The Studio yearbook of decorative art (1916)

CANADA
stairs, but a room with windows, and finished, decorated, and furnished
like the rest of the house, and with ample plumbing.
A formal reception-room, sometimes called a drawing-room, is always
the dainty room of the house, and the only part of it in which the
occupants invariably hew to the line of formality. In this room are the
most treasured pictures and rugs, the most delicate and valuable pieces
of bric-a-brac and ornaments, the most expensive furniture, and invari-
ably a grand piano, and perhaps a gilded harp. It is generally a small
room, and very likely opens into the main living-room, which in Cana-
dian homes is usually of ample proportions, sometimes as large as
25 feet by 50 feet, seldom less than 18 feet by 30 feet. This room has a
low ceiling, often beamed or divided with wood panels, or with vaulted
stucco finish ; the walls are frequently panelled in oak, mahogany, or
pine ; but in every case the wood is stained to some soft and rather deep
tone of brown. As in the hall and the other rooms, the floor would be
of polished oak, laid in very narrow strips and stained to a dark colour ;
indeed, sometimes stained jet black. Here is the real piano of the
house and its friends, and easy chairs and couches, pictures and rugs,
and the architect might be pitied who permitted the construction of a
fireplace which did not draw perfectly and was not of ample size. Off
this room is the veranda, already referred to, with French glazed
pair of doors, invariably divided in rectangular forms, and making,
when they are thrown open, the veranda and the living-room almost
like one apartment. For the purpose of free circulation in large gather-
ings, it is desirable that this living-room should have a direct entrance
from the hall ; or it may be that it opens into the dining-room, which
in its turn has usually a prominent entrance from the main hall.
As the popular room of the house the dining-room is a close rival of
the living-room, for Canadian dining-rooms have many attractions. A
wide mahogany table, either of antique design or copied from the
antique, requires space, consequently the dining-room is generally at
least 17 feet wide and from 20 feet to 30 feet long. These dimensions
are mentioned as average sizes, and usually the room would have recessed
windows, and a space for the sideboard which is also invariably of
antique design and of walnut, mahogany, or rose-wood. I might men-
tion incidentally that in all Canadian cities an abundance of beautiful
and apparantly rare old walnut and mahogany tables, chairs, couches,
sideboards, book-cases, etc., as well as delft, brass and silver ware, to all
appearances genuinely antique, are obtainable, and the supply never
seems to become exhausted. Whether copied or genuine they are a
great boon to a country like Canada, where furniture makers have not
yet realized the importance of design. Probably the walls of the dining-
room would be panelled in wood with soft, dark colour finish of brown
or mahogany, and the ceiling panelled or coffered in enriched plaster,
ivory tinted. Occasionally, but not often, dining-rooms have marble
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