The House Beautiful: "Domestic Art" In 1920's Brooklyn

"Domestic Art" In 1920's Brooklyn

From a stereograph by The Keystone View Company, comes this Brooklyn home decorating tip for the dining and living room. Though it is from the 1920's, later than many brownstones, some of the tips are still valid.
However, the caption accompanying the photo is rather hilarious. Read on:

Making a a house attractive is one of the finer arts. Nothing so makes life worth while and full of richness as a well appointed place to live. We are too often satisfied with cheap prints in place of pictures, gaudy wallpaper, any kind of cheap rugs, and furniture of all sorts.
When we see an interior as nicely fitted as this one, we say, "What fine taste!" But taste is not altogether a natural gift. Like other virtues, it must be cultivated. To teach girls how to furnish their homes properly is the purpose of Domestic Art. Everywhere schools are coming to have courses in the arts, and many large special schools, such as the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, enjoy a national reputation.
In furnishing your rooms at home, or in decorating a school room, simplicity is the first law. Most homes are "cluttered up" with a bit of everything. A few pieces cost no more and are in much better taste than many cheap imitations.
Why are these two rooms attractive? First, because nothing is overdone. The furnishings are not in each other's way. The attractiveness of the table is not hidden by a cloth. But its top is protected by the doilies and a plseasant contrsts is also secured. the chairs are simple in line. The flower-pot matches its surroundings. The dishes, too, appear to belong in that particular dining-room and on that very table. This leads yo the second reason for the attractiveness of this room-the arrangement.
You can think of the effect of this beauty being lost by a bad distribution of the furniture. Observe the placement of each piece. Each is put where it is because it was selected to fit into the scheme of these rooms. The basis of the choice of furnishings is the rooms themselves.

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