onial and Georgian houses were often of such
good design that no curtains were used, and the wooden inside shutters
were shut at night. Nowadays the average house has what might be called
utility woodwork at its windows and so we cover them with curtains.
These curtains may be of linen, cretonne, damask, or brocade, according
to the house, and may either fall straight at the side with a slight
drapery or shaped or plain valance at the top, or be drawn back from the
center. A carved cornice or the regular box frame may be used.

The stairs were often of beautifully polished hardwood, and they were
sometimes covered with rugs. Large Chinese porcelain jars on the console
tables are suitable, and other beautiful ornaments.

As the drawing-room usually opens from the hall, it is better to keep
both rooms in the same general scale of furnishing. The average sized
drawing-room will need sofas, a small settee, two or three tables, one
of them a gallery table if desired, chairs of different shapes and size,
mirrors, a cabinet if one has rare pieces of old porcelain, and
candelabra. Oriental rugs, a fire screen, ornaments, and pictures, but
these last should not be of the modern impressionistic school. The
woodwork should be white, or light, and the furniture covered with
damask, needlework, brocade or tapestry.

The dining-room can be made most charming with corner cupboards and
cabinet, a large mahogany table and side table and beautiful morocco
covered chairs. Chippendale did not make sideboards in our sense of the
word, but used large side tables. One of the modern designs which many
like to use, for to them it seems a necessity, is a sideboard made in
the style of Chippendale. The screen may be leather painted after "the
Chinese taste," or it may be damask. The chairs may be covered with
tapestry or damask if one does not care for morocco. Portraits are
interesting in a dining-room, or old prints, or paintings, and if you
can get the old dull gold carved frames, so much the better. They may
also be set in panels.

The bedrooms may have either four-post canopy beds or low-posts beds.
Chippendale's canopy beds had usually a carved cornice with the curtains
hung from the inside. The other furniture should consist of a
dressing-table, a chest of drawers to correspond with a chiffonier, a
highboy, a sewing table, a bedside table, a comfortable sofa, a fireside
or wing chair and other chairs according to one's need. The walls m