in
point is an apartment where a small Louis XV room opens on a narrow hall
of nondescript modern style, with a wide archway opening into a Mission
dining-room. As one sits in the midst of pink brocade and gilding and
looks across to the dining-room, fitted out in all the heavy
paraphernalia of Mission furniture, one's head fairly reels. No contrast
could be more marked or more unsuitable, and yet this is by no means an
uncommon case.

If one intends to adopt a style in decorating one's house, there should
be a uniformity of treatment in all connecting rooms, and there must be
harmony in the furniture and architecture and ornament, as well as
harmony in the color scheme. The foundation must be right before the
decoration is added. The proportion of doors and windows, for instance,
is very important, with the decorated over-door reaching to the ceiling.
The over-doors and mantels were architectural features of the rooms, and
it was not until wallpapers came into common use, in the early part of
the nineteenth century, that these decorative features slowly died out.

The mantel and fireplace should be a center of interest and should be
balanced with something of importance on the other side of the room,
either architectural or decorative. It was this regard for symmetry,
balance, proportion, and harmony, which made the old rooms so
satisfying; there was no magic about it, it was artistic common sense.

The use for which a room is intended must be kept in view and carried
out with real understanding of its needs. The individuality of the owner
is of course a factor. Unfortunately the word individuality is often
confounded with eccentricity and to many people it means putting
perfectly worthy and unassuming articles to startling uses. By
individuality one should really mean the best expression of one's sense
of beauty and the fitness of things, and when it is guided by the laws
of harmony and proportion the result is usually one of great charm,
convenience, and comfort. These qualities must be in every successful
house.

In furnishing any house, whether in some special period or not, there
are certain things which must be taken into account. One of these is the
general color scheme. Arranging a color scheme for a house is not such a
difficult matter as many people suppose, nor is it the simple thing that
many others seem to think. There is a happy land between the two
extremes, and the guide posts pointing to it are a