The furniture that is required in a
dining-room declares itself: a table and chairs. You can bring side
tables and china closets into it, or you can build in cupboards and
consoles to take their place, but there is little chance for other
variation, and so the beginning is a declaration of order and
simplicity.
[Illustration: A GEORGIAN DINING-ROOM IN THE WILLIAM ISELIN HOUSE]
The easiest way to destroy this simplicity is to litter the room with
displays of silver and glass, to dot the walls with indifferent
pictures. If you are courageous enough to let your walls take care of
themselves and to put away your silver and china and glass, the room
will be as dignified as you could wish. Remember that simplicity depends
on balance and space. If the walls balance one another in light and
shadow, if the furniture is placed formally, if walls and furniture
are free from mistaken ornament, the room will be serene and
beautiful. In most other rooms we avoid the "pairing" of things, but
here pairs and sets of things are most desirable. Two console tables are
more impressive than one. There is great decorative value in a pair of
mirrors, a pair of candlesticks, a pair of porcelain jars, two cupboards
flanking a chimney-piece. You would not be guilty of a pair of wall
fountains, or of two wall clocks, just as you would not have two copies
of the same portrait in a room.
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