is called for in working out any form of interior decoration. There are problems of design and construction suggested by the need of suitable chairs and settles for the piazza, comfortable hammocks and couches for the balcony, awnings for the windows on the sunny side, and the right furniture, perhaps, for an out-door dining-room. ”

“ If you are young in years, immature in taste, and limited as to bank account, you will doubtless go in for a frankly modern room, with cheerful painted furniture, gay or soft-toned chintzes, and inexpensive smart floor coverings. To begin this way and gradually to collect what you want, piece by piece, is to get the most amusement possible out of furnishing. When you have the essential pieces for any one room, you can undertake an ensemble. ”

“ I mean to do it on a large scale some day.”
“You don’t say!” said the man, looking at her admiringly. “I know women is getting into business a lot these days. But I ain’t never heard of that—what do you call it—interior decorating? You don’t mean wall-paper and painting? ’Cause I could introduce you to my boss. He builds a lot of houses.”
“Well, yes,” said Cornelia, trying not to laugh. “My business is after the house is all built. I select wall-papers and curtains, and tell them what furniture to get, or how to arrange what furniture they have so it will look well in a room. ”

“ We would call attention to the heavy moulding of ceilings, the walls painted in panels (painted panels or wall paper to represent panels, is a Victorian hallmark) , beautifully hand-carved woodwork, elaboration of design and colon carpet, woven in one piece for the room; in fact the characteristic richness of elaboration everywhere: Pictures in gilded carved frames, hung on double silk cords with tassels, heavily carved furniture made in England, showing fruits, flowers and medallion heads, and a similar elaboration and combination of flora and figures on bronze gas fixtures. ”

“ American architecture will be simply carrying out, in an architectural way, the requirements of the American people in their buildings. From their homes the march of progress will be through the kitchens, pantries, and dining-rooms. It will unite with the parlor and sitting-room ideas, which have been more clearly worked out. The exterior will be formed in a natural way by the requirements of the interior, and by the variations of climate, and it will be decorated in a rational, artistic manner. ”

“ Such a setting also brings out the full decorative value of all the drawing-room accessories—screens, andirons, appliques, and door and window-fastenings. 130 A study of any old French interior will show how much these details contributed to the general effect of the room.
Those who really care for books are seldom content to restrict them to the library, for nothing adds more to the charm of a drawing-room than a well-designed bookcase: an expanse of beautiful bindings is as decorative as a fine tapestry. ”

“ Richness of effect is produced by emphasis upon ornamented as opposed to plain surfaces, particularly in the floor covering, walls, furniture, and accessories. Dignity results from the use of long lines in the interior trim, border lines of the rugs, and length or height in the furniture where practicable, and also of formal balance in furniture arrangement. Interest and charm are secured by a free use of color and texture, and a measure of distinction in the design of furniture and accessories. ”

“ The desk and wooden standard of lamp are painted a deep blue-plum colour, touched with gold, and the silk curtains are soft mulberry, in two tones.
Corner of Room, Showing Painted Furniture, Antique and Modern
Study values—just why and how much any decorative article decorates, and remember in furnishing a room, decorating a wall or dining-room table, it is not the intrinsic value or individual beauty of any one article which counts. ”

“ The current idea that a distinguished room remains distinguished because costly tapestries and old masters hang on its walls, even when the floor is strewn with vulgar, hired chairs, is an absurd mistake. Each room from kitchen to ballroom is a stage "set,"—a harmonious background for certain scenes in life's drama. It is the man or woman who grasps this principle of a distinguished home who can create an interior which endures, one which will hold its own despite the ebb and flow of fashion. ”

“ In period rooms often beautiful light or heavy mouldings entirely frame the three sides of the fireplace when it is of wood. Well designed marble mantels are always desirable. This feature of decoration is distinctly within the province of your architect, one reason more why he and the interior decorator, whether professional or amateur, should continually confer while building or rebuilding a house. ”

“ Painted furniture is, at present, the vogue, so if you own a piece made by the Adam brothers of England, decorated by the hand of Angelica Kauffman, or Pergolesi, from Greek designs, now is the moment to "star" it.
Different in decoration, but equal in charm, is the seventeenth and eighteenth century painted lacquers of Italy, France, China and Japan. In those days great masters laboured at cabinetmaking and decorating, while distinguished artists carved the woodwork of rooms, and painted the ceilings and walls of even private dwellings. ”

“ Much can be done with them to make a room homelike; but to make a room truly restful it is necessary to have, also, good architectural details to form a background or setting for the decorative features. These architectural details are, in the main, articles of woodwork.
Naturally, the best source of information on the design of interior woodwork is the architectural profession. It was for that reason that the Curtis Companies sought the help of Trowbridge & Ackerman, a firm of architects nationally known for their work in interior details. ”

“ Almost any shape, if well proportioned as to height and width, can be made beautiful, and the variety and effect desired, may be secured by varying the colours, the design of decoration, if any, or the texture or the length of fringe.
The "umbrella" shades with long chiffon curtains reaching to the table, not unlike a woman's hat with loose-hanging veil, make a charming and practical lamp shade for a boudoir or a woman's summer sitting-room, especially if furnished in lacquer or wicker. It is a light to rest or talk by, not for reading nor writing. ”