Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/934

 910 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. would almost suffice to produce architectural expression enough. The pattern of the carpet, too, might contribute to the same purpose, as would in some degree the general style of the furniture ; yet an attempt to Gothicise the latter, even did every thing else seem to require it, must be strenuously deprecated. Backs of chairs exhibiting copies of church windows, and other things of that sort, are not only complete caricature, but downright vulgarities, liardly one remove from those Gothic patterns for paper-hangings, which no person of the least taste can look at with satisfaction. Both rooms would be furnished en suite, as they communicate by wide folding doors, so as to form one spacious apartment, larger than would, perhaps, otherwise be consistent in a house of this size. The doors themselves should be square-headed ; but they might appear to be carried up higher than the real opening, forming a low arch, with tracery in the arched part of the doors. The doors themselves would be oak, with panels (as would be the case with those of the other doors) of choicer specimens of the same wood. Over each chimney- piece should be a lofty mirror, which might terminate above in an arch, with foils and cusps (small arches meeting in points, which are often used as an enrichment in tracery) ; and on each side might be a narrower compartment in the frame, divided by rich transoms, and each division filled with silk in flutes, and of the same colour as the window curtains. A framing of this description, which, as it would probably be wider than the mantel-piece, ought to seem to rise up on each side of it, and include that as a lower division of itself, would give the mirror more importance than, independently of such additions, its actual dimensions could do. The walls would be hung with either silk, or very rich paper of elegant designs, in which brown, fawn, grey, and ash tints, with a sliglit intermixture of positive red, should be so combined as to produce an eifect rich and warm, yet sober and delicate. The hollow part of the cornice, and the sculptured blocks, might be picked out with deep red or scarlet, in which case the lower edge of the wall might have a border of the same colour. The general pattern of the carpet should present a combination of somewhat similar hues to the walls ; but the border, which should be sufficiently wide to extend a little beyond the furniture, should be mostly of scarlet, and some other shades of red, to balance that colour in the cornice and window- curtains. These latter, which, like those in all the other rooms, would be without cornices or hanging draperies, and merely draw upon an ornamental rod, immediately below the cornice of the ceiling, would be of scarlet silk, lined with pearl-colour. There might be muslin curtains or not, in addition to these ; but, in order the better to exclude the sun, to which from their aspect these rooms would be much exposed, there ought also to be spring blinds, made so as to be tightly fastened below at each angle. These might be made to contribute very materially to the general elegance of the rooms, by being painted so as to represent the windows themselves, with their mullions and transoms, but entirely filled with stained glass of a diaper pattern ; or, this might be confined to the upper compartments, the lower ones appearing to be open, so as to show a continuous view through them, adapted to the natural horizon. Unless, however, this were done in a very superior style, and with perfect taste, it woidd be far more advisable not to attempt any thing of the kind ; as, so far from being ornamental, it would be the very reverse. The mouldings of the ceilings, and the ornamental inter- sections, ought to be gilt ; but merely partially, so as to exhibit rather sparkling streaks of gilding than entire surfaces of it ; and the blocks in the cornice ought to receive the same embellishment, the edges of their foliage being just tipped with metallic lustre. Instead of a bright white hue, the ceiling and cornices should be of a cream or ivory tint, and perhaps varnished, so as to give it something of the ch.aracter of the last- mentioned substance. On the sides opposite the windows there would in both rooms be space for sofas, besides other furniture ; and against the window piers might be low cabinets, book-stands, or other articles of that description, with a few pieces of ornamental porcelain and bijouterie placed upon them. A few ornaments, tastefully disposed on the walls, would nearly complete the embellishments. In respect to pictures, there is one thing to be considered, namely, their size ; for, however valuable they may be in them- selves, small cabinet pieces or drawings can seldom be so arranged as to be placed in good situations for viewing them, and yet not interfere with the general effect of the room, su]iposing it to possess any ornamental character in itself. Should there be many of them, they must either form nearly a continued line, with a plain space above them ; or many of them must be placed considerably higher than they ought to be, to be pro- perly seen. If, on the contrary, there are only a few, comparatively with the size of the room, distribute them as we will, they will be apt to form spots upon the walls, and to look rather insignificant ; in this case, too, their situations must be determined by the proper height for viewing them, and not by the actual height of the room. Even where there are many large and small pictures together, they can hardly ever be so well arranged as a regard to general effect requires ; because, instead of the larger ones being so hung that each of them shall form the central point, as it were, around which smaller fi-amos