Vintage Ideas in Home Decorating from 1929

       With good taste as her guide, the home decorator follows any period or group, she chooses from each as she wishes, or she decorates to please herself, without so much as a bow to either schools or leaders. A selection of decorative materials which would have been the envy of kings makes her task easy. 

       Nature is an infallible guide to correct color balance and harmony. Follow her and your problem is solved. Put the lightest shades upon the ceiling, where they will diffuse light throughout the whole room. The moderate tones go upon the walls just as nature puts them about the horizon, where they constantly meet the eye. The darker shades go upon the floor, but here, too, dashes of color will prevent dullness, just as fields are saved from drabness by color in flower, tree and shrub.

       Planning a room is really very much like planning a setting on the stage. And many decorations consider not only the practical purposes of the room, but strive for a distinct aesthetic effect.

Living room of the author and designer.

       This was a very ordinary little house when I bought it - with not one thing to mark it from all the others that stood beside it in a row. But color wrought such a difference inside this little house that hundreds of people have come to see it. Notice how it was done in my living-room.
       For the floor I chose a lovely terra cotta linoleum, embossed in six-inch squares. A yellow-pink wall paper, with green and coral Toile de Jouy draperies, blended splendidly with this floor and the Cafe an La it woodwork. A little half-circle rug, and a character map over the mantel complete the decoration of the room. During the past few months many people, interested in home decoration, have come to visit my little house. And all who have seen this room have said, "What charming use of color, and how much the floors contribute to the effect!" And they have guessed the secret!
       I started this living-room with color in the floor, and now the whole room sings with color. In fact each room in my little home in a row depends for the basis of its decorative scheme upon an attractive linoleum floor.

Home of Mr. Hanning W. Prentis, Junior.

       On one of the rolling hills that lie to the north of the Lincoln Highway, just outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is the home of Mr. Henning W. Prentis, Junior - an architectural achievement combining modern comfort and convenience with period design. Mr. Prentis had this home planned to combine the charm of the Georgian period with many modern ideas that you cannot so quickly sense. Walls, for instance, are all insulated with Armstrong's Corkboard. Underfloors are concrete over steel beams, completely fireproof.

       No one could step into this living-room without being conscious of the fine, old-fashioned charm that belongs to the Georgian period. Every line and color bespeaks Colonial days, gracious living, comfort. Yet with all its atmosphere of old-time charm, this room represents the last word in modern-day convenience.

       While the dignity of the Georgian demands that the large expanses of walls and floors be unobtrusive, notice that the beauty of this room is still kept very warm and vital. The yellow-cream of the walls is carried into the mantel and reflected in the brass fender and and irons. The whole scheme is based upon a rich, black floor. A two-tone border sharply defines the junction of floor and walls. Mulberry drapes and tan upholstery blend charmingly with the room effect.

A dining-room with a Duncan Phyfe table and Venetian blinds.

       This up-to-date dining-room is of no particular period or school, yet it combines the choice features of several in a way that is altogether charming. Note the graceful lines of the Duncan Phyfe table, the strong, vigorous feeling of the modernistic service buffet, the painted, paneled, walls, the Italian note in the colorful Venetian blinds. Note too, how well the contrasting effects, both in color and line, are made part of a harmonious room scheme, by a rich, regal design of Handmade Marble Inlaid Linoleum. The decidedly predominant blue of the room does not seem a bit extreme in combination with this delightfully-toned floor. Blues, browns, and colorful florals of the glazed chintz drapes are pleasantly at home together.
       The service buffet, by the way, indicates the most pleasing way to use modern furniture - with the furniture that you already have. One of the virtues of things modern is that they are friendly with almost every popular period and type. You can have a modern room without throwing out all the other furnishings, if you are careful to select a floor that will keep them friendly. And isn't this a rather clever way to use the sunny corner of the dining-room? Have breakfast there on a small table, with lots of sunshine, and no need to set the large table.

Spring comes indoors in a sun room!

       Springtime whenever you want it is the gift that a bright sun room such as this will bring to your home. 
       This room, like most sun rooms, had more than its share of sunshine. And yet, when I was asked to plan its redecoration, it lacked zest and character. So I put color to work, in the furniture, in the walls, and especially in the largest single expanse that meets the eye, the floor. Notice how the whole room scheme is tied together by carrying the blue of the linoleum into the upholstery, the wood trim, and the Delia Robbia placque above the Spanish table.
       Look at the room now! There may be snow just outside the window, but in here it will always be spring. Color can capture springtime for you, too, if you give it a chance. You will find your own sun room respond amazingly, as did the sunny setting pictured above. If you would like to have me do so, I will be glad to give you my suggestions for its decoration.

A bright, cheerful playroom.

       This room is a happy place - and a magic place. Who ever heard of a drum for a light, of scalloped and tasseled walls, and a wind-wrinkled sea for a floor? Who couldn't be happy in such a  sunshiny playroom? And who wouldn't be neat and tidy, too, with secret cupboards for storing  toys - and a floor that didn't tell tales, even when you rode a great big elephant over its Jasper face?
       Mothers who were once little girls will know that there is magic in a room like this. And they'll find a lot of real magic, too, if they plan it around a lovely floor. Like the touch of a fairy wand, any quality floor covering magically transforms an old, scratched-up one - hides it forever with new and lasting beauty. Somehow the rest of the decorations just fall into place, once the floor covering is selected.

An Early American bedroom with green jasper floors.

       The above bedroom is unquestionably Early American. And yet it does not have the cast-from-a-die look that so unfortunately characterizes many period rooms. There is no slavish following of stiff-necked rules here. The whole room sparkles with spirit; it is different and unusual. And all because the designer showed ingenuity in selecting the floor. The designer has boldly set forth . . . discarded some obsolete ideas about floors . . . and let pattern and color combine in a way to command admiration. 
       Like a meadow of rippling grass is this floor of Green Jasper. It makes the whole room look fresh and clean. It's new. It's modern. And yet it blends perfectly with the old maple chest, the canopied four-poster, and the salamander chairs. The room is still Early American in spirit, but it is modern in tone. No matter what period you may select, there is an Armstrong pattern that will help you put a  touch of your own personality into it. And the modern floors are as easy to select as draperies.

A friendly and bright breakfast room uses three primary colors.

       In such a space as this breakfast room above you may give color free reign. Notice that the three primary complementary colors have been brought all together here in the same room. The vermilion tone of the floor is carried to the wall by the china closet and the small table. The blue-green of the wall is brought to the floor by the chair seats. The lighter tone of the cream-yellow ceiling is nicely tied in with the whole scheme by the warm beige drapes. Let me call your attention to the two tiny flower-pot shelves and to the cunning way in which the wall motif has been picked up by the scalloped edging around the closet and along the upper wall border. If you look closely, you will note an added and highly effective color touch in the red edge of the scalloped sides on the china closet. The nest of tables in the corner is separated and used when tea is served on the adjoining sun porch. edited by Grimm