The House in Good Taste

I dream of the delightful houses I have lived in. And just as the woman who dreams of many lovers finds o

VING HOUSE WAS DE

is old house our home. Two years ago we reluctantly gave up the old house and moved into a more modern one-also transformed from old into new-on East Fifty-fifth Street. We have also a delightful

lution. We had so many dreams, so many theories, and we tried them all out on the old house. And like a patien

for framing pleasant things. When we moved there we had a broad sweep of view: I can remember seeing the river from o

g an old garden. It may not be just your idea of a garden to begin with, but as you study it and deck its barren spaces with masses of color, and fit a sundial into the spot that so need

studying it. It asked questions on every turn, and seemed surprised when they were answered. The house was delightfully rambling, with a tiny entrance h

a green-and-white-stripe wall-paper that looked as old as Rip Van Winkle. This is the same ribbon-grass paper that I afterward used in the Colony Club hallway. The woodwork was painted a soft gray-green. Finally, I had my collection of faded French costume prints set flat against the top of the wall as a frieze. The hall was so

d to talk of this particular house as a thing apart from its furnishings, however, for every bit of paneling, every lighting-fi

k and walls. The walls were broken into panels by the use of a narrow molding. In the large panel above the mantel-shelf I had inse

y into this aristocratic and dignified room. Miss Marbury and I have a perfect right to French things in our drawing-room, you see, for we are French residents for half

that it was restful to the eye-one color faded into another so subtly that one did not realize there was a definite color-scheme. The hangings of the room were of a deep rose color. I used the same colors in the coverings of the chairs and sofas. The house was curtained throug

N IRVING HO

he drawing-room and the marble of the window space was a narrow curb of marble, which made it possible to have a jolly little fountain in the window. The fountain splashed away to its heart's content, for there was a drain pipe under the curb. At the top of the wi

e of which no use is made. Sometimes there is a gilt table bearing a lofty jar, sometimes a timid effort at comfort-a sofa-but usually the bay window is sacred to its own devices, whatever th

decorative. This room was so beautiful in itself that I used very little color-but such color! We never tired of the gray and white and ivory color-scheme, the quiet atmosphere that made glorious the old Chinese carpet, wi

e chairs had insets of cane of a deeper tone. The recessed window-seat was covered with a soft velvet of a deep yellow, and there we

e than comfortable: it must be intimate, personal, one's secret garden, so to speak. It may b

s. The little table must hold a good reading light, well shaded, for who doesn't like to read in bed? There must also be a clock, and there really should be a telephone.

ich came from Brittany. This old bed is of carved mahogany, with mirrored panels on the side against the wall, and with tall columns at the ends. It is always hung with embroidered silk in the rose color that I adore and has any number of pillows, big and little. The chaise-longue was covered with this same silk, as wer

z used was the familiar Bird of Paradise, gorgeous in design, but so subdued in tone that one never tires of it. The bed had a flat, perfectly fitted cover of the chintz, which is tucked under the ma

the head of the bed a most adorable screen of white enamel, paneled with chintz below and glass a

able, near the window is also part of my creed of comfort. There should be a writing-table in every bedroom. My friends laugh at the little fat pincushions on my writing-tables, but wh

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ntest spicy fragrance. There is also a little bowl of just the proper color to hold pens and clips and odds and ends

use so completely! But we couldn't forgive the skyscrapers encroaching on our supply of sunshine, and we really needed more room, and so we said good-by