Studio: international art (6.1896)

The Building of a House

cast iron ; the large leaf-forms in the upper part
have circular bossings, recesses left in the cast-
ing for the inlay of the small circles of brass;
the backs of the grate being lined with fire-brick.
It is suggested that the panelling of the room
should be of bass-wood, the upper parts carefully
inlaid with different coloured woods in the form
of trees that one associates with " Noah's Ark."
An effect other than that illustrated may be ar-
rived at by reducing the trees to simple outlines,
a result sufficiently suggestive, perhaps, at that
height. (The introduction of animals in the
upper portion of a nursery dado would possibly
look well, and be useful in other directions.) The
sideboard with plain panels and a pierced board be-
tween the legs ; the cabinet with the repetition of the
inlaid leaf-form down the centre; the shaped pieces

fig. 3. — plan of ground floor

fig. 4.—entrance porch

panelling is continued round the ingle-nook, with
a shelf on each side of the chimney-piece at the
level of the dado rail. All the doors, panelling,
&c, are of bass-wood stained green. This colour
would give value to the chimney-piece (Fig. 13),
which I propose should be of copper, divided into
squares, a plain square alternating with an enriched
one. The beads between the squares are of semi-
elliptical section; the bead also forms the first
member of the inner and outer mouldings that
frame the squares. All the mouldings are treated
broadly and bluntly ; rough wood mouldings used
as a ground for hammering and fixing the copper.
Recesses are left in the casting of the grate for
inlaying the centres of elliptical forms with lead.
The sideboard (Fig. 15) is stained an Indian-red
colour; the hinges and fastenings are white metal,

supporting the top of the small table, all insist on
the characteristic note of the design. The electric
light and furniture fittings are of copper.

The dining-room is to the right of the front
entrance, directly opposite the door to living-room.
The sides of this room are divided into simple
square panels from the ceiling to within three feet
of the floor; the styles, rails, &c, are not flush
with the panel, but § of an inch beyond the face;
the arrises of the rails, &c, are left square. The
dado is quite plain, with a moulding at the base,
and a capping three feet above the floor, from which
the panelling commences. The alteration of the
treatment in passing from the dado to the upper
part would, I think, give interest, and not be too
violent a contrast, and it has the undoubted advan-
tage of preserving a smooth surface where, from a ^=*=*^

utilitarian point of view, it is most needed. The fig. 5.—plan of first floor

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