Evening Star Newspaper, December 18, 1926, Page 18

REAL- FURNISHING ESTATE. THE HOME Conducted for The Star BY ELIZABETH STETSON AND GENEVIEVE HENDRICKS Furniture For the Living Room. BY GENEVIEVE HENDRICKS. After having spent some time and thought on the architectural features ol our living room, the proposed plan €oward which we wish to work, and the backgrounds we wish to select, it womd seem as though our road should be made easy for us. now that'we have completed our preliminary work and come to the actual selectlon of our But even yet our path is marks and we carefully as n though we furniture. not without its dan must watch our step ever. If we do not, e have taken infinite pains with these ost essential matters of backgrounds, our room will show our carelessness and brand us before our friends as wlipshod persons who at best do a thing but half way. : g To most people the buying of furni- ture is a matter of finance, and fol- Jowing the crowd. Since three-piece sets of upholstered furniture have been widely advertised and widely, though not wisely, purchased, the ma Jority of househols think they, too, must buy a “se This “set,” to- gether with other stereotyped pieces, guch as the “davenport table,” the bridge lamps, and other widely- heralded pieces madé famous through the press agent rather than always through individual merit, form the nucleus of most prospective pur- chasers’ furnishing dreams. Buy Suitable Furniture. But just because the crowd has bought these pieces s no reason why we must all follow lamblike and buy just the same. In fact, it is almost a Zood reason why we should not, for surely we are not like the majority of our neighbors either in taste or needs and certainly we should follow our privilege of expressing our own indi- viduality in selecting the furniture with which we are to live in our most precious belonging, our home. Several reasons should determine our choice of furniture and these should be carefully borne in mind when we face the “go-getter,” “sell- ‘em-or-die” salesman who can not Xnow our problems. We must buy furniture that is suitable both to our homes, our tastes, and our purses; fur- niture that is comfortable, durable, and, last but far from least, furniture that is good to look upon. To be suitable to our living rooms the furniture we buy must be in keep- ing with the architectural plan of the yoom. That is, it we have planned « our room after the Spanish manner, we must not buy for it early Ameri- ean pleces, or i it is colonial, we must not select heavy Italian pleces. The general style of our furniture should conform with the architectural fea- tures of our homes. In violation of this very obvious rule is the furnish- ing of a house in this city most care- fully planned in every detail to repre- sent a Spanish country house. Hard on Each. As you walk up the flagstone walk to the iron-trimmed blue door under its tiled porch roof in the yellow ce- look forward to the charm of more of | these same colors and wWrought iron {and Spanish furniture within. But | the door is opened and one is mentally hurled across many miles to come | into the land of Adam and Sheraton and other English makers of delicate, dainty furniture. It is hardly fair either to the house or the furniture or the caller, for it is hard on e | Furniture must also be in propor- | tion to our rooms. We can use fairly large pleees if we have large rooms that will allow them plenty of space without giving a crowded feel Pt if our rooms are small, as most rooms are these days, we will want to buy furniture that is small in scale, so that it will not fill them up and be out of proportion. Quite as important is the suitability of our furniture to the type of per sons we are. If we are in moderate financial circumstances, elaborate fur niture will be decidedly out of keeping. Far better to have good. honest, sim- ple furniture that looks as though we could well afford it than to display pieces that make our guests wonder how we can manage to do it and won- der if they are all paid for. Our per- sonality will further determine the selection of our furniture, and it will be well for us to express our likes and dislikes up to a certain point. Must Buy Well. ““All the world loves a lover” should be rewritten to “All the world loves a bargain.” And who of us is without this desire to buy cheaply! However, if we do not buy well, we will not buy cheaply. Most furniture, unless it is antique, depreciates very rapidly in value, not only in resale value, but in actual value to the owner. If we buy furniture that is carelessly put to- gether it will within no time at all be. gin to come to pieces, the legs will spread or fall out, the springs fall, the seats sag and the upholstering be. come lumpy and uneven. Also, if we buy really cheap furniture the varnish will show every scratch and every mark. As a result repair bills will soon add to the cost price of this fur- niture, or we will replace it in a short time with other new pieces, and soon we will learn we have bought expen- sively because we bought carelessly and too cheaply. How much better to buy good pieces in the beginning, even [ment vou dream of far-off Spain and though we have to pay more for good workmanship and good materials! However, much as we might wish to purchase only good pieces, few of us can afford to buy at once all of the pleces we will need to furnish our rooms as we would have them. The wise thing to do and the most satisfying thing in the end is for us to buy first the pieces that are absolutely essential to our comfort and then buy the other pieces that we need to fill in as we have money for them. Professor’s Wife’s Case. A picture comes to mind of a pro- fessor’s wife who had exquisite taste and wanted only the best in her home, THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SA THE BAD AND THE GOOD IN FURNITURE £ 5 of the sketch are as light as but who had to furnish it on a pro- fessor's limited salary. She put her all into a lovely old sofa, two real Chippendale chairs, one small but lovely Oriental rug, a small table and a table lamp, every plece of which «he had just reason to be proud. Her room was fairly large, but she placed these really good pleces in close prox- imity to each other so that half the m looked comfortable. She hon- estly explained to callers that she did not have the money yet to fur- nish the rest of the room. The in- teresting result of her experiment was that people went from her house, not northwest locations, rapidly, to offer for sale or or apartments. located. Edward Main Y The chair and the sofa at the top of the sketch are too heavy, too fancy and badly designed from a point of comfort. The chair and sofa at the bottom sible for strength, they are simply and beau- designed, and they will give the maximum of comfort. with remarks as to how sparsely it was furnished, but saying to ench other, “What wonderful things Mrs. X. has!" ‘Among the essential pleces that we will wish to buy first for our living room are i sofa, at least one good overstuffed chair and one armchair, not overstuffed. The first require- ment of these pieces is that they must be comfortable, for they, of all the pieces in the living room, are chosen for just this one reason. We will want a sofa that has good springs that will make the seats pliable, and we will want the back and arms so ACREAGE Sale or Trade We have several splendid pieces of acreage in which are increasing in value trade on business property Also a large tract of second commercial ground well Call Mr. Ford, Business Property Department R. Carr Realtor and Builder 1121 Vermont Ave. 4841 Shapiro-Katz Semi-Detached All-Brick Homes They Face Fort Stevens Park Exhibit House, 6213 12th Street N.W. One Block West of Georgia Ave. at Rittenhouse Street Overlooking the Valley to 16th Street Price $12,950 Large living room with artistic brick open fireplace Paneled dining room 4 good bedrooms . Latest sanitary built-in bath fixtures (shower) Dressing room with extra lavatory and toilet Spacious porches Heated garage 0ak floors throughout 30-gallon Welsbach Automatic Storage Hot Zone Elegant antique art lighting fixtures Coat closet in hall, closets in all bedrooms, linen closet, floor recep- ur]es! one-panel interior doors, glass door knobs, white enamel gas range, one-piece enamel sink, toilet in cellar, laundry, steel beam construction. Out 16th St. to Colorado Ave. to Georgia Ave. to Rittenhouse St., west to 12th St. Shapiro-Katz Realty REALTORS—BUILDERS [Main 9111 1416 K St. N.W.| " Note: Fort Stevens Park is of historical interest and has been dedicated as a goverm: " ment reservation to commemorate Lincoln’s presence at this poimt July 12th, 186¢, when he was under fire with the Union soldiers. 'padded that they will conform to our figures as we lean against them. Many cheaply made sofas are apt to be made very stiff to sit down upon, and are so hard that one has to make {an effort to push against the back. iConlnrywlae. other cheap sofas are le 80 soft as to be uncomfgrtable, after the manner of teainer welis. There Is 4 middle ground here, a8 in most matters, and In selecting our sofas we must look for upholstering that it is not too hard nor yet too soft. In looking for comfort in our upholstered pieces we must think also not only of the present, but of future comfort as well. If the pleces have not been well made the springs will all too soon make uncomfortable ridges, and the filling, unless it is of hair or other satisfactory material, will lump in_one place and grow shallow in an- other. Helght of Seats. It is not only in the upholstering that one must insist upon certain fea- tures for comfort. Be careful not to select pieces whose seats are too far off the floor, so that when you sit down you have to make an effort to touch the floor with your feet. Thir- teen inches from the floor to the top of the seat is a very comfortable height for lounging chairs and sofas, and from 13 to 16 inches is a good height for chairs that are a bit more formal. Take care also that the seat Oxford Street Chevy Chase $22,500 A beautiful new residence of 8 well lighted rooms, 2 baths, with extra servants’ room and bath; large attic; house is exquisitely decorated and has carefully selected lighting fixtures. Private driveway leading to 2-car garage, built to match house. Lot 72x140. CALL ON Us FOR TERMS Thomas J. Fisher & Co. Inc. 738 15th St. NW. TURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1926. is not too deep, so that in order to reach the back of your chair or sofa you do not have to pull your feet off the_floor. Unless you are planning to use a great many pillows on your sofa, or unless your lounging chalr s perfectly made, this matter of depth of seat is a serious one. The height of the back of the sofa or chair is also im- portant. If it 1s too low it will leave your head without any support, up- less you slink down farther into the chair in an ungainly manner. If it is too high you will not be so troubled, RO SRS )2 22X Miller Designed - S ‘;‘S_RB R Miller Built BN This SRR ) J 25 5N 2% Builders %) A 1119 -17th 8¢, (i but your chair will be out of propor- tion to the height of your room. The height of the arms from the seat of the chair or sofa is another point to be considered. 1f high, then the person seate > pieces will make an effort to raise his arms, which will not be consistent with the relaxation that would expected in these pleces. The points enumerated above have heen taken into consideration by de signers of good furniture, and chasers of good p.eces need not trou ble themselves ' measure and figure Wesley Heights “The Garden Spot of Washington” - Lk 1 |w||§' Magnificent New Exi [ %.€. and AR Miller | be | | out servants, pur- | it Home Located at 4437 CATHEDRAL AVENUE N.W., WESLEY HEIGHTS Is Now Available for Your Inspection Recently the paving of Cathedral Avenue, the main approach to WESLEY HEIGHTS, has been completed, making it one of the gen- uinely fine boulevards of our beautiful city. Motor out Massachusetts Avenue across Wisconsin Avenue into Cathedral—or take Wesley Heights Bus at 20th and P Streets would badly woulld points for themselves. If the public refuse to buy uncomfortable, built pleces all manufacturers have to look to these essentfal yof comfort. Weight of Furniture. It is not only in the actual use of our upholstered pleces that we should consider this matter of comfort. In this day, when inany people are with we must consider the weight of furniture thai nas to be moved and select pleces that will be (Continued on Nineteenth Page.) SR SR W 2) Bealtors P R% Maeini1790 A FEW FACTS Three hinges on all doors, which means no sagging, ili-fitting doors. “No. 7 Samson heavy spot cord”—better than chain because it is more quiet. Washington— By which we establish our claim that we have built the best house at these prices in the city of —All Architecturally Different— Six rooms and two baths, both with showers, another shower and lavatory in the basement near the maid’s room. Four all-cedar closets with tongue-and-grooved cedar shelves and flooring laid over heavy, black glazed paper. All other floors of 74-inch clear white oak laid over subflooring with deadening felt between. No old- fashioned wood lath, but 34-pound metal lathing to eliminate shrinkage and wall cracks. The windows are hung on Each detail is a step toward enduring comfort and perfection in this new offering of Woodley Park homes. No little nook—the kitchen—but a generous sized working room with built-in ironing board, deep shelving and built-in refrigerator iced from the rear service porch. There is a built-in garage in the ample basement (some of the garages are two-car size). And Finally! These Strong and Beautiful Homes in Woodley Park’s Superb Setting Are Easy to Buy Priced from $16,000 to $18,000, with a cash payment of $2,500 and $125 monthly Interested visitors should not let the grading developments, which we are pushing energetically, pre- vent them inspecting this limited group of homes from basement to attic, for among them we have built the kind of home you long have wanted. 2911 28th Street NNW. (Turn Off Connecticut Ave. at Cathedral Ave.) Open Daily and Sunday Until 9 P.M. Other Homes in Woodley Park, $30,000 and $42,500 WARDMAN 1430 K Street N.W.