The most common form of salon was rectangular, with proportions of 4 to 3, or 2 to 1.  There were also many square, round, octagonal and oval salons, these last being among the most beautiful.  They all were decorated with great richness, the walls being paneled with carved and gilded—­or partially gilded—­wood.  Tapestry and brocade and painted panels were used.  Large mirrors with elaborate frames were placed over the mantels, with panels above reaching to the cornice or cove of the ceiling, and large mirrors were also used over console tables and as panels.  The paneled overdoors reached to the cornice, and windows were also treated in this way.  Windows and doors were not looked upon merely as openings to admit air and light and human beings, but formed a part of the scheme of decoration of the room.  There were beautiful brackets and candelabra of ormolu to light the rooms, and the boudoirs and salons, with their white and gold and beautifully decorated walls and gilded furniture, gave an air of gayety and richness, extravagance and beauty.

An apartment in the time of Louis XV usually had a vestibule, rather severely decorated with columns or pilasters and often statues in niches.  The first ante-room was a waiting-room for servants and was plainly treated, the woodwork being the chief decoration.  The second ante-room had mirrors, console tables, carved and gilded woodwork, and sometimes tapestry was used above a wainscot.  Dining-rooms were elaborate, often having fountains and plants in the niches near the buffet.  Bedrooms usually had an alcove, and the room, not counting the alcove, was an exact square.  The bed faced the windows and a large mirror over a console table was just opposite it.  The chimney faced the principal entrance.

A “chambre en niche” was a room where the bed space was not so large as an alcove.  The designs for sides of rooms by Meissonier, Blondel, Briseux Cuilles and others give a good idea of the arrangement and proportions of the different rooms.  The cabinets or studies, and the garde robes, were entered usually from doors near the alcove.  The ceilings were painted by Boucher and others in soft and charming colors, with cupids playing in the clouds, and other subjects of the kind.  Great attention was given to clocks and they formed an important and beautiful part of the decoration.

The natural consequence of the period of excessive rococo with its superabundance of curves and ornament, was that, during the last years of Louis’s reign, the reaction slowly began to make itself felt.  There was no sudden change to the use of the straight line, but people were tired of so much lavishness and motion in their decoration.  There were other influences also at work, for Robert Adam had, in England, established the classic taste, and the excavations at Pompeii were causing widespread interest and admiration.  The fact is proved that what we call Louis XVI decoration was well known before the death of Louis XV, by his furnishing Luciennes for Madam Du Barri in almost pure Louis XVI style.