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Title: The Art of Home Furnishing and Decoration

Author: Frank Alvah Parsons

Release Date: February 27, 2022 [eBook #67518]

Language: English

Produced by: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading
             Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
             images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF HOME FURNISHING
AND DECORATION ***





  _THE ART OF
  HOME FURNISHING
  AND DECORATION_


  _By_
  FRANK ALVAH PARSONS

  President, New York School of Fine and Applied Art
  Author of “Interior Decoration--Its Principles and Practice,” Etc.


  PUBLISHED BY
  Armstrong Cork Company
  _Linoleum Department_
  LANCASTER, PENNA., U. S. A.




  SECOND EDITION

  Copyright 1921 by
  ARMSTRONG CORK COMPANY
  _Linoleum Department_
  LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA




_FOREWORD_


Frank Alvah Parsons, President of the New York School of Fine and
Applied Art, is a leading American authority on interior decoration.
He long since has amply demonstrated his wonderful faculty for turning
his knowledge to the common good. We know of no man who, with voice
and pen, has fought harder or more unceasingly for better taste, for
richer, fuller home life.

Mr. Parsons hardly can seem a stranger to the average reader of this
book. Indeed, through his writings and lectures, he has become guide
and counsellor and the personal friend of thousands of refined men and
women, who have accepted the idea so well developed by Mr. Parsons in
the following pages, that “Man is what he lives in;” that, generally
speaking, man can be no greater or no less than the daily environment
in which he works, thinks, and lives.

We take great satisfaction and pleasure in announcing Mr. Parsons as
the author of that section of this book which is entitled “The Art
of Home Furnishing and Decoration.” It is written in Mr. Parson’s
typically intimate and forceful style, and every paragraph is replete
with information and suggestions of great value. We are sure that this
book will hold your interest from the first to the last word, and that
in the end you will look on the possibilities of your home and your
life within it in a fresh and considerably enlarged perspective.

After you have spent an hour with Mr. Parsons on the general theme of
home furnishing and decoration, we believe that it will profit you to
read what is written by ourselves in the latter part of the book on the
specific subject of linoleum and its relation to the principles that
Mr. Parsons has laid down.

  ARMSTRONG CORK COMPANY




_The Art of Home Furnishing and Decoration_

FRANK ALVAH PARSONS


Man is exactly what he lives in, for environment is the strongest
possible factor in man’s development. One may be so long among loud
noises, bad odors, inharmonious colors and wrong arrangements of
things that one doesn’t mind them, because one has let them become
an integral part of one’s self. They are there, and they are as bad
as they were at first, but one has become immune to them. This being
admitted, it follows, of course, that concordant sounds, agreeable
odors, harmonious colors and pleasing arrangements have their immediate
effects, but their tendency is toward refinement, culture and artistic
appreciation instead of toward brutality, ignorance and indifference.
It is certainly not hard to see what effect is produced by living in
any wrong environment. As a person accustoms himself to it, he becomes
like it. When he is like it, he will admire only its kind, and whatever
he does will be as nearly like his environment as he himself is.

The importance of thoroughly comprehending this truth cannot be
overstated. The mental and artistic quality of the nation and even its
physical comfort depend upon it. This viewpoint, being somewhat new
to us, accounts for the upheaval in our ideas of what a home really
is. Looking a little into this matter may perhaps stimulate us still
further in our thinking, which will affect our way of doing whatever we
attempt in the future.

[Sidenote: The Home Molds Our Tastes and Lives]

In the first place the home is the center of all life’s activities. We
are born there, and long before we have seen the shop, the office, the
church or even the school, our first impressions of the fundamentals of
life have become fixed. These are exceedingly hard to efface.

The school can hardly hope to counteract in the child’s mind the effect
of hearing incorrect language spoken at home for six years; the church
is greatly handicapped in its influence where wrong principles of life
have determined habits during the first years; the artistic sense is
practically dead and refinement of taste impossible in that child whose
parents have given the usual wall papers, rugs, hangings, pictures and
other objects of modern furnishing a chance to do their unrestricted
work. Most of these have been made to sell, but not to people who use
any judgment in buying. Occasionally we think of the durability or the
comfort of an article, but how seldom of the colors, the patterns,
the combinations of different periods with different meanings, all of
which unite to make an unthinkable, inharmonious jumble which produces
a reaction on an impressionable person little short of criminal. This
being the case, is it any wonder that too frequently we are satisfied
with inferior things or that we are not able to compete with other
nations in creating better ones?

This view of the home as an educator places it above any other
institution in life and makes it worthy of the most careful and
scientific study from several points of view. It might be well to
consider here four of the most important of these.

[Sidenote: Home Must Satisfy the Body]

The first requisite of a house is physical comfort. Not only is this
true of each article of furniture, but it is true also of the placing
of each piece as it relates to the other pieces.

Take, for instance, a divan, a chair, a table, a lamp, some books and
a footstool. It is not enough that the chair, the divan and the stool
should each be comfortable to the body, but comfort demands that each
be so placed that one can use the divan or chair with the stool, while
the books on a table with a lamp are placed so that one may lounge or
sit and read without effort and without expending energy to assemble
what is required. The best possible arrangement, you see, demands more
skill than at first appears.

[Sidenote: Home Must Satisfy the Mind]

_Mental comfort_ is even more important to man in his home than
physical comfort. He must, or should, find in his home an intellectual
stimulus and a refining influence to complement the activities and
struggles of his life outside, to calm and rest the tired nerves and to
relieve the material or commercial stress which threatens entirely to
destroy his power to see or know anything else. Unconsciously driven by
this need he rushes from home to the club, to the theatre or elsewhere
for diversion, amusement or rest. This is not as it should be, for in
the right environment the home should furnish the rest and intellectual
refreshment needed. Let us consider that there must be an expenditure
of thought and skill in furnishing a home if it is to play its rightful
part in the scheme of life.

[Sidenote: Home Must Be Sanitary]

Even then, there is another thing to consider. A man may succeed
in accomplishing wonders in the realm of physical comfort, yet so
completely ignore the question of sanitation as to menace the health
of his family, if not to offend their sense of decent cleanliness.
The horrors of Victorian plush upholstery, chenille portieres and
nailed-down carpets are still fresh in the memory of some of us, and
we have not yet been able to get a clear idea of a really clean thing
because of the bad impression made on us by these conditions. Probably
we never shall, until we succeed in effacing their memory by discarding
the traditions they represent and adopting wholly different ideas in
their places. Let us think of the question of _sanitation_ as a second
necessity in considering any household problem.

[Sidenote: Costly Things Not Always Best]

It is perhaps unnecessary to look at this matter from the viewpoint
of economics, but to me it seems very important. We cannot all afford
to buy everything we see, desire or even appreciate. Realizing this,
we lose enthusiasm and take almost anything. This is not necessary,
nor is it wise. Good things are not all costly, nor are all cheap
things equally bad. One might also add that frequently very costly
things incline to be bad; at any rate, there is far greater danger of
their being so because of the greater opportunity they afford for the
expression of bad taste.

Knowledge furnishes the greatest defense against bad things in any
form. The more one knows, the more capable he is of selecting the best
for his money and of using his selections in such a way as to suggest
that much more was paid for them than they really cost.

[Sidenote: An Artistic Home Means Enjoyable Living]

Intelligent selection--the art of buying the most appropriate
furnishings and decorations for the home--leads logically to
intelligent decoration, the art of arranging the furnishings and
decorations so as to make possible a thoroughly attractive home and
keenly enjoyable living for the family.

The introduction of the word “Art” always opens up a new field fraught
with unpleasant possibilities. So many things masquerade under this
name that we are almost deceived as to what it really is. Shall we not
attack and dispose of some of these fallacies before attempting to see
what it actually is?

Because it is an art to _decorate_ we are apt to think that anything
attached to or hung on to another thing is decoration, therefore
artistic. Nothing could be further from the truth. Principles control
decoration, and decoration is only possible when it conforms to these
principles. In order to be decorative there must be something that
requires decoration; that is, which is incomplete in itself. As soon
as material of any kind is added after a thing is complete, the result
becomes an aggregation, not a decoration.

Most houses belong to this class because the owner refuses to stop when
he is done. He may also have erred through having no place to decorate,
his background being of such a kind that, struggle as it might, nothing
could compete for attention, therefore could not become decorative by
contrast. Simplicity in backgrounds is the foundation of decorative
possibility.

[Sidenote: No Room for Sentimentality]

Oversentimentality is as bad as overdecoration. Sentiment is not
only commendable but is an essential element that makes for human
decency, but _sentimentality_, which by most people is thought to be
the same thing, is unpleasant and unhealthy. Admiration, affection,
veneration--each of these qualities has its place with all of us in
its particular situation. This is well; but when, through association,
we mistake an impersonal object for the real qualities of a person and
begin to bestow adoration on it, then it is time to stop and think.

To be sure, one respects some things in his grandfather and his
other forebears. He is not insensible to the excellent points in his
friends and associates. But if he is a wise man, he does not apply
all his grandfather’s good qualities to all the furniture he uses,
nor the excellent points in his friends to all the objects they have
felt impelled to give him at one time or another for some sort of
reason. If half the rubbish in every house in America that exists for
solely sentimental reasons or because of a fear of being detected
in its destruction were to be burned now, the next generation would
have a much clearer vision of what art is, unhampered by sentimental
misconception.

A sentimental and an æsthetic feeling are quite distinct from each
other. Who is there among us who does not love _nature_? The trees,
the birds, the flowers--they seem to be a part of the great Divine
scheme which calls for especial appreciation. This is also well; but
nature is not art, neither is man’s imitation of it. Sometimes his
interpretation of it is art, sometimes it is not. Not infrequently his
conventionalization of nature and its adaptation to the material in
which it is to be used become a decorative art; yet, even if this is
accomplished, the thing may be spoiled in the use, and an inartistic
whole may result. Just and reasonable homage to nature has impelled
people to try in all sorts of ways to imitate it. This is not _art_.
_Art is creation_, not imitation. One has but to reflect, and amazement
must result when one realizes to what this impulse has led in every
field of expression. Flowers have been painted on everything known,
from the kitchen floor to the plush sofa pillow. The more like nature
these decorations have appeared, the more artistic they were thought
to be, when the truth was actually the reverse. The more natural these
are, the more inappropriate they are as seen from any viewpoint.

[Sidenote: Art Is Creative]

Who is there that would not hesitate to sit down on, or put his foot
on, a perfectly natural rose or lily? Where is there a human being that
would care to lie down on a pillow with the painted face, even of an
Indian, in the center? Who can see nature insulted in various objects
by the sticking-in of pins or the driving-in of nails? The whole thing
is too simple. Nature has its place, but it is not art, nor is the
imitation of it art.

This is so intimately associated with another fallacy that it should
suggest it without comment. The appetites of man are ever insistent
for attention. The desire for food, drink, shelter--these are physical
appetites. They make their assertions naturally, and when normally
treated bear their relation to the rest of life. But neither these nor
the sensations attendant on them are art, nor should these senses be
confounded with the artistic sense.

Apples and pears look well on trees, in suitable receptacles or on
tables. They are to eat. Imitations of them painted on plates seem to
win admiration at once for their likeness to the real thing. The saliva
flows in the mouth, the digestive organs begin their natural functions,
and, while our sensations are purely physical, strangely enough many
think this artistic. It is the hunger appetite being appeased, not the
æsthetic.

The atrocities committed in this field are innumerable. Exact copies
of everything, from a bunch of grapes to an ostrich, may be found in
one winter’s millinery display, while the real or copied forms of
everything, from a dried fish to a gigantic moose head, may be seen in
one dining-room at one time. This is not art. It is natural history and
botany illustration in museum effect.

[Sidenote: All Pictures Are Not Good]

The hardest thing in the world to combat is a universal belief in the
infallibility of pictures. These are necessary to convey ideas and they
have a function to perform. They are interesting, they may even be
amusing, but they are by no means always artistic. So great has been
the belief in and admiration for pictures, that we have, as a nation,
pretty nearly surrendered to the idea that drawing and picture-making
alone is art. No greater mistake than this has ever been made. There
are a thousand more bad pictures than there are good ones and a hundred
bad ones used in houses where one good one appears. This is because we
seem to have a kind of fear that there may be a vacant place on the
wall, and also because the picture idea has become a mania.

“Silence is golden,” but a blank space on a wall is often diamonds and
emeralds compared to one filled with the average pictures that are
hung, not to mention their frames. What shall we say of this phase
of human dissipation, particularly when the frames are gilt ones? A
person who allows himself to decorate his house with frames instead of
pictures should be expected to hang his wardrobe in the front hall for
the same purpose. The results of this mania should not be charged up to
the credit side of art. Rather, the man afflicted with it is a slave to
tradition.

For the most difficult thing in the world is for a person to change
his established way of thinking or of doing anything. It is so much
easier to think as one’s grandfather did and to do as one’s father
did than it is to think and do for one’s self. For this reason we are
somewhat handicapped in getting at the essence of art and its practical
applications to ordinary life. If mahogany was the favored wood in the
last half of the eighteenth century, of course it is a good idea to use
it for anything, anywhere, forever afterward, even though a much better
substitute is at hand. If floors were hardwood or soft wood or stone,
or even plastered with Oriental rugs bearing no relation to the rest
of the house, there seems to be no reason why people should change the
rugs or have another kind of floor.

Examples of this adherence to tradition are so frequent and so deadly
that to cite more would be a waste of time. Traditional belief that
antiques are always good or that the work of some particular man is
forever praiseworthy or that some particular article should always be
used in some established way, has blinded us to the possibilities in
the right use of new things in a progressive way. All this hinders a
clear perception of what art really is.

If these things which have been misnamed art are carefully removed
from consciousness permanently, it is easy enough to see what art is,
and then it becomes almost an unconscious process to apply it, whether
the application is made to the house, to clothes, or to other personal
forms of expression.

[Sidenote: Art Is Expressing Yourself]

In the first place, art is creation. It is the personal expression of
the individual in any material or combination that completely conveys
his conception of what he is trying to project.

This connection generally expresses a need which he himself feels.
It may be for a house, a living-room, a divan, a hat, a footstool, a
typewriter or an automobile. In any case, there is a need for something
for a particular use. This need should be the reason for the art
expression. Spurred on by the need, a man creates something which will
fill the need.

This need is both functional or material and mental or artistic. One
bar to seeing what art is rests in not recognizing this two-fold
element in it. In so far as one is able to make a chair that fits the
body, fulfils its special function as a dining-room chair, or a study
chair, he has succeeded in creating the first artistic element. An
object which does not do honestly and truthfully and sensibly what it
purports to do cannot be artistic, no matter how it looks.

[Sidenote: Art Is Beauty]

The second element that enters into art is appearance or beauty. This
element or quality is a little more difficult to define because it is
relative, just as heat is, or as goodness is. What seems warm to one
seems cold to another; what seems good to one may be bad to some one
else; so, then, the standard of beauty depends entirely upon one’s
own conception of it. This does not mean that anything that anybody
considers beautiful is so, any more than it means that it is a warm day
when the thermometer is at zero because somebody does not feel cold.
It simply means that the person who judges may or may not have a right
mental standard of what beauty really is. This standard may be acquired
approximately by anyone, for it is determined by certain principles.
If the principles of harmony are understood and applied, beauty will
result.

[Sidenote: The Function of a Room]

Take, for instance, the problem of a particular room. The first
question to ask one’s self is: “What is this room for?” If it is
a dining-room, it is a place in which to eat in peace. If it is a
living-room, it is to live in and should have a quiet, restful, refined
and otherwise pleasant atmosphere. If it is a bedroom, it is to rest
and sleep in. From whatever standpoint the room is viewed, the question
of _use_ comes first. Anything in the dining-room that interferes
with eating in peace is in bad taste. Whatever appears as decoration
in the living-room that is unrestful, tawdry, common or unessential,
is inartistic. If the bedroom contains anything that is out of tone
with its general spirit, if it contains anything that makes for other
than an atmosphere of calm contentment and deep, sound sleep, it
should be removed at once. Let this point of view spur us on to make
an investigation of our houses--room by room--and alter or remove
everything that strikes a jarring note.

Let us start with the bedroom. Are there spotted fabrics or papers
on the wall, the spots on which one involuntarily counts, even after
going to sleep? Are there a half dozen small pictures in black frames
against a white background, so hung that successive steps are formed
which resemble the front hall stairs? Are there other diverting and
disturbing arrangements in the room that seem to invite us to close our
eyes to avoid further annoyance? Much can be done in house decoration
by elimination, and the strongest argument for this process will be
found in submitting each room to the test as to the performance of its
proper function.

[Sidenote: The Language of Art]

These elements, _fitness to use_ and _beauty_, which when combined
make what is called the art of quality, must be made comprehensible by
facts and truths which can be expressed in a language form that all
may learn to understand. This art language is made up of color, form,
line and texture, and depends for its efficiency on a knowledge of the
principles which govern it and upon an appreciation for the niceties in
its use. Anyone can learn the principles and will grow in appreciation
as he makes a right use of what he knows. Of the qualities mentioned,
color is the most interesting; at least, it is the easiest to see. At
the same time it is the most misused. This is much too small a space in
which to demonstrate with any thoroughness the color language idea, but
two or three of the most important facts must be emphasized.

[Sidenote: Use of Color To Express Personality]

Nothing is more personal than color and nothing admits of expressing
personality with clearer or more manifest charm. The normal
colors--yellow, red, blue, green, orange and violet--may be used in
illustration of this statement.

Color has its source in light, and natural light comes from the sun.
Yellow looks most like the sun, as it expresses the quality that the
sun seems to give out. From the sun we are cheered, made light-hearted
and receive new life. Yellow in a room should, under normal conditions,
produce the same feelings where it is the basis for the wall color or
is used in curtains or in other spots. Red suggests blood and fire.
It is associated with activity, aggression and passion. It heats and
stimulates. One who fails to react to color is not normal or is immune
from overcontact, while one who simply likes or dislikes a color and,
therefore, uses it or never does, misses the real chance to express
ideas. If one prefers red, there is no proof in the fact that makes
it incumbent on him to live surrounded by it. He may be erratic enough
without it, or possibly he doesn’t need a stimulant. Need is the
fundamental question rather than liking. It is a question of what one
ought to have.

It is interesting to know that the aggressive quality of red makes a
room in which it is used smaller in appearance, and there are times
when this is not desirable. Its warming quality is not needed in hot
climates or during a warm season.

Blue has an opposite effect from red. Its reactions are restraint,
coolness, repose and distance. By association one thinks of a clear
blue sky and the cool breezes from the blue waters of the ocean. This
makes blue a suitable antidote for hot weather and a temperate force,
useful in modifying some people’s dispositions. Green, which is a
union of yellow and blue, expresses the qualities of both. Nothing
could be more restful, soothing and agreeable than the cheering and
cooling effects of a seat in the shade upon the green grass under
luxuriant green trees, in the middle of a hot day. It is easy to see
the practical application of this in decorative art.

Violet or purple has the qualities of red and blue, while orange has
the qualities of yellow and red. It is interesting to study the natural
reactions shown by people of all ages and conditions to these colors
as environments under different mental conditions. Incomplete as
these suggestions are, they are probably sufficient to establish the
point that personal qualities or individual character traits can be
definitely expressed in color terms and that antidotes for an excess
of certain qualities are just as possible where a knowledge of color
exists.

There is a second color quality that we must not ignore. If I think of
one group of colors containing light pink, delicate blue, lavender,
canary yellow and white as representing one idea, and dark crimson,
heavy, dark green, blue with a rich dark purple and black as another
group, I have a basis for comparison. If my problem of expression is
the qualities that we generally attribute to youth, or the proper
colors for a young girl’s bedroom, or for the lighter and more
delicate things in life, I have no hesitation in choosing the first
group. If, on the other hand, the problem is one of clothes for a
person of mature age, or a color scheme for a library in an old English
house, or some other problem in which the qualities required are
dignity, quietness and stability, there should be no question as to the
preference for the second group.

This quality of light and darkness in color is called _value_ and must
not be forgotten in using color as a language.

There is no doubt that the third quality, called _intensity_, is the
most important of all to a right understanding of interior decoration.
This quality determines how brilliant or how forceful a color tone is.
Softer and less aggressive tones are called _neutral_ or _neutralized
colors_. The most important question in using color decoratively
is that which relates to the distribution and correct placing of
neutralized colors in their relation to the more intense ones. The
grossest errors in the whole realm of color used in decoration are
committed in this field. One or two principles that relate to this
matter must always be carefully observed: “Backgrounds should be less
intense in color than objects that are to appear against them in any
decorative way.” From this it obviously follows that walls, ceilings
and floors of houses must be less intense in color than hangings,
upholsteries, small rugs, pictures and other decorative material. This
is one of the most important points to remember in every color problem.

There is a corollary to this which is equally important: “The larger
the color area the less intense it should be, and the smaller the area,
the more intense it may be.” According to this principle, hangings
and large rugs must be less intense in color than sofa cushions, lamp
shades and decorative bits of pottery and other materials. Keeping this
relation of areas in mind is an aid in selecting any article for the
house, as well as a help in choosing those things that are concerned
with one’s personal appearance. A red necktie is more appealing than a
red suit, so is a red flower or ribbon more decorative on a black hat
than a gray one would be on a red hat.

The slightest attempt at using color must disclose its power to express
personality, its natural value feeling and its decorative dependence
upon a proper distribution of intensities.

[Sidenote: Use of Form To Express Ideas]

While the principles of form are a little less apparent in their
illustration to most of us than color, yet they are no less important
in producing a harmonious whole. One of the first premises of
decoration is the assumption that there is a definite form or shape
upon which a decoration is to be applied. The direction of the bounding
lines of this form determines the direction of the principal lines of
the decorative matter which is to be applied on it.

The bounding lines of a floor are generally straight and at right
angles to each other. This fixes several important points regarding the
disposition of rugs and furniture. Rugs that are placed at all sorts of
angles on the floor and by their positions bid one go in any direction
save the one he started to take are among the most disconcerting and
distracting lines in a room arrangement. Place all rugs in accord with
the bounding lines of a room and harmony is at once restored.

One must conform to this principle also in placing furniture. Most
pieces should be parallel with the sides of the room, even though they
are not against the walls. Curved line chairs or other small objects
sometimes lend themselves naturally to a diagonal placement. Care
should be taken in grouping furniture to give the appearance of harmony
with the room structure. Let us look after the piano that is placed
catacorner in the living-room, and the bed, in the same position, in
the bedroom.

It is not unusual to see pictures strung over the walls in such a way
that the line indicated from the top of one to another is a zigzag
that illy suggests harmony with the structure of the wall. Triangular
picture wires are ugly and distracting. Unless a picture is small
enough to be hung with an invisible attachment at the back, it should
be hung with one long wire passed through two screw eyes, one at each
top corner of the frame, with one wire paralleling each side of the
frame and going over a hook above. This not only harmonizes the wire
with the frame, but with the doors, windows and the room structure.

The choice and arrangement of essential materials in the room, so far
as the aspect of beauty is concerned, will be treated in detail later
on.

[Sidenote: Size and Shape of Objects a Factor]

The principle of consistently related shapes and sizes finds scores of
applications in the arrangement of a room. Who has not wondered what to
do with a round clock, when everything else adjacent to it was either
square or rectangular in form? Where is there a house in which there is
not a round or oval picture to be placed, or a chair of wholly curved
lines, where all others are straight? The attempt to place one isolated
round object on a wall is generally a failure, because there is nothing
to relate it to any other nearby lines. Oval and curved objects must be
repeated by others similar in form in other positions in the room if
they are to become in any sense a part of the design.

The second part of this principle--consistent sizes--is even more
important and far-reaching than the first. To the architect, the
decorator or the creator of any art object, this is a vital matter.
Every interior, as well as exterior, architectural feature is thought
of in relation to every other one in the matter of size.

It is not uncommon to enter a room and find a chimney large enough
for an Elizabethan banquet hall, while the room itself, in size,
suggests a city flat. Nor is it less common to find a table or divan
of gigantic proportions being required to live in harmony with chairs
or other articles of various pigmy types. These unusual and unhappy
relationships cannot conform to the principle of consistent sizes.

In our use of hangings, upholstery, rugs, etc., the lack of feeling for
consistent sizes is still more often apparent. Before discussing this,
let us look for a moment at patterns and motifs as they are used in
textiles, wall papers and rugs.

For some unknown reason we have come to believe that there is no beauty
in anything in which there is not a pattern plainly visible, forgetting
that three-fourths of all wall and floor spaces are backgrounds on
which to show other more important things, including people, who have
some right to be exploited even against wall paper. There are some
phases of the motif running through a design, that may be considered
here in some detail.

There are three distinct varieties of motif. First, the motif which
aims to reproduce identically a natural object. Such things are rarely
successful. The second is known as the abstract type, where the motif
is of a form and color not derived from a natural source, being a
matter of space and line arrangement, often resulting in geometric
forms. The third, known as the conventional motif, takes a natural
thing and attempts to translate it into form and color suited by
its appearance and feeling to some particular material in which the
design is developed. In the conventional design, beauty is attained by
harmonizing the motif with the material on which the design is made,
while the naturalistic motif strives to represent some natural thing
and takes a chance on its being appropriate in the material in which it
is to be rendered. Harmony in motifs means, first, a relation in this
particular, from which it follows that a rug or floor which is entirely
geometric in pattern cannot be used successfully with hangings which
show a purely naturalistic design.

Another opportunity for harmony is found in consistently related motifs
as to size and shape. It frequently happens that the floor motif, for
example, is small and delicate in size and refined in line treatment.
If a person is naturally sensitive to color rather than form and he
finds a rug or hangings pleasing in color, he is often satisfied. For
harmony in relationship, however, he must ask if the motif in the rug
and that in the hangings are consistent in size and shape with the
floor and wall motifs.

[Sidenote: Elements in a Room Must Balance]

A third principle of form is known as _balance_. This is the principle
of arrangement whereby attractions are equalized and through this
equalization a restful feeling is obtained; that is, a feeling of
equilibrium or safety. It is somewhat disconcerting to enter a
small room and find a black piano across one corner and a delicate
Hepplewhite chair in the opposite corner. One instinctively rushes
to the aid of the chair. Attraction may be of color, size, shape or
texture, and one learns only by constant practice to see and feel the
attraction forces in different objects used.

There are two types of balance to consider. The first one, known as
_bi-symmetric_ balance, is the equalization of attractions on either
side of a vertical center by using objects the same size, shape,
color and texture. This is formal, dignified and safe, but lacks in
some ways the delicacy and subtlety resulting from an attempt to get
a less formal placing. Consider a vertical line drawn through the
center of a chimney-piece placed in the middle of a wall space. On
either side of the chimney-piece and equally distant from it may be
placed two pictures similar in size, form and color, and the result is
bi-symmetrical. If two similar candlesticks are placed one at either
end of the chimney-piece and equidistant from the end, with a portrait
in the center, there is still bi-symmetric arrangement. So long as this
arrangement is maintained, bi-symmetry results.

A second kind of balance is known as _occult_ balance. This term
is used to signify that the balance is rather felt or sensed than
exactly determined. If the same vertical line is drawn through the
same chimney-piece, one picture is placed a certain distance from the
left and two smaller pictures of unequal size are used on the right to
balance this. The two pictures must be so placed that their attraction
equals that of the larger one at the left. Similarly, if one large
porcelain jar and two or three other articles are to be used, there
must be a feeling of equal attraction on either side of the vertical
line.

To explain briefly the primary laws of balance we may give the rules:
“Equal attractions balance each other at equal distances from the
center.” And, conversely: “Unequal attractions balance each other at
unequal distances from the center.”

A third and a little more complicated law is stated as follows:
“Unequal attractions balance each other at distances from the center
which are in inverse ratio to their powers of attraction.” Translated,
this means that objects with the strongest attractions tend to
gravitate toward the central line, while less attractive ones tend to
draw from this line.

The application of the rules of balance not only to objects on the
wall, but to the furniture when seen against the wall or against the
floor, is essential to room composition. It is also essential that the
floor, in its general appearance, should bear a balanced relation to
the walls and to the hangings.

There is no better place, perhaps, than at this point to make clear
the relations of these three bounding surfaces. The ceiling should
be unobtrusive, but keyed in color to the rest of the room. A
perfectly white ceiling, except in a white room, or an over-ornamented
ceiling anywhere is an annoyance to him who would see his friends
or furnishings. A too-aggressive wall paper or other wall covering
makes a bid for attention quite out of proportion to its rights as a
background, while aggressive and over-assertive floors or rugs are
in bad taste, particularly when they assume the prerogatives of the
hostess in their attempt at attraction.

[Sidenote: “Crawly” Pictures and Patterns Are Bad]

The ceiling should be about as much lighter and less attractive than
the walls, as the walls are lighter and less attractive than the
floor. This is a balanced arrangement of ceilings, walls and floors.
Operating exactly opposite to the principle of balance is one known
as _movement_. This is calculated to cause unrest, excitement and
similar sensations, by creating an interest which causes the eye to
move from one thing to another. It is very desirable in many cases that
movement, particularly of a violent type, should not occur. Allusion
to stair arrangements in picture hangings has already been made. This
is not conducive to sleep. Erratic crawling vine patterns, creeping up
the curtains or the wall paper, are a little suggestive in the early
morning hours if one chances to awake. Violent contrasting lines,
created by bad furniture placing or by spotted wall papers or floor
covering, also become tiresome and disturbing, except to those who by
long contact with such things have become immune to their influence.
Even such may suffer a subconscious disturbance, though they do not
realize it.

There is a certain monotony attendant on the continual presentation
of one sound, one color or one form, for mental consideration. On the
other hand, there is a complete disorganization of the powers of the
human mind if a host of colors, forms or sounds are presented at one
time. If one is poverty, the other is certainly gluttony, and neither
should be accepted. It is through a judicious selection and arrangement
that sufficient variety is obtained to give pleasure, while restraint
results in making life humanly possible. It is very rarely that we err
on the side of simplicity, but it is not at all unlikely that we may
become flagrantly sumptuous, with an uncomfortable, tawdry result.

[Sidenote: Emphasize Only Important Things in a Room]

The principle known as _emphasis_ is one which we must regard as
important. In a bedroom one ought to see a bed; it is vastly more
important than the picture exhibition hung about it. In a dining-room
a well-set table is the emphatic note, not the chenille curtains nor
the products of the chase hung upon the wall. In the living-room the
easy-chair, the divan, the bookcase, the beautiful portrait, lamp or
picture--all these things should be emphasized by color, form or line,
that their importance as related to other things in the room may be
apparent at sight.

Knowing this to be true, is it not strange that we still find people
who are willing to emphasize the wall paper or the floor or the
unpleasant ceiling decorations, to the absolute exclusion of anything
else that may have to be used in the room? The relation of background
to decorative objects cannot be insisted upon too much.

[Sidenote: The Spirit of the Whole House Should Be the Spirit of Each
Room]

The final principle of form is known as unity. In this limited
discussion only a word can be said of it. A room is a unit, so should a
house be. It is impossible to look with equanimity from an Old English
dining-room into a Louis XVI sitting-room. These styles are very far
apart in their meaning and can only be harmonized by those who know
how, when, where and how much of each element to use.

It is just as impossible to make a unit out of a mixture of Fifteenth,
Seventeenth and Nineteenth Century furniture, unless one knows how.
Every article used in furnishing a house not only has its conventional
value, but its design also. If one knows thoroughly the exact meaning
and power of a Louis XVI chair, an Elizabethan table, an Italian
console or a William and Mary bookcase, there is no doubt that these
may be used successfully in one room.

There are so many considerations in such a problem that it is
insufficient to choose single objects for their value alone. Each thing
must be chosen with a clear understanding of what room it is to go in
and with what other things it is in the future to be associated. A
failure to do this will certainly result in pandemonium.

What shall we do with the things we have? Use them if we have to,
destroy them if we are willing to--at least eliminate everything that
is nonessential. The pernicious practice of giving everything one
learns to dislike or that has become worn out, to the poor, does more
to prevent them from enjoying a personal growth than any other one
thing.

Perhaps no better way to think of the principle of unity can be
suggested than to quote the definition of an eminent Nineteenth Century
historian: “A unit is that to which nothing can be added and from which
nothing can be taken without interfering materially with the idea
itself.”

[Sidenote: Objects Should Look the Way They Feel]

The question of _texture_ as a form of expression must not be omitted.
Texture is that quality of an object which seems to convey the idea of
how it feels. It is a combination of a degree of solidity, strength,
roughness, coarseness, etc. One finds this quality in the grained
effects of wood, in the weaves of different textiles, in the appearance
of braided straws, and even in feathers and other materials.

It is this sense of fitness in textural feeling that forbids the use
of hard, harsh-grained oaks with the finer textures of mahogany and
satin-wood. Disregarding this quality, people often combined the
coarser, heavier and more-resisting woolens or linens with soft,
impressionable and destructible silks or fine cottons. Harmony in the
texture quality cannot fail to contribute to harmony in the finished
unit.

Such is the language of art expression in color, form, line and
texture. The principles which govern the right selection and
combination of all materials that go to make a house are the real
guides to growth in artistic appreciation.

[Sidenote: Good Taste the Final Criterion]

Good taste, which is the final criterion in all art, is cultivated or
improved in most people by a constant study and application of the
principles which control artistic expression.

Should we not, all of us, do well often to take time to remind
ourselves of certain great established principles and to endeavor
constantly to see more clearly and completely the principles that
govern the expression of these truths? Thereby we may unconsciously
form habits of thinking and of doing things that will not only make for
broader and better personal growth, but will contribute to a higher
type of national civilization. We have not to worry if all the powers
of science are not directed to the development of so-called efficient
service, in lines that are wholly material and commercial.

We are extraordinarily committed to this propaganda, as a people, and
we might ask ourselves whether we may not be developing this idea
at the expense of mental and spiritual ideals that, after all, are
the real things that not only determine what we actually are, but are
the only things that are truly permanent. Life is certainly something
beside machinery, raw materials and money, even granting these to be
essentials.

Perceiving the desirability of the art quality results generally in an
effort to possess it, and that entails immediate action in two distinct
ways. First, go out to find the simple, fundamental principles that
control the language of color, form, line and texture; second, apply
these principles at once in the home, in the shop, in clothes, in
printed paper or in any concrete thing where interest and possibility
are found. Through every application growth is assured.

[Sidenote: Influence of Environment]

Let us again remember that man is exactly what he lives in, for
environment is the strongest possible factor in man’s development. Let
us not forget that what man really is, is what his mind is, and this he
must express in all he does.

This places the importance of the home where it deserves to be and
makes its furnishing one of the most serious and at the same time one
of the most delightful things in life, never for an instant minimizing
what has always been desirable, but vastly enlarging and ennobling the
idea for which it stood.

In recognizing anew the part art is to play in this matter, let us not
forget that it in no way interferes with the three essential qualities
that are inevitably factors in every home problem simple or elaborate,
as the case may be.

Perfect physical comfort is necessary, if only from the standpoint of
more efficient service on our part and the relief it brings us, not
to be constantly thinking how hard the bed is, how uncomfortable the
chair seems, or how rough and uneven the floor feels. Art in no way
interferes with physical comfort; in fact, it demands it, as an element
of the eternal fitness of things.

The nation is awake to the power of cleanliness as a factor in making
an efficient physical, and thereby, indirectly, a finer mental being,
as a contribution to modern civilization. Every article selected for
the home should have this requirement considered. Including this in
the art idea will remove the misapprehension under which some people
labor, that art implies disorder at home, a dowdy or unkempt person and
a disregard of nature’s most obvious laws. The first law of Heaven is
order; it is no less so of art.

Expense is the constant excuse of those who want better things but
cannot afford them. There are as many bad expensive things as there
are cheap ones. No home is too poor to have much better things, much
better arranged, than it has, and no home is so rich that much of the
furnishing might not well be publicly burned and the rest rearranged.

From any standpoint, comfort, sanitation, economics or art, the home
is to become the greatest moulding influence in human life. Shall
we remain apathetic and indifferent to this most vital problem,
satisfied to increase our bank account only, or shall we awaken now and
contribute our mite to a fuller national life and a higher and happier
existence? This certainly will not decrease our power to increase the
bank account, but will enable us to do it with far less physical effort.

[Sidenote: Floor Styles Change with the Customs]

Traditions have generally obtained in each generation and fashion as to
what materials should be used in various parts of the house and how to
use them. The original ideas which went to establish these traditions
or manners differed in their origins, but were always the logical
outcomes of times in which they were developed. For instance, the walls
of the house in the Italian Renaissance were of stone. Steel was not
thought of and wood unsuited, while in American Colonial days wood was
the most plentiful material and the quickest and easiest to handle in
building in the manner in which the people lived.

At various times climate, geography, religious and social customs and
the developments of science or art have changed conditions, and with
this, methods and materials have undergone similar changes.

Floors, for example, have mostly been of clay, stone, tile or wood,
dictated by one or more of the modifying influences of which we have
spoken. Wood cannot take the place of stone, neither should it try to
pretend to do so, but there is no denying that one is better than the
other under certain conditions and that neither is the only good floor
under all conditions.

Linoleum as a floor is not a substitute for stone, wood, tile or clay.
It is another material, recent in conception and suited to particular
conditions, because of properties that neither stone, clay nor wood
have in exactly the same proportions.

[Sidenote: Where Linoleum May Be Suitable and Desirable]

Like other floors in modern houses, linoleum ought to combine the
qualities of sanitation, comfort, durability to fulfil completely its
functions. When made to conform to these ends--as it does if properly
designed, and then selected and arranged so as to harmonize perfectly
with its surroundings--it is not only suitable but desirable. Linoleum
is sanitary, because the most obvious thing about it is the ease with
which it can be cleaned and kept clean.

Linoleum is comfortable, because it is soft, quiet and resilient
underfoot. It is economical, because it is durable.

In parts of Europe, the artistic possibilities of linoleum have
been developed to such a degree that many fine homes are furnished
throughout with floors of that material. There is no reason why, in
this country, the development of the art side of linoleum should not
follow the general development of interior decoration. For patterns and
colors, suitable for any scheme of house furnishing and decoration,
seemingly, can be produced.




_How To Select Linoleum Floors_

KATHLEEN CLINCH CALKINS[1]


While the principles and suggestions on home furnishing and decoration
set forth by Mr. Parsons on the preceding pages are fresh in our minds,
let us see how they may be applied specifically to the selection of
floors in the modern home. According to Mr. Parsons, if properly
designed and selected to harmonize with its surroundings, modern
linoleum is not only suitable but desirable as a floor for every room
in the house. Let us first define the various types of linoleum,
and then, going from one room to another, learn how to use linoleum
floors effectively and artistically, keeping in mind the fundamental
principles that Mr. Parsons has explained to us.

[Sidenote: What Linoleum Is]

Linoleum was invented in England in 1863. The name comes from two Latin
words, _linum_ (flax) and _oleum_ (oil). Thus linoleum takes its name
from its principal ingredient, linseed oil. Before it can be used in
making linoleum, however, the linseed oil must be oxidized by exposing
it to the air until it hardens into a tough, rubber-like substance.
The oxidized oil is then mixed with powdered cork, wood flour, various
gums, and color pigments; and the resulting plastic mass is pressed on
burlap by means of great rollers that exert a pressure of hundreds of
pounds to the square inch. The “green linoleum” then passes into huge
drying ovens, where it is hung up in festoons to cure and season. This
curing process takes from one to six weeks, depending on the thickness
of the material.

There are several varieties of linoleum, designated as follows:

(_a_) Plain linoleum--of solid color, without pattern--the heavier
grades of which are used for covering the decks of battleships and
hence are known as “battleship linoleum.”

(_b_) Jaspe linoleum, which is like inlaid linoleum in that the colors
run clear through the fabric. It is made in plain colorings, with a
pleasing graining in two tones of the same color.

(_c_) Inlaid linoleum, in which the colors of the pattern go through to
the burlap back.

(_d_) Granite linoleum, which is also a variety of inlaid. It has a
mottled appearance, resembling terrazzo.

(_e_) Printed linoleum, which is simply plain linoleum with a design
printed on the surface with oil paint.

Turn for a moment to the colorplates at the back of this book, and
note the illustrations of various types of linoleum floors. Your local
merchant has actual samples of linoleum, and will be glad to show you
the different grades.

[Sidenote: Used for Years in Europe]

As Mr. Parsons has suggested, the use of linoleum floors all over the
house is not new; it is one of the excellent ideas in home building
that has come to us from Europe. There the designing of linoleum, for
many years, has been given particular attention; and linoleum floors
have found ready acceptance in bedrooms, living-rooms, dining-rooms,
etc., not alone in homes of persons of moderate means, but just as
frequently in those of the rich and well-to-do. European architects are
accustomed to specify linoleum floors in new buildings instead of other
materials less desirable.

The European housewife takes particular pride in keeping her linoleum
floors in spick-and-span condition by waxing and polishing them. And,
as the years pass, linoleum floors soften in color and deepen in tone,
taking on a finish not unlike that of wood which has been mellowed by
age.

[Sidenote: Growing Use in America]

In America, the makers of Armstrong’s Linoleum were the first to
give attention to the designing of linoleum patterns that would lend
themselves to acceptable use in the modern American home. Skilled
designers were brought from the best European establishments and given
_carte blanche_ in the development of designs particularly appropriate
to American ideas of home decoration and conditions of living. As a
result, we can state with confidence that for beauty, attractiveness,
and general utility the Armstrong floor designs now available are not
excelled either in Europe or America.

Miss Rene Stillman, a writer on interior decoration, in discussing
recently in the Philadelphia _Public Ledger_ the change from unsanitary
carpets to the use of fabric rugs speaks also of the change in
linoleums and their relation to modern interior decoration. She says,
... “and then the new linoleums, not the old kitchen kind, but modern
floors which have become works of art, some of which are not unlike
the floors in old palaces. Not long ago I went to an exhibit given by
a number of prominent interior decorators. There I went through one of
the most charmingly decorated houses you ever saw, and every floor had
linoleum upon it. It was a house of Spanish architecture, and there was
a central court, with fountains and foliage--an unpretentious, but very
beautiful, little court. And, would you believe it? it was paved--I use
the word advisedly--with linoleum of the large black-and-white blocks,
for all the world like large black-and-white marble tiles. The other
rooms were also covered with linoleum, which toned with the woodwork
or the walls or the general scheme of the furnishings. But these rooms
were also covered with fabric rugs, some of them large central rugs,
allowing the linoleum floor to show about the edges. In other rooms,
the rugs were smaller and scattered over a larger surface of the
linoleum. Of course, it was very good linoleum, mostly cork I think,
and the pattern went all the way through. I was charmed with the subtle
colors, the often exquisite designs.”

As a matter of fact, in the last few years many leading architects
and interior decorators have used linoleum floors in homes they have
planned, particularly because of the decorative effects it is possible
to achieve with linoleum floors, as contrasted with other materials.
Where the problem is to redecorate a house, linoleum is being more
and more widely used to resurface worn wood floors. And, in many new
homes, owners and architects have specified linoleum floors instead
of wood; they have used linoleum not alone because of the economy in
dollars and cents but because linoleum floors are so _very much easier
to take care of_. Especially where the housewife has to do her own
work, or good help is difficult to obtain, linoleum aids materially in
solving this almost universal household problem.

The portfolio of colorplates and black-and-white reproductions included
with this book will give you an excellent idea of just how linoleum
floors look in modern homes. If you are planning to build a new
house, you owe it to yourself to investigate the possibilities that
linoleum floors offer you in making the home unusually interesting and
attractive.

[Sidenote: For the Hall]

The hall is the first place in your home that visitors see. It must
be kept speckless and spotless. A linoleum hall floor proclaims the
neatness of the housewife to all visitors the moment they cross the
threshold because it is so easy to keep such a floor fresh and inviting.

And no matter what the decorative treatment of your hall, there are
patterns in Armstrong’s Linoleum that will harmonize perfectly with
rugs, walls, and furniture. For a formal vestibule, there are exclusive
designs that will appeal to all tastes. For instance, Pattern 350,
which is a six-inch block design of alternate black and white squares,
suggests marble tile. Or there is an interesting Persian tile, Pattern
No. 232, in cream, red, and black. The newer designs in marble and
tile inlaids permit many interesting combinations. In an entrance
hall proper, you may prefer wood effects. There are several linoleum
parquetries which, waxed and polished, make splendid floors for halls
and reception rooms, as well as living- and dining-rooms.

The durability of good linoleum should always be kept in mind. The
number of footsteps it would take to wear it out cannot be estimated,
and dripping umbrellas and wet rubbers do not damage it.

[Sidenote: For the Living-Room]

Linoleum for the living-room? Remember, we are now speaking of linoleum
as a floor and not as a covering. There is a vital distinction. Over
linoleum installed as a permanent floor, naturally, you will lay your
fabric rugs, whether they are domestic or Oriental. And you will select
your linoleum floor carefully, because it must serve as a background
not only for the rugs placed upon it, but for all the furnishings of
the room, just as the wall-covering is a background for the pictures
or draperies hung against it. The general rule is that the linoleum
floor should be darker in tone than the walls and woodwork. It is the
foundation upon which the whole plan of furnishing is based. Thus
you will select your linoleum floors, keeping in mind the type of
furniture, the woodwork, and the general effect you wish to produce.

For example, if the woodwork is dark and the furniture tends toward the
massive in style, one of the darker tones of plain brown, the brown
jaspe, or a parquetry linoleum floor is appropriate. If the woodwork
is white or ivory, the floors may be selected in softer tones of gray,
green, and light brown, depending on the character of the furnishings.

[Sidenote: For the Dining-Room]

Linoleum is truly the logical floor for the dining-room. Every
practical consideration persuades its use. In the dining-room,
cheerfulness and individuality are the prime requisites. A thoughtful
selection of the floor in relation to the furnishings may be made to
contribute not a little to the charm of a room. The newer linoleum
designs offer many interesting suggestions; for instance, a marble
tile, with contrasting interliners, or one of the carpet inlaids of
all-over pattern, permits out-of-the-ordinary floor treatment. Pattern
No. 201, a little three-inch tile of alternating black and gray blocks,
is reminiscent of Italian influence. In the woods, Parquetry No. 600
is particularly good. Or, for the average home, nothing is better than
the jaspes in browns and grays, or a plain linoleum in appropriate
coloring.

In any room, a nice balance in the use of figured and plain surfaces
is always desirable. For instance, if a plain coloring or a jaspe
linoleum is used for the floor, figured rugs and wall coverings may
well be chosen. If, however, a patterned linoleum floor is employed,
the fabric rugs and wall coverings should be plainer, or of small
all-over pattern. Avoid overemphasis of pattern or, conversely, too
much monotony of plain surfaces.

The cheerful tile designs in Armstrong’s Linoleum are particularly
appropriate for the breakfast alcove or sun porch now found in many
homes. In a recent issue of _The Delineator_, Martha Hill Cutler,
writing on “Linoleum Floors--Durable, Smart,” after saying that
“linoleum has now ‘arrived’ as an artistic as well as a practical
possibility for every room in the house,” speaks particularly of the
use of linoleum in the breakfast-room.

She says, “In a breakfast-room or sun-parlor one can do daring things.
There are fascinating possibilities in a linoleum design of brilliant
colorings, the black-and-orange, for instance, the green-and-white,
green-and-black, or blue-and-green.

“Breakfast-rooms are almost always so small that rugs are not
absolutely essential, but plain rugs against these brilliant tiles
as backgrounds are very effective. Brilliantly colored curtains to
harmonize, an unusual chintz or cretonne, and painted furniture can be
combined with them with colorful results.”

[Sidenote: For a Group of Rooms]

By using the same linoleum floor through a series of rooms, it is
possible to gain unity and a feeling of spaciousness. On the second
floor, not infrequently the rooms open from a central hall or top
stair landing. There are a number of colors and designs in Armstrong’s
Linoleum that are specially suitable for groups of rooms because they
lend themselves as a background for the draperies in each room, and yet
bind all the rooms together as a unit. The gray jaspe, plain dark gray,
and light gray linoleums are particularly appropriate with old Colonial
painted woodwork in white, ivory, or soft gray; the brown jaspe, plain
dark brown or tan, the parquetries, and certain carpet patterns are
equally appropriate with oak, cypress, gum, or chestnut woodwork in the
natural finish or painted woodwork in buff and tan.

[Sidenote: For the Bedroom]

For the bedroom, no floor is so sanitary and so easily cared for as
linoleum. It appeals to the most fastidious. And linoleum is not a
cold floor--in fact, it is as warm as any wood surface. We have said
that linoleum is made largely of cork and linseed oil. Cork is widely
used for heat insulating purposes. Engineers regard it as good, if not
a better heat retainer than wood. And a linoleum floor has certain
advantages over wood floors. There are no cracks or crevices to catch
dust or harbor germs. The oxidized linseed oil, moreover, has known
germicidal powers that actually tend to destroy bacteria.

There are some very dainty small designs in delicate colors in
Armstrong’s Printed Linoleum that are particularly suitable for
bedrooms--blue-and-white, pink-and-white, green-and-blue, and
green-and-white. Bedroom floors like these, or of plain light blue,
rose, or light gray are very charming.

Over the bedroom linoleum floor you will, of course, use small fabric
rugs beside the bed, in front of the dressing table, or before the easy
chair. You would not leave a wood floor bare. Let us emphasize again
that linoleum is a floor--and not merely a floor-covering.

Perhaps in your home bedroom floors have been a problem because they
are of soft wood, which must be repainted frequently and which are
always hard to keep looking well. Linoleum offers you new floors for
old--and at relatively slight expense, far less than the cost of
putting in new wood floors. Remember that linoleum floors do not need
periodical refinishing, as does hardwood. This is an additional saving.

[Sidenote: For the Sleeping-Porch]

Many people do not consider a house complete nowadays unless it has a
sleeping-porch. Here, again, to secure a thoroughly satisfactory floor
is a problem. But linoleum solves it nicely and economically. Granite
linoleums, which resemble terrazzo, or a neat tile effect will be
especially pleasing.

[Sidenote: For the Bathroom]

Water is always being spilled upon the bathroom floor. It rots wood;
it gets into the cracks of tiling and, in time, may cause the tiles
to come up. What is needed in a bathroom, therefore, is a floor that
is proof against moisture, easy to clean, sanitary, comfortable, and
exceptionally durable. If laid properly--that is, cemented down with
waterproof cement--a linoleum floor in a bathroom will last for years.
The designs of Armstrong’s Linoleum which are offered for the bathroom
combine cleanable, sanitary, comfortable, durable, and beautiful
qualities in the highest degree.

[Sidenote: For the Nursery]

In decorating the children’s playroom, a linoleum floor, chosen in
pattern to harmonize with the color scheme, gives one an opportunity
to work out a charming relationship between the floor, the furniture,
and the draperies, to suit the playroom idea. In Armstrong’s Linoleum,
there are a score of designs in pleasing matting and wood effects and
carpet patterns especially appropriate for such a room. And the floor
need not be expensive--Armstrong’s Printed Linoleum will last through
childhood’s romp and play. And, when the toys and games are put away
for more mature interests, the room may be refurnished at slight
expense.

[Sidenote: For the Attic and Sewing-Room]

In many homes, the attic is being changed from a store-room into an
attractive, comfortable spare room at little expense. The skillful use
of odd pieces of furniture, the pleasing blending of draperies, and the
covering of the floor with an attractive linoleum pattern will easily
make this room one of the most interesting in the home. Whether the
room is used as an extra sleeping-room or for sewing, the advantages
of a linoleum floor are obvious. It is so easy to clean; cuttings and
threads are easily swept up; they do not stick to the smooth-surfaced
linoleum. For a very small outlay, you can transform the attic in your
home into a usable, attractive room.

[Sidenote: For the Kitchen, Pantry and Laundry]

If your kitchen or pantry floor is the kind that requires you to spend
hours with water pail and scrubbing brush and back-breaking labor to
keep it clean, it is time you change to a linoleum floor. And, even
with linoleum floors, many women find it hard to get away from the
scrubbing habit. Most people scrub linoleum entirely too frequently. A
plain or inlaid linoleum floor should be thoroughly waxed with liquid
floor wax. The wax provides a coating which prevents the dirt from
being ground into the surface. Such a floor needs only to be swept and
then wiped with a damp cloth, and the wax renewed every five to six
weeks. Varnishing a printed linoleum floor will add to the life of the
linoleum and make it easier to keep clean. All these considerations
hold equally true for vestibule, laundry, and closets. There are many
bright patterns in Armstrong’s Linoleum for the kitchen or pantry from
which you can make a selection that will exactly fit into your idea of
what these rooms should look like.

[Sidenote: The Advantages of Linoleum Floors]

By way of summing up, consider for just a moment what the qualities are
that you really need and demand in the floors in your home. Certainly,
you want your floors to be durable. And is there any floor you can
think of--cost considered--that can approach a good linoleum in wearing
quality? Next, you demand sanitation. Do you know of any floor that
excels linoleum in that respect? Most assuredly, you want floors that
are easy to keep clean. Have you not found linoleum easy to clean? And
you must have comfort. Is not linoleum easy underfoot?

But, you say, we must have warmth, too. Certainly, you must. But you
would hardly think of leaving the wood floor in your bedroom and
living-room bare, would you? No, you use rugs. Follow the same course,
then, with your linoleum floors; and you will find them equally as
comfortable as hardwood. In fact, thickness for thickness, linoleum is
a better non-conductor of heat than wood is.

Then, finally, you demand beauty and economy in your floors--and justly
so. As for color harmony, hardwood has distinct limitations. Shades of
brown and tan are about the only colors that are available. But, with
linoleum, the range of colors and patterns is well-nigh unlimited, and
your floors can thus be made an integral part of your general color
scheme. On this point, the colorplates that accompany this book speak
for themselves.

As to economy, linoleum floors of good quality are less expensive
today than the cheapest hardwood. And they cost less to maintain,
too. Given reasonable care and proper treatment, linoleum floors will
last indefinitely, without the periodic refinishing that all hardwood
requires.

So you can see for yourself, once you analyze the subject, how
remarkably linoleum does combine each and every one of the qualities
you want the floors in your home to possess.

[Sidenote: Bureau of Interior Decoration]

Naturally, we want you to be thoroughly satisfied with your floors of
Armstrong’s Linoleum--not only as to wearing quality but in respect
to pattern and color as well. And, since the selection of suitable
linoleum floors to harmonize with the different types of furnishings
and color schemes involves the application of the principles of
interior decoration, we have organized a Bureau of Interior Decoration
to answer any questions you may care to ask about the use of
Armstrong’s Linoleum in your home.

If you are planning to refurnish or redecorate your home, write our
Bureau of Interior Decoration, describing your furniture, wallpaper,
rugs, and the color scheme you have in mind. Our Interior Decorator
will be glad to make suggestions that may be helpful to you, and will
send you lithographs of linoleum patterns that will make suitable
floors for your home. There is no charge or implied obligation for this
service.

[Sidenote: How To Get Armstrong’s Linoleum]

First, get in touch with the merchant in home furnishings with whom
you are accustomed to trade. If he does not have on hand an adequate
assortment of Armstrong patterns to suit your taste, ask him to show
you his copy of the Armstrong Pattern Book, which contains colorplates
of all of the two hundred and fifty designs and colorings in the
Armstrong line. From this book, you can select your first, second, and
third choice; and doubtless he will be glad to place an order for the
pattern you desire.

Certain patterns, including plain colorings, jaspes, and carpet
inlaids, are carried in the factory in our Cut-Order Department; and
the merchant can order exact room sizes for you.

If, however, you have difficulty in getting just what you want, please
write us, not forgetting to include the merchant’s name and address.
Then we shall do all in our power to see that you can secure what you
require through some good store near you.

As manufacturers, we sell only through the regular trade channels,
and, therefore, we cannot quote you prices. In fact, it is really to
your advantage to buy through your dealer, as he purchases Armstrong’s
Linoleum in large quantities, and thus the transportation charges are
much less than if a small quantity of linoleum were shipped direct from
the factory.

[Sidenote: Our Guarantee]

Every yard of Armstrong’s Linoleum is fully guaranteed to give
satisfactory service. Your merchant will be authorized to make good to
you any defect in manufacture, either by replacing the linoleum or by
making an adjustment satisfactory to you.

[1] _Armstrong Bureau of Interior Decoration._




_How To Care for Linoleum Floors_


A linoleum floor, properly cared for, is easier to clean and will
retain its new and attractive appearance longer than any other kind
of floor. Linoleum has a smooth, unbroken surface, without cracks and
crevices to catch dirt and germs. In Armstrong’s Linoleum, the colors
used are bright and clear and will retain their luster and brilliancy
for years.

As every housewife knows, linoleum floors require less attention than
wood floors; but it is possible to lessen materially the work of caring
for linoleum floors by observing the simple rules set forth in the
paragraphs following.

[Sidenote: Waxing Inlaid and Plain Linoleum]

When you install a new inlaid, jaspe, or plain linoleum floor, it
should first be washed carefully with tepid water and pure soap and
then, before it is tracked up, waxed with a liquid floor wax, rubbing
the wax in very thoroughly.

After that, you will care for your linoleum floor just as you would for
a waxed floor. A weighted brush, such as is used for wood floors, is
convenient for polishing; or a heavy brick, wrapped in a soft cloth,
will serve.

The daily care of a waxed linoleum floor is simple. Ordinarily, all
that is needed is to go over the floor around the fabric rugs with
a dry mop. At doorways, or where the traffic is greatest, the wax
coating will wear away, and should be renewed at those points as often
as appearance demands. Given this sort of care, it is not necessary
to scrub or wash linoleum floors, except at rare intervals. Muddy
footprints may be wiped up with a damp cloth, as occasion requires.

Any good floor wax, such as Johnson’s Liquid Wax or Old English
Brightener, is suitable for use on linoleum floors. Most people prefer
to use liquid wax because it is easier to apply than paste wax and
permits evener distribution on the linoleum. Whether you use liquid or
paste wax, apply it very sparingly and be sure to rub it in thoroughly.
If you put the wax coating on too thick, it will not harden properly.
As a result, the excess wax will absorb and hold the dirt. It will look
greasy and unsightly, and the floor will remain in a slippery condition.

[Sidenote: Varnishing Printed Linoleum]

Many people find that printed linoleum wears better and retains its
original freshness of coloring longer if given a coating of varnish
or clear white shellac. It is economical to use only a high-grade
waterproof varnish or a clear white shellac, as the cheaper grades are
likely to scratch or turn white under water. Such varnishes as Valspar
or “61” Floor Varnish are recommended.

Before varnishing or shellacking, the linoleum must be cleaned
carefully and should be thoroughly dried. The varnish should be applied
as evenly as possible and allowed to dry twelve hours before the floor
is used. At least two coats should be applied over new linoleum;
thereafter, the varnish need be renewed but once or twice a year,
according to the wear on the floor. Care should be used in revarnishing
to avoid streaked and spotty effects.

[Sidenote: Washing Linoleum]

In the kitchen, pantry, or bathroom, where water is spilled and there
is naturally more dirt, owing to the ordinary household activities,
than on other floors of the house, washing linoleum will, at times,
become necessary. However, going over the waxed linoleum floor with
a dry or waxed mop will usually keep it clean. As previously stated,
scrubbing linoleum should rarely be necessary. In washing the linoleum,
warm, sudsy water, made with a mild soap, such as Ivory, will clean
a linoleum floor thoroughly. It is best to wash and dry only about a
square yard at a time, rinsing the linoleum with clear water and wiping
it up thoroughly. Never flood the surface of the linoleum with water,
nor allow the water to stand around the edges or seams.

[Sidenote: Avoid Alkali Soaps and Powders]

Contrary to the idea held by a good many housewives, certain advertised
cleaning soaps and washing powders are not good to use on linoleum.
Practically all of these cleansers contain strong alkali or caustics
which are positively injurious. More harm is done to linoleum by the
use of such agents than in any other way. The chemical action of these
substances disintegrates the oxidized linseed oil and cork in linoleum
just as it destroys the varnish on hardwood. A good rule is to avoid
the use of soda, lye, or potash cleansing powders and strong scouring
soaps altogether. A good mild soap is all that is necessary.

[Sidenote: Polishing Linoleum]

After washing with soap and water, inlaid linoleum, particularly,
should be polished with a soft cloth or brush. The wax finish may be
dulled somewhat by the washing, but is quickly restored by a brisk
rubbing. Where the wax has been removed by washing, it should be
renewed at once.

[Sidenote: Heavy Furniture on Linoleum]

The casters ordinarily used are apt to cut into linoleum if the
furniture is heavy, therefore it is best to use glass or metal sliding
shoes which have a wide bearing surface and no rough edges. They are
made in several sizes, have a shank similar to that on a regular
caster, and will fit the same sockets. Heavy felt casters may be
purchased at the furniture stores which are also recommended for use on
linoleum floors.

Always lay a piece of carpet on the floor, or a board, just as over a
hardwood floor, when moving very heavy furniture, to prevent marring
the surface of the linoleum.




_How To Lay Linoleum Floors_


In the past, linoleum has been regarded by many as a temporary
floor-covering. Not much care has been used in laying it. But you want
well-finished floors in your home that will need a minimum amount of
attention as the years go by. For this reason, we strongly recommend
that you have your linoleum floors installed by the merchant from whom
you buy the goods. Experience has taught their layers how to cut the
linoleum so as to avoid waste and how to lay it to prevent buckling and
cracking, conditions which result from faulty workmanship.

[Sidenote: Skilled Workmanship Required]

Insist that your linoleum be laid right. If the merchant does not
employ skilled mechanics to do this work, go to a merchant who has
a staff of layers and who will guarantee his laying. He will make a
charge for the cost of labor and materials; but, in the long run, it
will prove greater economy for you to pay well to have your linoleum
laid properly than to have the laying done in a makeshift manner in
order to save a few cents per yard.


LAY LINOLEUM AS A PERMANENT FLOOR

When you purchase a good grade of linoleum to be installed as a floor
in your living-room, dining-room, or even in the kitchen or bathroom,
naturally you desire to have it put down as a permanent floor. The
most satisfactory way to install linoleum is to cement it down solidly
over a lining of builders’ deadening felt paper. This will give you a
permanent floor, smooth, firm, without cracks or crevices. Owing to the
variations in moisture conditions, any wood underflooring will expand
in summer and dry out in winter, leaving cracks. Linoleum cannot be
cemented directly to such a wood underflooring without possibility of
damage. One of the chief advantages of the felt lining is that it tends
to take up this expansion and contraction, thus saving the linoleum
floor from breaking or cracking. In addition, the felt acts as a
cushion, deadening sound and adding to the warmth and comfort of the
floor, making it delightful to walk or stand on.

Should it become necessary, in time, to remove such a linoleum floor,
this can be done easily, without damage to the linoleum.

[Sidenote: Laying Linoleum Over Felt Paper]

Leading contract linoleum layers and good stores have adopted the
felt paper method of laying linoleum and recommend its use to their
customers. A brief description is given here of this method in order
that you may understand how the work should be done. If your merchant
is not yet equipped to lay linoleum by this method, ask him to write
for a copy of our linoleum layers’ handbook, “Detailed Directions for
Laying and Caring for Linoleum,” which lists all of the materials and
equipment needed, and includes illustrations showing the several steps
in laying linoleum by this improved method. A copy of this handbook
will also be sent to you, without charge, upon request.

In cementing linoleum down over felt paper, the felt is first cut into
lengths to go across the short way of the room. The quarter-round floor
molding is removed, and the felt fitted snugly at each end. A linoleum
paste is then applied to the undersurface of the felt, which is then
rolled or pressed down until it adheres firmly to the floor.

The lengths of the linoleum are next pressed in position crosswise to
the direction of the felt strips, or the long way of the room. One
piece is laid at a time. The surface of the felt under each strip of
linoleum is well coated with paste, except for four to six inches along
each end and side and along the seams, which spaces are left bare. The
linoleum is put down and rolled. After the paste has begun to dry, the
free edges of the linoleum are trimmed to fit neatly at all points.
Then waterproof linoleum cement (a kind of glue) is applied to the felt
along all edges and seams back under the linoleum for a distance of
four to six inches. This cement makes the floor perfectly water-tight.
Finally, the linoleum is well rolled with a heavy roller to insure
perfect adhesion at all points.

Weights, such as face brick or sand bags, are placed against each other
lengthwise along all edges and seams to press the linoleum firmly
against the felt while the cement dries. After twenty-four hours, the
bricks are removed; and the floor is ready for use. The molding is
put back into place, and the floor is cleaned thoroughly. If plain or
inlaid linoleum has been laid, it should be waxed at once and polished.


LAYING DIRECT ON WOOD FLOORS

A less permanent way to install linoleum is to tack or nail it directly
on the wood floor. Where a more or less temporary floor covering
is desired, as in the cases of tenants on short leases, etc., this
method may be made to suffice. However, wherever the linoleum is to be
installed as a permanent floor, instead of wood or other floors, we
strongly recommend that it be laid over felt paper as just described.

Directions are given in the paragraphs following for laying linoleum
directly on wood or concrete floors, without the use of a felt lining.
This method is described at greater length in the handbook previously
mentioned, “Detailed Directions for Laying and Caring for Linoleum,”
but the main steps in the process are here fully outlined.

[Sidenote: Preparation for Laying Linoleum]

The floor should be perfectly dry and clean, the surface smooth and
even. All cracks should be filled, nails should be removed, and the
uneven edges of the boards planed off, if necessary. The quarter-round
molding should be taken up carefully from the baseboard all around the
room.

In cold weather, linoleum becomes brittle. If you are laying your floor
in winter, be sure to let the roll of linoleum stand on end in a warm
room for at least forty-eight hours before unrolling it.

[Sidenote: Laying the Linoleum]

When ready to lay, first measure the linoleum carefully and, if
possible, cut it to run lengthwise in the opposite direction from the
boards in the floor. Trim it ¼ to ½ inch short at each end, just so
the edge of the linoleum will be covered by the quarter-round molding
when this is replaced. Along the side walls the linoleum should not be
placed tight against the baseboard, but, just as at the end, a space
of ¼ to ½ inch wide should be left. The edges of the linoleum at the
seams, however, should be butted tightly against each other, with the
pattern properly matched.

Laid in this manner, the linoleum will have an opportunity to expand
underneath the edge of the quarter-round molding. In replacing the
quarter-round, do not fasten it down tight against the surface of the
linoleum. The quarter-round must not bind the material at any point,
but should be nailed to the baseboard in such manner as to permit the
lifting out of the linoleum easily should retrimming become necessary.

Should a buckle or air-bubble develop in the linoleum, it must be
smoothed out, and the edge of the linoleum under the floor molding cut
back a trifle, if needed to take up the expansion. _Do not put any
brads in the linoleum during the expansion period._

[Sidenote: Fitting Around Pipes and Projections]

Care must be taken to fit the linoleum neatly around radiators, waste
pipes, doorways, wall projections, etc. Where possible, the gas stove,
kitchen range, and other movable equipment should be disconnected,
and linoleum laid under it carefully to insure tight joints. Good
workmanship in fitting adds much to the appearance of the linoleum
floor.

[Sidenote: Fastening Linoleum]

In many cases it will be found that it is not necessary to fasten
linoleum to the floor at all, when it has been laid under the
quarter-round molding at the sides and ends. The molding itself will be
all that is required to hold the material in place.

Where it becomes necessary, however, to fasten the linoleum to wood
floors, use No. 18, ¾-inch, wire brads. Never use carpet tacks. The
brads should be set in ⅛ to ¼ inch from the edge and should be spaced
about four inches apart along the edges and three inches apart on
seams. The brads should be driven down until the heads are lost in the
surface of the linoleum.


LAYING LINOLEUM ON A CONCRETE FLOOR

The only way to fasten linoleum to concrete in your laundry, entry-way,
bathroom, or any other concrete floor, is by means of paste and
waterproof cement. Here, again, it is advisable to have your linoleum
cemented down over a lining of deadening felt paper, according to the
method previously described. Again we recommend that you have this work
done by your merchant’s experienced workmen. But should you decide
to lay the material without the use of the felt lining, the following
directions are given for your guidance.

Please note that the linoleum should never be laid over concrete floors
in basements which are in direct contact with the earth beneath unless
the concrete has first been thoroughly waterproofed. The moisture in
the earth will inevitably come up through the concrete and loosen the
linoleum. Waterproofing a concrete floor must be done by a roofing or
waterproofing contractor who understands thoroughly how to do this work.

[Sidenote: Laying the Linoleum]

The method of laying linoleum over a concrete floor is similar to the
final operation of laying linoleum over felt, as described on pages 41
to 42. Use Armstrong’s Linoleum Paste for pasting the centers of the
linoleum strips to the concrete, and Armstrong’s Waterproof Linoleum
Cement for gluing the edges and seams to the concrete floor, so as to
prevent water from getting underneath the fabric.

After removing all dirt and dust and filling the expansion joints with
plaster of Paris, apply Armstrong’s Linoleum Paste to the concrete
floor with a wide brush to within four to six inches of each side and
end of the linoleum strip, which space is left bare for the later
application of the cement. Put the width of linoleum in place and roll
it out at once, before the paste dries. Repeat the same operation with
the succeeding strips of linoleum, butting the edges of the strips
together tightly. Trim the ends to fit snugly against the wall. Then
lift the edges of the strips of linoleum along the sides and ends and
apply Armstrong’s Waterproof Linoleum Cement with a paint brush to
the concrete floor as far back as the paste will permit. Remove any
cement that gets on the surface at once with alcohol. Finally, roll the
linoleum with an iron roller to insure perfect adhesion.

Weights, such as pressed brick, sandbags, or other heavy objects,
should then be placed along all seams and edges, and allowed to remain
for not less than twenty-four hours.

[Illustration: _Look for the CIRCLE “A” trademark on the burlap back_]

[Illustration:_The green tile surrounding the blazing fire in this
comfortable modern home has been chosen to harmonize with the green
carpet-patterned linoleum. A touch of the complementary red, and the
blues and yellows are blended in the fabrics to make the room cheerful.
It is not overcrowded with furniture, but rather is arranged to give
a spacious, open effect. Comfort and utility are two of the primary
requisites of every living-room, characteristics not only of this room,
but also of the floor of Armstrong’s Linoleum, Carpet Inlaid Pattern
752._ ARMSTRONG BUREAU OF INTERIOR DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _The color note of this young girl’s room has been
carried into the floor--Armstrong’s Blue Jaspé Linoleum. It aids
materially in contributing a bright, personal touch to the room.
Combined with attractive draperies, painted furniture, and simple rugs,
any of the jaspé or plain light-colored linoleums will give a similar
charming effect; these, together with the interesting carpet inlaids or
matting patterns, offer a wide opportunity for originality in selecting
a distinctive floor as the starting-point in the decorative scheme._
ARMSTRONG BUREAU OF INTERIOR DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _Here the gray jaspé linoleum floor has been used to
group the entire second floor suite as a decorative unit. The gray
jaspé is particularly pleasing as a background for fabric rugs and
other furnishings. Such a floor is always perfectly sanitary, and,
waxed occasionally, is always attractive in appearance._ ARMSTRONG
BUREAU OF INTERIOR DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _In many homes the attic is being changed from a
store-room into an attractive, comfortable spare room, and at little
expense. In this attic the outlay was slight. A skillful use of odd
pieces of furniture and the pleasing blending of the draperies and
coverings with the attractive carpet pattern of the printed linoleum
floor have made this room one of the most interesting in the home. In
such a room Armstrong’s Printed Linoleum will give splendid service for
years, and also aids materially in the working-out of the decorative
plan._ ARMSTRONG BUREAU OF INTERIOR DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _This bedroom is bright and comfortable, and still has
enough restraint to give a feeling of peace and repose. The curtains,
paper, and decorations are in perfect harmony with the pleasing carpet
pattern of the linoleum floor, which blends with the fabric rugs and
serves as a background for the entire color scheme._ ARMSTRONG BUREAU
OF INTERIOR DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _In this comfortable, home-like, hall living-room
the floor of Armstrong’s Parquetry Linoleum, Pattern No. 690, makes
a definite contribution to the pleasing decorative scheme. The
furnishings are simple, not expensive, but have been selected because
of their color values and their relation to each other. And the
parquetry linoleum is not only less costly than wood, but it is more
sanitary and much easier to take care of._ ARMSTRONG BUREAU OF INTERIOR
DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _Both the color and the texture of objects used in a
child’s room should suggest cleanliness, freshness, cheerfulness and
durability. At the same time they should represent his interests and
his pleasures. To all these ends linoleum is expressly adapted. The
walls, furniture, hangings and toys in this room have been selected to
harmonize with these ideas and with the linoleum floor, which is ivory,
turquoise blue and light gray in color._]

[Illustration: _The color combination rather than expensive furnishings
makes these bungalow rooms inviting. Floors of Armstrong’s Brown Jaspé
Linoleum, brown furniture, and tan walls make a good background for the
color of the curtains, cushions, vases, and lampshade. The decorative
value of books is well demonstrated in this picture._ ARMSTRONG BUREAU
OF INTERIOR DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _Beauty and good taste are at once apparent in this
well-appointed home. The floor is not oak, as one might suppose,
but is Armstrong’s Parquetry Linoleum, as beautiful in its graining
as hardwood, and more comfortable to walk on. The cost is cut in
half. These permanent linoleum floors will never require expensive
refinishing._ ARMSTRONG BUREAU OF INTERIOR DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _In this cheery dining-room the early American furniture
is happily combined with the Chinese rug and the brown jaspé linoleum
floor (Color No. 11). One feels that this room has been planned in
good taste and that the linoleum floor has contributed its part to the
atmosphere of refinement. More comfortable than wood, and easier to
keep clean, permanently laid linoleum floors have their place in the
modern home._--ARMSTRONG BUREAU OF INTERIOR DECORATION, LANCASTER, PA.]

[Illustration: _Plain dark gray linoleum makes an appropriate floor
for old-fashioned houses--either in new-old houses, or to replace the
worn floors of houses being remodelled. In this stately Colonial home,
the linoleum harmonizes with the beautiful ivory woodwork, and makes a
perfect background for the Oriental rugs._]

[Illustration: _An atmosphere of simple elegance is attained by the
beautifully proportioned wall spaces, and the slender-legged French
furniture used in this room. In harmony is the gray Jaspé Linoleum
which, waxed and polished, makes a perfect floor. Because of its
neutrality, it is not only a good background for the furniture, but
likewise for the rug and fabrics employed to make the room bright and
attractive._]

[Illustration: _In this dining-room, the soft brown linoleum floor
blends with the beautiful wood of the Sheraton furniture, the colorful
draperies, and the fine rug. Linoleum is the logical floor for the
dining-room, because it is so easy to care for. It is a quiet floor;
also a particular advantage._]

[Illustration: _In this home of evident culture and refinement,
linoleum floors were installed in every room, instead of wood. In
the living-room, the plain floor, and the unobtrusive walls and
curtains, are in pleasing balance with the figured Oriental rugs and
upholsteries. The smooth surface of the floor, without cracks or
crevices, suggests a feeling of fastidious cleanliness. An atmosphere
of restfulness pervades the room._]

[Illustration: _This interesting use, after the European manner, of a
carpet inlaid linoleum floor through hall and living-room, illustrates
how effectively a pattern can be employed in floors, as well as on
walls and in hangings. The small all-over design gives the effect of
a rich carpet, and yet the floor is sanitary, easy to care for, and
durable._]

[Illustration: _This sun parlor shows the decorative value of a
linoleum floor. Here a marble design has been combined with a plain
linoleum border. The charm of the room is due to the happy relation
of the floor design and the interior architecture, as well as to the
arrangement of the furniture. Neither too much nor too little is
used--so that a spacious effect is obtained._]

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