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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1923)
Making Home of an Apartment . Is Explained Careful Judgment in Furnish ing Will Make Attractive Dwelling Place in Lim ited Space. < i _ Although to own one’* home Is the Ideal of everyone, we yet have with us the cities. Cities ever mean congestion of population and when an acre of ground must form the home site for scores of families, the apartment building is the only solu tion. They can’t he ignored by fur niture designers, for a great propor tion of our city residents live in them, and as long as there are city newlyweds, new furniture will he ac quired to put into a "three rooms and hath’’ home. Thus the range of ( apartment furniture has become much greater within the last few years. The chief objection to an apart ment as a home Is that It rarely has a homelike atmosphere. The home maker has made the mistake of try ing to furnish the apartment like a house, and it can’t be done, success fully. Two girls of totally different types cannot wear clothes of similar design and each look her best, yet each can dress to suit her particular type and he a beauty in her own fashion. This applies to houses and apartments. Hugs, furniture and draperies must he assembled with a thought of their harmonious relation and the space they will occupy. Oftentimes massive furniture is crowded Into cramped quarters until it gives the im pression of having been bought for a more pretentious establishment, and . Mter brought to "reduced circum stances.’’ Subdued Tones for Walls. The first consideration must lie the walls. Whether painted, papered or plastered, they should he kept subdued in tone. I.arge conspicoua patterns in the paper, or warm colors, red. yellow ororange, have a tendency to bring the wails close, while cool grays and tans are receding colors, which given an impression of greater space. A small apartment with French doors or wide doorways may have the walls in the different rooms treated alike, which gives further impression of space, or two of the rooms may give n harmonious contrast, with the bed room papered with a narrow vertical st ripe. When selecting the furnishings for the apartment, the home-maker should begin with the living room. If this room properly reflects the home atmosphere, the rest of the apartment can take care of itself. It is not necessary that the furniture be of a specific style or period, or even matched, but the chairs should all he comfortable, and each piece in the room in key with the others and with the walls, rugs and hangings. Room Influences Color Scheme. The first consideration hi choosing the color scheme should he to deter mine whether the room is "light” or "dark.’** Nine chances to one are that it is dark. Thus forearmed with the knowledge that she must over Furnishing the Tiled Mantel Many odd pieces can be used to advantage by the flic place, especially when its projection forms corners as in above illustration. come the limitations of darkness and limited space, the homemaker has a good foundation to work from. The furniture should not be too heavy and cumbersome. Great overstuffed pieces that look well, and are delight fully comfortable In the* spacious j country house, are taboo in the city apartmen. But there are innumer J able unholstered suites of davenport, rocker and easy chair, whose slender ! carved or tapered legs', eane inserts I and other features, give them an air ' of being in their proper surroundings. A good reading table is a necessity, ( which may be larger or smaller, ac i cording to the presence or absence of a piano. A couple of extra chairs, possibly of the comfortable Windsor type, which blends happily with most upholstered furniture, are sufficient. The rug should not be too dark, for it would have a tendency to lower l the scheme of ti e entire room, but should be of a neutral shad»> darker than the walls. The windows should have cream or white glass curtains, preferably of net, and overdraperies of light-colored chintz which rarries out the color scheme, or silk in a plain'color or narrow stripe, accord ing to the taste of the owner, for the overdrapes. If there is no fireplace | its glow may be simulated by shades of warm colors, red, orange and yel low, for the lamps. Heading lamps which stand on their own base ore preferable to table lamps, for the lim ited lamp space may be utilized by books a^ul a vase of flowers. Dining Room. The dining room, which usually opens off the TGIng room with French doors, may repeat the color scheme of the living room, and if not, should I be decorated with a harmonious color l scheme. The massive dining table, , with huge hulbeus legs, has no place in the small apartment dining room. But there ere many email matched suttee to choose from, and the home maker can find a suitable type, for the suites range from mahogany' gate legged tables to the painted set in which the tattle, serving table and china cabinet may be nested between meals in a space some 18 inches wide. The bedroom should likewise be equipped with furniture which does not give the impression of overcrowd ing. Oay chintz does much to bright en the apartment bedroom, which is unusually lucky if it has more than one window, but one must take care to hHve it bear small patterns, rather than huge convenionalized figures of birds, beasts and flowers. Window drapes, dresser top and chair cushions will be a sufficient amount of chintz to brighten (he room, even though the furniture is dark. To demonstrate the homeyness and cheeriness with which an apartment may be decorated and furnished, the Queensborough corporation of New York recently' employed an experi-i enced Interior decorator to furnish an exhibition apartment with furniture and materials suited to the stvlc and size of the apartment and the prob able means of occupant. The result was so satisfactory that the decorator has been retained to consult with the new tenants in selecting the scheme of furnishings to suit indi vidual tastes. Copyright. Hit Soft Light of Shaded I.aifips Satrs Eyesight The increasing favor of more lamp* in the home is hacked by purely prac tical reaaons for the *nft light* of shaded lamp*. The old salary lamps that so severely tried the eye*, are rapidly disappearing and in their pl.ic#* now ar#* thoso that ate pleasant to ■^ee and use Non-Essentials in the Home Are Often Helpful Distribution of Useless But Beautiful Objects Lends (.harming Atmosphere to Residence. There are many go-considered non essentials, but If the possessing of a few of them will make for greater happiness, let's have ns many as our income will allow. No one ever claimed that s ma hogany fern box was a necessity, but the prodigality of beauty such a piece ■ f furniture gives to a room, if it is filled with a feafriery fern and placed in a sun filled window, cannot be measured. A low magazine stand which will hold several books beloved by the family and tiie latest magazines may not be a necessity, but it Is useful and In most cases good to look at A small stand holding a glowing luster bowl of flowers may not be an essential, t ut it is n gnrgeoua touch of color and rnakes for the happiness of those beholding It. Two sets of curtain* *t th# win- ] dnws may not be at all compulsory, but a fine net or shining silk tissue shirred on rods knd falling softly o\. i the glass adds beauty to th* In side hangings, and makes th* heart of ilie housekeeper swell with joy •very lime she looks at combined loveliness. Queen Anne Living Room Suite A Special May Attraction T1 HE SUITE here illustrated is one that will satisfy the most discrim _ inating lover of home furniture and at a pricing unexcelled. Davenport full size. The suite is artisti cally proportioned and finely tailored; cushions cut separately and snugly fitted. Sagless because constructed of Nachman special double cone springs set in high grade webbing; spring edge and rolled arms. Choice of coverings. Suite complete, during May.$175 # 4 Corte-Aldous-Hunt Company Farnam at Twenty-Fourth OMAHA A Better Ho: e in a New Home Well Built by a Reliable Builder THE COST Grove-Hibbard has own workmen-have been tried and are giving satisfaction. i Grove-Hibbard has low operating expense. Grove-Hibbard buys in volume-lower prices at tained. (Sixty homes under construction.) THE QUALITY Grove-Hibbard supervises all work-a firm mem ber spends all his time on construction-vitally in terested to please to last detail. Grove-Hibbard buys first grade material from relia ble Omaha concerns. Grove-Hibbard sells from homes already built by them. . Because of our organization our homes are better than many of them and as good as any of them at a cost be low that of the average re liable builder. 15th arid Harney Sunderland Building Builders of Good Homes AT. ' 4956