Treat your rooms like "still life," see to it that each group, such as
a table, sofa, and one or two chairs make a "composition," suggesting
comfort as well as beauty. Never have an isolated chair, unless it is
placed against the wall, as part of the decorative scheme.

In preparing this book the chief aim has been clearness and brevity,
the slogan of our day!

We give a broad outline of the historical periods in furnishing, with
a view to quick reference work.

The thirty-two illustrations will be analysed for the practical
instruction of the reader who may want to furnish a house and is in
search of definite ideas as to lines of furniture, colour schemes for
upholstery and hangings, and the placing of furniture and ornaments in
such a way as to make the composition of rooms appear harmonious from
the artist's point of view.

The index will render possible a quick reference to illustrations and
explanatory text, so that the book may be a guide for those ambitious
to try their hand at the art of interior decoration.

The manner of presentation is consciously didactic, the authors
believing that this is the simplest method by which such a book can
offer clear, terse suggestions. They have aimed at keeping "near to
the bone of fact" and when the brief statements of the fundamental
laws of interior decoration give way to narrative, it is with the hope
of opening up vistas of personal application to embryo collectors or
students of periods.