The same people
will hang in their windows pictures (not transparencies), canoes, phan-
tom baskets, scroll work, and many other so-called ornamental objects —
all beautiful in their places, but that in the room, not window. The
window transparencies are very beautiful, and the window is the place
for them, as, also, are a few plants in hanging baskets and birds in
cages.
It is not necessary to have expensive furniture, costly pictures, fine
lace curtains, or rare china to produce pleasant effects ; but have the
colors harmonize, and have nothing too good to use. Violent contrasts
produce a shock to the artistic eye, but if well chosen are better than
complete harmony. " Nothing is so cheap as beauty," is a familiar
saying, to which we may add, "Nothing is so dear as sham." In the
appointments of a house, there is at present a mania for adornment.
Bright, tasteful colors, and rich looking furniture are not exponents of
adornment, but taste, and however much fashion may change, these
things always maintain their pre-eminence. But cheap, tawdry orna-
THE FO UNDA TION OF HOME. \±\
ments, imitation laces, shoddy carpets and poorly made but perhaps
fashionable furniture, will soon have their day, and proclaim themselves
as they did from the beginning, " shoddy."
Get a good substantial carpet, or go with a painted or stained floor
until able to have one. Plain shades are prettier and more tasteful
than cheap lace, and different colors give different effects to a room ; a
gray shade has the effect of moonlight ; buff gives a warm golden tint
as that of sunset ; and the warm aesthetic red, now so fashionable, will
make the dullest room look cheerful. Get but little furniture and that
of strong substantial native wood ; the cheap veneered and gilded
woods soon show wear and are a poor investment. Buy strong, simple
furniture of graceful make, that the little fingers cannot mar, nor that
will break the first time a person sits on it.
There are but few rules to be applied to house furnishing, but these
few are the basis and key note to a beautiful home. Let color be the
silent music ; form and proportion the foundation. Avoid all stiffness
of design in furniture. Do not attempt to match articles, only carry
out the same idea as to color and form in the whole. Do not buy
things in sets, have no two of a kind, as pairs of vases or ottomans.
Avoid all chaos of colors, nicknacks, fantastic devices or cheap
attempts at decoration. Whatever you have let it harmonize. Arrange
every room in the house for occupancy, and have nothing too good for
use. Follow no extreme of style, and, when anything is bought or
made for the house, have an eye to its future worth and stability.
Invest in ornaments that have a value not only to yourself but to your
children and children's children.
Page 123
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The same people will hang in their windows pictures (not transparencies), canoes, phantom baskets, scroll work, and many other so-called ornamental objects — all beautiful in their places, but that in the room, not window. The window transparencies are very beautiful, and the window is the place for them, as, also, are a few plants in hanging baskets and birds in cages.
It is not necessary to have expensive furniture, costly pictures, fine lace curtains, or rare china to produce pleasant effects ; but have the colors harmonize, and have nothing too good to use. Violent contrasts produce a shock to the artistic eye, but if well chosen are better than complete harmony. " Nothing is so cheap as beauty," is a familiar saying, to which we may add, "Nothing is so dear as sham." In the appointments of a house, there is at present a mania for adornment. Bright, tasteful colors, and rich looking furniture are not exponents of adornment, but taste, and however much fashion may change, these things always maintain their pre-eminence. But cheap, tawdry orna-
THE FOUNDATION OF HOME.
ments, imitation laces, shoddy carpets and poorly made but perhaps fashionable furniture, will soon have their day, and proclaim themselves as they did from the beginning, " shoddy."
Get a good substantial carpet, or go with a painted or stained floor until able to have one. Plain shades are prettier and more tasteful than cheap lace, and different colors give different effects to a room ; a gray shade has the effect of moonlight ; buff gives a warm golden tint as that of sunset ; and the warm aesthetic red, now so fashionable, will make the dullest room look cheerful. Get but little furniture and that of strong substantial native wood ; the cheap veneered and gilded woods soon show wear and are a poor investment. Buy strong, simple furniture of graceful make, that the little fingers cannot mar, nor that will break the first time a person sits on it.
There are but few rules to be applied to house furnishing, but these few are the basis and key note to a beautiful home. Let color be the silent music ; form and proportion the foundation. Avoid all stiffness of design in furniture. Do not attempt to match articles, only carry out the same idea as to color and form in the whole. Do not buy things in sets, have no two of a kind, as pairs of vases or ottomans. Avoid all chaos of colors, nicknacks, fantastic devices or cheap attempts at decoration. Whatever you have let it harmonize. Arrange every room in the house for occupancy, and have nothing too good for use. Follow no extreme of style, and, when anything is bought or made for the house, have an eye to its future worth and stability. Invest in ornaments that have a value not only to yourself but to your children and children's children.