the support of the heavy
mantel shelf and the carved dentils in the ceiling cornice are
especially interesting. At the right of the fireplace is a cupboard with
an upper and lower door, in the old-time fashion; the upper one has
small, square, mullioned panes of glass which disclose some attractive
pieces of old china and silver.

[Illustration: The Dining Room]

In the kitchen, which was turned into the dining-room, the old fireplace
had been bricked up to receive a stovepipe, and the woodwork had been
plastered over and papered. The fireplace was opened up to its original
size, large enough to accommodate a six-foot log, and in refacing it,
the old, blackened, fire-burned bricks were used with delightful effect.
The paneling about it is very simple, but the proportions are
interesting, and the quaint, double-panel cupboards on each side lend
the whole an insistent charm. The two, great, hand-hewn beams in the
ceiling have been left exposed, and the fact that they have settled a
little on their supports, sagging toward one end, only adds to the
effect, just as the unevenness of a hand-drawn line is more beautiful
than the accuracy of one ruled.

These three rooms opening so closely into each other have been treated
so that there is a harmonious and striking vista from every point. The
walls are covered with a soft, creamy gray, and the hangings of Russian
crash are of the same tone. The color is supplied in fireplaces, rugs,
books, pictures, and such ornaments. In the dining-room, there has been
a slight accent of blue and rose in rug and table runner and
candle-shades. In the living-room the deep green of the upholstery
carries the strongest note. The characteristically old-time furniture,
with a pleasant mingling of Dutch and English and American motifs of the
eighteenth century, has been arranged with studied care to preserve the
possibilities of the open vistas from room to room.

The entrance hall completes a delightful picture from the living-room;
the soft gray colors of a lovely Japanese paper blend strikingly with
tiny curtains of a wonderfully fresh old blue at the casement windows.
The rag carpet carries this same blue up the white stairs to the second
floor.

The rooms on the right of the lower hallway have been kept nearly in
their original state with the addition of fresh paint and attractive
papers. They form a small suite of a study and bedroom, seeming quite
apart from the rest of the house.