the effect is
quiet and uncrowded. The secretary against the plain wall serves as a
cabinet for the display of a small collection of fine old china, and the
drawers serve the chance guest--for while this is library and
sitting-room, it has a most comfortable couch bed, and may be used as a
guest-room as well.

[Illustration: A CORNER OF MY OWN BOUDOIR]

The bookshelves are built high on each side of the mantel and between
the windows, thus giving shelf room to a goodly collection of books,
with no appearance of heaviness. The writing-table is placed at right
angles to the windows, so that the light may fall on the writer's left
shoulder. There is a couch bed--over three feet wide, in this room, with
frame and mattress and pillows covered in a dark brocaded stuff, and a
fireside chair, a small chair at the head of the couch and a low stool
all covered with the same fabric. It really isn't a large room, and yet
it abundantly fills a dozen needs.

I think it unwise to try to work out a cut-and-dried color plan in a
small apartment. If your floors and walls are neutral in tone you can
introduce dozens of soft colors into your rooms.

Don't buy massive furniture for your apartment! Remember that a few good
chairs of willow will be less expensive and more decorative than the
heavy, stuffy chairs usually chosen by inexperienced people. Indeed, I
think one big arm chair, preferably of the wing variety, is the only big
chair you will require in the living-room. A fireside chair is like a
grandfather's clock; it gives so much dignity to a room that it is worth
a dozen inferior things. Suppose you have a wing chair covered with
dull-toned corduroy, or linen, or chintz; a large willow chair with a
basket pocket for magazines or your sewing things; a stool or so of
wood, with rush or cane seats; and a straight chair or so--perhaps a
painted Windsor chair, or a rush-bottomed mahogany chair, or a low-back
chair of brown oak--depending on the main furniture of the room, of
course. You won't need anything more, unless you have space for a
comfortable couch.

If you have mahogany things, you will require a little mahogany table at
the head of the couch to hold a reading-lamp--a sewing-table would be
excellent. A pie-crust or turn top table for tea, or possibly a "nest"
of three small mahogany tables. A writing table or book table built on
very simple lines will be needed also. If you happen to have a
conventional writing-desk, a g