ng throughout all
connecting parts. If a drawing-room is too fine for the hall through
which one has to pass to reach it, the balance is upset. If too simple
chairs are used in a grand dining-room the balance is upset, the fitness
of things is not observed. When the happy medium is struck throughout
the house one feels the delightful well-bred charm which a regard for
the unities always gives. It is not only in the quality of the
decorations that this feeling of balance must be kept, but in the style
also. If one chooses a period style for the drawing-room it is better to
keep to it through the house, using it in its different expressions
according to the needs of the different rooms. If one style throughout
should seem a bit monotonous at least one nationality should be kept,
such as French, or English. If several styles of French furniture are
used do not have them in the same room; for instance, Louis XV and
Empire have absolutely nothing in common, but very late Louis XVI and
early Empire have to a certain extent. It does not give the average
person a severe shock to walk from a Louis XVI hall into a Louis XV
drawing-room, but the two mixed in one room do not give a pleasing
effect. The oak furniture of Jacobean days does not harmonize with the
delicate mahogany furniture of the eighteenth century in England. The
delicate beauty of Adam furniture would be lost in the greatness of a
Renaissance salon. A lady whose dining-room was furnished in Sheraton
furniture one day saw two elaborate rococo Louis XV console tables which
she instantly bought to add to it. The shopman luckily had more sense of
the fitness of things than a mere desire to sell his wares, and was so
appalled when he saw the room that he absolutely refused to have them
placed in it. She saw the point, and learned a valuable lesson. One
could go on indefinitely, giving examples to warn people against
startling and inappropriate mixtures which put the whole scheme out of
key.

I am taking it for granted that reproductions are to be chosen, as
originals are not only very rare, but also almost prohibitive in price.
Good reproductions are carefully made and finished to harmonize with the
color scheme. The styles most used at present are, Louis XIV, XV, XVI,
Jacobean, William and Mary, and Georgian. Gothic, Italian and French
Renaissance, Louis XIII, and Tudor styles are not so commonly used. We
naturally associate dignity and grandeur with the Renaissance, a