Reception Room Furniture, Design & Decorating

Reception Room Furniture, Design & Decorating

The most suitable styles of furniture for the reception room are Adam, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, Louis XV and XVI; in short, the formal styles and of light construction.

The reception room requires such pieces of well turned, lightly constructed furniture - a small size sofa or seat, a pair of chairs, consoles or a small table or two. To these may be added several semi-upholstered comfortable chairs, and, if the room is large enough, a cabinet. A particularly suitable piece for a reception room is a small upholstered double seat with arms but with no back, which can be placed before the fire. Since the room is supposedly small, we do not want to cut off the view of the fireplace, yet at the same time guests should be able to sit and warm themselves before the fire. This double seat is a graceful piece of furniture, and seems in its best environment in the reception room. It should be upholstered, to match the other furniture, in a small patterned brocade.

The hangings in the reception room should be of a plain fabric of a carefully selected color, such as a pastel shade. The furniture will give a sufficiently decorative note. The walls may be paneled or wainscoted; the color of the woodwork should be light. Oriental rugs are scarcely in place in a reception room, unless all are in one general design and coloring. A plain tone rug or a Chinese rug in delicate colorings, or even a French design rug, is a better choice than an Oriental. A gray or cream Colonial striped paper is an admirable wall covering for this room, as the nature of the room itself calls for simplicity.

Since the reception room is not lived in long enough for its decorations to become tiresome, we may take liberties and create a striking interior that would not be suitable for the more workaday rooms of the house. I recall one such room that was created at very small expense.

On either side of the fireplace was set an old black and gold lacquered table; above the mantel hung a Japanese panel. On these tables were placed duplicate Chinese embroideries and a pair of Chinese turquoise vases fitted up for lamps and used with dull, gold colored shades. These lamp vases are the only spots of bright color in the room. The chairs are Chinese Chippendale in mahogany and upholstered in a linen with a black background and gold and rose and green figures in soft shades. A semi-upholstered chair of no especial period fills in an inconspicuous corner, and in the opposite corner is a cabinet of mahogany of Chippendale lines holding a collection of Oriental curios. The rug is dull bronze and the woodwork black, rubbed to a satin finish. The fixtures are nondescript, as they are almost entirely covered by oblong shields of cretonne in Chinese design heavily shellaced with orange and showing in the pattern much turquoise blue. The curtains are a dull gold Shiki silk. What makes this room striking and handsome is the wall treatment. A very inexpensive gold paper had been used, one of those that show black at night, as do most cheap gold papers. However, it provided a background for applying, with a four-inch brush, bronze paint in broad, horizontal sweeping lines about the width of the paper itself. ^The effect was wonderfully rich, and as it was easily applied and at small expense, I gladly recommend it to those who would make their reception room unusual and interesting.

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