ependent study of proper window treatment for a house of that type.
In other words, whatever the kind of house, remember that windows are
intended to let in light and air. Both constitute excellent reasons
for living in the country. Proper curtains and draperies lend a
softening and pleasing effect but, as in a stage setting, they are
only props and must not be allowed to dominate the scene.

Further, in furnishing or decorating any house it is an excellent idea
to try and visualize the type of furnishings two or three generations
living there would normally have accumulated. We have already alluded
at some length to the farm cottage type because, like the common
people, they are more numerous. But in the old country neighborhoods
there was nearly always the man of affairs who knew how to make money
and was prone to build a house "as handsome as his purse could
afford." He was the squire of his vicinity and his house surpassed all
others in size and ornamental detail. If you have acquired such a
house, its furnishings must be in accord. Handsome antiques and
ambitious reproductions go well in such a setting. Or it may be that
your fancy runs to an ultra modern structure with interior decorations
and furnishings in keeping. Your house is then its own ancestor and
only time will determine whether such a scheme wears well.

Whatever you choose, take the furnishings best suited, arrange them as
pleases you, and proceed to live with them. If you like the general
effect and are one of those people who like things to stay put,
probably one can enter your living room fifteen years hence and find
the wing chair from the Maritime Provinces still standing in the
northeast corner with a small tavern table on the right; the hooked
rug with geometric center still in front of the fireplace; the
Sheraton table with mirror over it at its accustomed place between the
two south windows; and so forth.

On the other hand, if you are of the restless type, instead of
throwing everything out and beginning over again, you will have
periodic attacks of rearranging, realigning certain accessories,
adding something new, or discarding some item bought in an emergency
for something more in keeping with your changing ideas or manner of
living. We confess that this is one of our pleasantest pastimes. It
takes very little to start us off. An old Pennsylvania Dutch cupboard,
stripped down to the original blue and inducted into an apple-green
dining r