should be within two inches of the ceiling. These measurements are not
arbitrary, of course. Every room is a law unto itself, and no cut and
dried rule can be given. A fine frieze is a very beautiful decoration,
but it must be _very_ fine to be worth while at all. Usually the dropped
ceiling is better for the upper wall space. It goes without saying that
those dreadful friezes perpetrated by certain wall paper designers are
very bad form, and should never be used. Indeed, the very principle of
the ordinary paper frieze is bad; it darkens the upper wall
unpleasantly, and violates the good old rule that the floors should be
darkest in tone, the side walls lighter, and the ceiling lightest. The
recent vogue of stenciling walls may be objected to on this account,
though a very narrow and conventional line of stenciling may sometimes
be placed just under the picture rail with good effect.

In a great room with a beamed ceiling and oak paneled walls a painted
fresco or a frieze of tapestry or some fine fabric is a very fine thing,
especially if it has a lot of primitive red and blue and gold in it, but
in simple rooms--beware!

Lately there has been a great revival of interest in wood paneling. We
go abroad, and see the magnificent paneling of old English houses, and
we come home and copy it. But we cannot get the workmen who will carve
panels in the old patterns. We cannot wait a hundred years for the soft
bloom that comes from the constant usage, and so our paneled rooms are
apt to be too new and woody. But we have such a wonderful store of
woods, here in America, it is worth while to panel our rooms, copying
the simple rectangular English patterns, and it is quite permissible to
"age" our walls by rubbing in black wax, and little shadows of
water-color, and in fact by any method we can devise. Wood paneled
walls, like beamed ceilings, are best in great rooms. They make boxes of