Furnishing the Small Home in 1921

FURNISHING THE SMALL HOME: By Hettie Rhoda Meade

MOST psychologists agree that the greatest influence on our lives is environmentâ€”that we react directly to our immediate surroundings. If this be true, how important it would seem to be that our homes be planned to bring out the best that is in us.

A large part of the attractiveness of the modern home depends upon the taste and skill with which it has been decorated and furnished. Of course in countless instances the cost of the house itself has been so great that every available dollar has been devoted to actual building, and the matter of furnishing, coming as it does toward the end of the operation, finds the home treasury in a condition too depleted to permit of adequate furnishing and decorating being done. It would seem, however, to be the height of folly to neglect the detail upon which the appearance of the home so largely depends.

We find everywhere an increasing interest and enthusiasm in the matter of furnishing and decoration. Numerous periodicals are devoted to the subject, and they have familiarized the people with a higher standard of taste than seemed possible a decade ago. Manufacturers of furnishings of many kinds have followed the popular trendâ€”sometimes they have led itâ€”and if any more definite proof of this growing interest were needed we have the statement made by a competent authority that during the past seven years the proportion of increase in money spent on home furnishings has grown so that this is now the largest item in the average family budget.

This increase in popular interest in the subject of domestic furnishing may have possibly been the causeâ€”or else the resultâ€”of a large increase in the number of interior decorators whose efforts are undoubtedly doing much to arouse and maintain interest in the subject.

The average home owner is hardly accustomed to selecting and purchasing household fittings upon an extended scale, and is not often prepared to enter into such a purchasing campaign as is involved in the fitting up of even a small suburban home. He is seldom able to visualize the entire result and is therefore unable to give to countless details the careful attention which they deserve if the house, as a whole, is to be a success.

Far more experienced is the average interior decorator who is accustomed to purchasing and who, with extended buying, has acquired an intimate knowledge of the market and of the use of materials which often insure the obtaining of the utmost in value for the amount which the home owner feels able to spend. There are many decorators who would not disdain such a commission as the furnishing of a moderate cost home and the giving of the commission to an interior decorator would not often mean added cost to the owner, for decorators usually receive as their compensation the difference between wholesale prices and the retail prices which the owner would pay in any event.

Let us suppose, for example, that a definite sum has been appropriated for the complete fitting up of a moderate sized suburban home and that the owner has entrusted the work to an interior decorator. The owner has no doubt dealt with the decorator very frankly, and both understand exactly what is to be provided in the way of furnishings and decorations. From a careful examination of the plans, if the house is not yet completed, the decorator will study requirements and obtain dimensions, and will apportion to each room its definite share of the total. Wall and floor coverings, draperies and furniture will receive due consideration, the condition of the market will be ascertained and the decorator will then offer for the owner’s approval a complete layout for the house, showing samples, perhaps of wall coverings and fabrics, and photographs of pieces of furniture, or else both decorator and owner may visit various warerooms or shops where all these details are to be seen.

The final result, when the work has been completed and the house is ready for occupancy, would probably be a well thought out and carefully executed interior, wherein nothing has been overlooked or slighted and which may well possess an artistic unity or cohesion which it might not have had if the owner had carried out the furnishing himself.

Furnishing the Small Home continued here…

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 5th, 2006 at 3:14 am and is filed under 1920's, Furniture, Interior Decoration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.