can imagine my amazement when she came to
me and said, "But Miss de Wolfe, what am I to do with my blue satin
tidies?"

In my own drawing-room I have so many objects of art, and yet I think
you will agree with me that the room has a great serenity. Over the
little desk in one corner I have my collection of old miniatures and
fans of the golden days of the French court. There are ever so many
vases and bowls for flowers, _but they are used_. There are dozens of
lighting-fixtures, brackets, and lamps, and a chandelier, and many
candlesticks, and they are used, also. Somehow, when a beautiful object
becomes a useful object, it takes its place in the general scheme of
things and does not disturb the eye.

The ideal drawing-room has a real fireplace, with a wood fire when there
is excuse for it. An open fire is almost as great an attribute to a
drawing-room as a tactful hostess; it puts you at ease, instantly, and
gives you poise. And just as an open fire and sunshine make for ease, so
do well placed mirrors make for elegance. Use your mirrors as decorative
panels, not only for the purpose of looking at yourself in them, and you
will multiply the pleasures of your room. I have the wall space between
mantel and frieze-line filled with a large mirror, in my New York
drawing-room, and the two narrow panels between the front windows are
filled with long narrow mirrors that reflect the color and charm of the
room. Whenever you can manage it, place your mirror so that it will
reflect some particularly nice object.

Given plenty of chairs and sofas, and a few small tables to hold lights
and flowers, you will need very little other furniture in the
drawing-room. You will need a writing-table, but a very small and
orderly one. The drawing room desk may be very elegant in design and
equipment, for it must be a part of the decoration of the room, and it
must be always immaculate for the visitor who wants to write a note. The
members of the family are supposed to use their own desks, leaving this
one for social emergencies. A good desk is a godsend in a drawing-room,
it makes a room that is usually cold and formal at once more livable and
more intimate. In my own drawing-room I have a small French
writing-table placed near a window, so that the light falls over one's
left shoulder. The small black lacquer desks that are now being
reproduced from old models would be excellent desks for drawing-rooms,
because they not only offer servic