But little furniture can be used in most halls, but if wide enough,
there should be two straight-backed solid chairs and a sofa. The sofa
may be made like the ordinary Turkish lounge, cushioned all over with
none of the woodwork showing, or, if there is a recessed window, a
cushioned seat just filling the recess will be still better. An ancestral
chest, if you are fortunate enough to have one, is much prized for the
hall-way, and the more antique the better. With its brass or bronze
handles, its carved wood-work, it looks as if it might have come over in
the Mayflower, and held the riches of the whole family. Those who
have them not, are having the designs copied and imitated in rich woods,
and a goodly amount of money they cost too. Some of them stand
upon four square, solid feet ; others have lion's claws for support ; some
have one or two drawers at the bottom, while a heavy carved lid shuts
in the chest proper. Many of these odd chests, which had been degraded
to hold carpenters' tools, or hid away in the garret as receptacles for
rubbish, are being reclaimed, polished, and assigned to this place of
honor.
Here may also be assigned a few pictures; good ones, hung low
down, and upon a level with the eye. If the hall is large and well lit,
this is one of the best of places for the family portraits, and even if a
small hall it may be beautified by a few well selected pictures. If space
is denied for the hall table or hat rack, a pair of antlers, horns, or even
several of them may be utilized, hung one above another in graduated
sizes ; these make good hat-racks as well as umbrella holders.
Umbrella stands may be bought or made in many unique ways for
the hall, and they are really necessary to catch the drippings of umbrellas,
even if there is an umbrella stand combined with the hat-rack. If the
hall doors have not stained glass windows, shades to match those of
the other windows may be used ; white Holland trimmed with antique
lace or embroidered with fringe, or an aesthetic red in silk or Holland is
now considered very fashionable. These red shades are of plain Hol-
land trimmed with fringe or lace of the same shade, or else of shirred
or pleated silk. The light filtering through these red draperies give a
warm cheerful light to even the darkest and gloomiest hall. White
shades are hardly artistic, and look glaring on the outside of the house,
either in parlors or halls, unless of lace or Swiss, and then their only
charm is their purity. And now if you have an old fashioned Dutch
clock, to stand in the farthermost corner of the hall, one or two deer's
heads with antlers to hang over the doors or in a niche, a few growing
palms or tropical plants, you will have the ideal hall of halls, even if not
able to have bronze or marble pedestal figures and costly jars and vases.
154: HOUSE FURNISHING.
PARLOR AND LIBRARY.
Page 135
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
But little furniture can be used in most halls, but if wide enough, there should be two straight-backed solid chairs and a sofa. The sofa may be made like the ordinary Turkish lounge, cushioned all over with none of the woodwork showing, or, if there is a recessed window, a cushioned seat just filling the recess will be still better. An ancestral chest, if you are fortunate enough to have one, is much prized for the hall-way, and the more antique the better. With its brass or bronze handles, its carved wood-work, it looks as if it might have come over in the Mayflower, and held the riches of the whole family. Those who have them not, are having the designs copied and imitated in rich woods, and a goodly amount of money they cost too. Some of them stand upon four square, solid feet ; others have lion's claws for support ; some have one or two drawers at the bottom, while a heavy carved lid shuts in the chest proper. Many of these odd chests, which had been degraded to hold carpenters' tools, or hid away in the garret as receptacles for rubbish, are being reclaimed, polished, and assigned to this place of honor.
Here may also be assigned a few pictures; good ones, hung low down, and upon a level with the eye. If the hall is large and well lit, this is one of the best of places for the family portraits, and even if a small hall it may be beautified by a few well selected pictures. If space is denied for the hall table or hat rack, a pair of antlers, horns, or even several of them may be utilized, hung one above another in graduated sizes ; these make good hat-racks as well as umbrella holders.
Umbrella stands may be bought or made in many unique ways for the hall, and they are really necessary to catch the drippings of umbrellas, even if there is an umbrella stand combined with the hat-rack. If the hall doors have not stained glass windows, shades to match those of the other windows may be used ; white Holland trimmed with antique lace or embroidered with fringe, or an aesthetic red in silk or Holland is now considered very fashionable. These red shades are of plain Holland trimmed with fringe or lace of the same shade, or else of shirred or pleated silk. The light filtering through these red draperies give a warm cheerful light to even the darkest and gloomiest hall. White shades are hardly artistic, and look glaring on the outside of the house, either in parlors or halls, unless of lace or Swiss, and then their only charm is their purity. And now if you have an old fashioned Dutch clock, to stand in the farthermost corner of the hall, one or two deer's heads with antlers to hang over the doors or in a niche, a few growing palms or tropical plants, you will have the ideal hall of halls, even if not able to have bronze or marble pedestal figures and costly jars and vases.
PARLOR AND LIBRARY.