The picture on page 118 shows the proper placing of wall fixtures when
a large picture is the chief point of interest. These wall fixtures are
particularly interesting because they are in the style of the Adam
mirrors that hang on the recessed wall spaces flanking the chimney wall.
This photograph is a lesson in the placing of objects of art. The large
painting is beautifully spaced between the line of the mantel shelf and
the lower line of the cornice. The wall fixtures are correctly placed,
and anyone can see why they would be distressingly out of key if they
were nearer the picture, or nearer the line of the chimney wall. The
picture was considered as an important part of the chimney-piece before
the openings for the fixtures were made.

Another good lamp is shown on the small table in this picture. There is
really a reading-lamp beside a comfortable couch, which cannot be seen
in the picture. This lamp, like the one in the drawing-room, is made
from a porcelain vase, with a shirred silk shade on a wire frame. An
electric light cord is run through a hole bored for it. If electricity
were not available, an oil receptacle of brass could be fitted into the
vase and the beauty of the lamp would be the same.

There are so many possibilities for making beautiful lamps of good jars
and vases that it is surprising the shops still sell their frightful
lamps covered with cabbage roses and dragons and monstrosities. A blue
and white ginger jar, a copper loving-cup, or even a homely brown
earthenware bean-pot, will make a good bowl for an oil or electric lamp,
but of the dreadful bowls sold in the shops for the purpose the less
said the better. How can one see beauty in a lurid bowl and shade of red
glass! Better stick to wax candles the rest of your life than indulge in
such a lamp!