Indoors and Out; The Homebuilders' Magazine Volume 2, No. 1 - V. 3, No. 3 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ...are used on door and window trims. When expense is an item to contend with, handsome effects may be produced by the simple means of fastening wood moldings on the plaster walls and painting the whole a uniform color--The Refined Appearance Of Stone Ashlar Walls Gordon, Tracy Swartwout, Architects or two colors. Entrance halls may be handsomely decorated by tapestries and those pictures which are broadly painted and are decorative in effect. Mahogany or gold mirrors are also effective. The thing to avoid, if possible, as it is usually disastrous, is furnishings which, either by scale or character, give the hall the appearance of a living-room. Papered walls or fabrics having all-over patterns, especially when used in connection with structural motifs, such as arches, etc., give an ordinary appearance and often spoil an otherwise successful interior. Patterns destroy simplicity, which is the important thing to preserve in a hall. Carpets for stairs and rugs for halls are plain and simple, both in design and color. In an entrance hall made of stone the most effective furniture, and that which looks in scale with its surroundings, is also of stone. Of course the pieces are more for decorative effect than for comfort. Heavy wooden benches, high straight back chairs and solid tables or consoles contribute much character to halls. The lighting of the hall, both by natural and artificial means, is one of the difficulties in the design and the most necessary to arrange satisfactorily. Electric fixtures are very important features, and lanterns and sconces are often effectively used. Nothing has been said about the staircase, which has come to be associated with the hall. This subject will be treated under a separate head in this series. So far as...