[Illustration:  Dorothy Quincy’s bedroom contains a fine old mahogany field bed, which is appropriately covered with the flowered chintz popular at the end of the Eighteenth Century.  The chairs are fitting for all bedrooms decorated in Colonial style.  Notice the woodwork in the room and hall.]

To carry out a style perfectly, all the small details should be attended to—­the door-locks, the framework of the doors and windows, the carving.  All these must be taken into account if one wishes success.  It is better not to attempt a style throughout if it is to be a makeshift affair and show the effects of inadequate knowledge.  The elaborate side of any style carried out to the last detail is really only possible and also only appropriate for those who have houses to correspond, but one can choose the simpler side and have beautiful and charming rooms that are perfectly suited to the average home.  For instance, if one does not wish elaborate gilded Louis XVI furniture, upholstered in brocade, one can choose beautiful cane furniture of the time and have it either in the natural French walnut or enameled a soft gray or white to match the woodwork, with cushion of cretonne or silk in an appropriate design.  Period furnishing does not necessarily mean a greater outlay than the nondescript and miscellaneous method so often seen.

[Illustration:  A very solid but not especially pleasing desk that was used by Washington while he was President.  The railing is interesting.  The idea was used by Chippendale in his gallery tables.]

[Illustration:  The tambour work doors in the upper part of this Sheraton secretary roll back; also notice the handles and inlay and tapering legs.]

Whatever the plan for furnishing a house may be, the balance of decoration must be kept; the same general feeling throughout all connecting parts.  If a drawing-room is too fine for the hall through which one has to pass to reach it, the balance is upset.  If too simple chairs are used in a grand dining-room the balance is upset, the fitness of things is not observed.  When the happy medium is struck throughout the house one feels the delightful well-bred charm which a regard for the unities always gives.  It is not only in the quality of the decorations that this feeling of balance must be kept, but in the style also.  If one chooses a period style for the drawing-room it is better to keep to it through the house, using it in its different expressions according to the needs of the different rooms.  If one style throughout should seem a bit monotonous at least one nationality should be kept, such as French, or English.  If several styles of French furniture are used do not have them in the same room; for instance, Louis XV and Empire have absolutely nothing in common, but very late Louis XVI and early Empire have to a certain extent.  It does not give the average person a severe shock to walk from a Louis XVI hall into a Louis XV drawing-room, but the two mixed in one room do