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XIII
A LIGHT, GAY DINING-ROOM
F      IRST of all, I think a dining-room should be
light, and gay. The first thing to be consid-
ered is plenty of sunshine. The next thing is
the planning of a becoming background for the mis-
tress of the house. The room should always be gay
and charming in color, but the color should be selected
with due consideration of its becomingness to the hos-
tess. Every woman has a right to be pretty in her own
dining-room.
I do not favor the dark, heavy treatments and elab-
orate stuff hangings which seem to represent the taste
of most of the men who go in for decorating nowadays.
Nine times out of ten the dining-room seems to be the
gloomiest room in the house. I think it should be a
place where the family may meet in gaiety of spirit
for a pause in the vexatious happenings of the day. I
think light tones, gay wallpapers, flowers and sunshine
are of more importance than storied tapestries and
heavily carved furniture. These things are all very
well for the house that has a small dining-room and a
gala dining-room for formal occasions as well, but
there are few such houses.
We New Yorkers have been so accustomed to the
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