The Business Of Decoration Previous Page (41)
Some inhabitants of small apartments who have foyer halls of fair size make a sort of breakfast room of these; others contrive to have attractive tables in their living rooms that can be made use of at meal time, and they use whatever chairs they may have of various designs in the living room as dining chairs. They cannot, of course, employ large easy chairs in this way, but the average living room today could never contain more than a couple of these commodious bulwarks of comfort. There are many kinds of attractive chairs with wood frames, either in some natural wood finish or decorated, with upholstered seats, that can be made to serve at table; and if the living room is used as a dining room there are probably chairs in the hall that can be moved in. Even the place of the customary commodes and cabinets of the dining room can be taken care of in part by the linen closet, supplemented by a fine carved cabinet which makes an excellent living-room feature, and which may house the finer articles of glass or silver that would ordinarily be in the dining room, and that are much better off hidden behind its paneled doors than exposed to critical gaze through the glass doors of an old-fashioned china closet. Naturally I do not
Page 52
52INTERIOR DECORATING
contend that a family of many youngsters can live agreeably in just this way, but a family of two or0 three adults, who formerly considered six or seven rooms none too many for their needs, can do so with considerable ease. Even where there is an extra room, which might be conceived of as a dining room, it is often better to transform this into a library, in order to afford additional space for entertainment instead-of consecrating it to the uses of the stomachic functions only. For surely dining, even to the gourmand, is merely an incident of living and therefore even to him the living room is of chief moment. If this is charming, if it is comfortably furnished with suitable chairs and a sofa if possible, occasional tables conveniently placed and a sufficiency of lamps and books and proper incidental things, it should satisfy the average client even if it causes some trifling inconvenience by reason of its marriage to the dining room.
The Business Of Decoration Next Page - (43)
Bed In A Bag Sets Books - The Business Of Decoration
