After a day’s rubbing up against the world there is nothing more soothing than the atmosphere confined within the four walls constituting home, providing it be all that term replies. Tesselated floors, beamed ceilings, leaded windows, expensive fabrics, rare canvases, first editions, imported bronzes-none of these are necessary to this result. But there are a few requisites, just as bread is not bread without flour and yeast. From youth up we have been told that a grandmother and a baby are prime necessities but even before these the Creator ordained that sunshine should be the desideratum in making a home.
If you are susceptible to the shades of atmosphere indoors, you know at once the difference between a place whose sacred precincts have never been invaded by the health-giving rays and one whose every nook and corner has been flooded and even saturated with the golden elixir. Precious beyond computation is the silent, unseen work of the inspiring, invigorating sunlight. Blindfold one sensitive to the sun’s work, lead him in the dead of night to some home-so called unknown to him, where carpets and walls are unfaded, unbind his eyes and he will tell you whether or not here old Sol has been a welcome guest.
Sunshine then is one thing every home must have-and such a home is the one answering this description: Sunbathed and blessed with a generous portion of pure air. Its exterior is plain, to some even severe, but it catches a full measure of the western light. The front entrance and lower windows are well protected for an inviting broad, low porch. The roof lines of the house are few, but good, and the windows are well placed. The grouped clapboards of the upper story are a happy relief from the usual monotonous siding. A few turned ornaments give access to the design-but we must enter .
A small vestibule finished in an antique oak, wainscoting, with a reddish bronze embossed paper upper, admits us to a very attractive, rather square central hall. The dull reds and olives of the large figured paper harmonize with the oak wainscoting. Directly opposite the entrance the eye is permitted to travel on through two doorways, into an attractive den and into a commodious dining room.
On the left of the hall is a small reception room, dressed in a color scheme possessing much warmth, namely, reds, yellows, and gold. On the right is the living room, ample and well-lighted. The color thought is green with the antique oak finish. The wall is in two very soft medium greens, in stripes. The ceiling between the beams is in a lighter tone of the same, being relieved of severity by the introduction of simple line-borders with touches of pink and deeper green foliated forms. Green rep hangs in plain folds over unornamented lace curtains at the windows, simple hangings drape the doorways. Opposite the hall entrance is a large, rather massive fireplace, where breastwork stands out square to the ceiling. The mantel ledge is shallow, giving place for two small metal candlesticks and a few other such ornaments. The fireplace proper is faced with a beautiful Italian marble, “verde antique.” A dull green and brown tile hearth brightened by brass fixtures, completes the effect.
The dining room opens directly back of the living room. The color scheme is carried out in blues and whites-delft shades. The standing work is antique oak. A spacious sideboard furnishes one end. One side is furnished by a china-closet, built-in, enclosed with doors of plain glass set in a leaded geometrical pattern. A large round oak table stands in the center on a deep blue and buff rug. One end of the room has a broad swell of four windows, finished with a high, broad sill on which are arranged the various objects of such a room. The leaded windows are curtained by plain, cream net and dark blue and white figured Japanese crepe.
On entering the house one of the attractive glimpses was of the den, a small room finished in curly burch, stained mahogany. The pieces having been selected for their beautiful grains. The walls are hung in claret-red burlap. The floor is simply covered by an oriental rug, dull blue, tan and rose in coloring. A fireplace occupies a portion of one side of the room. The face of it is tiled quite high in green. A mirror, a shelf, a brass bracket light and two narrow bookcases with leaded lights, complete one end. A few pieces of furniture, a library table, chairs, and an immense divan upholstered in red: dull tan madras curtains figured in green and rose, render this a very satisfactory little room in which to quietly talk or rest.
We return to the hall, the marked width of the stairway to the broad landing, lighted by stained glass windows, deep reds and yellows in color, carpeted with strips from the Orient, and provided with convenient ledges for pottery and brasses, presents a very inviting way to the second story.
The sleeping rooms are bright and chaste in appearance, finished in white enamel and hardwood floors. The front room walls are covered in a large single-flower design, dull maroon and mouse color, with a trace of yellow; the ceiling is pearl gray. A built-in case of drawers, a small stained glass windows above, and a little white bed furnish one corner of the room. Adjoining is a fireplace. A convenient dress-box covered with a green stuff, a large plate mirror-a part of the wall-furnish another side.
The children’s rooms are in blue and white. The wall having sprays of of bluer bachelor buttons painted here and there. A picture ledge apparently forms in the child minds, the most indispensable furnishing in the room, judging by the array of pictures and other treasures. At least in that the room is the expression of the child-life it is ideal.
The guest chamber is very pleasant, well lighted, being on the northwest corner. The walls are hung in a bold design of woodbine in its autumnal hues with olive green berries.
One of the noticeable things upstairs, at the end of a long hall, is a doorway leading to a upper porch-promising a convenient place for removing the city’s dust and an adequate entrance for fresh air hot summer nights.
A picture of the swaying branches of a tree bared of its foliage appearing at the focal point, so to speak, of the vista formed by the hall, and the open door, and the cordiality we were so conscious of even before the arrival of the hostess are among the pleasantest memories of this home and they will remain such for some time to come.
