The Business Of Decoration Previous Page (40)
Materials used and labor expended upon them are worse than ever; lighting fixtures are mostly of a very cheap grade and the finishing touches generally, which are supposed to contribute so much to the decoration of interiors, are poor. At the same time, the tenant, being less certain of his lease than formerly, is stiU less willing to pay for his own painting or for any kind of desirable structural alterations than he used to be. On the other hand, the decorator reaps what advantage is to be had from the enormously increased rents and the consequent return of many clients to private homes, which they are frequently willing to alter. In fact, if the increase in immigration solves the servant problem, there is no doubt that residences will be in great demand and interior decoration will obtain a new impetus.
However, we must still look to the apartment dweller as the real innovator, and if a new American style of home furnishing is ever developed it will come from the effort to satisfy the demands of people in apartments for things that peculiarly fit their needs. Today when constantly increasing rents are driving all but the wealthy into three or four rooms, these needs are wellnigh insurmountable. The greatest problem that has ever faced the decorator is to make three or four folk comfortable in so small a space, and to make this beautiful as well. Obviously we cannot continue copying furniture from European palaces and manor houses and expect it to work out perfectly in a small apartment.
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THE SMALL APARTMENT51
More people than ever before are learning to live satisfyingly without dining rooms. Finding themselves in quarters that are likely to be pinched, and reasoning that of their day and night some eight hours are spent in the bedroom and the larger part of the remainder in the living room (when they are lucky enough to be able to keep away from the kitchen) they decide that the dining room is, after all, a luxury in which only two or three hours daily are generally employed.
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