How to Arrange Furniture - Walls
How to arrange furniture on or against a wall including tips on the arranging of mirrors and pictures on walls.
Pictures and mirrors should be arranged with furniture. They must never be in the nature of an afterthought, and the breaking up of plain wall surfaces by the hanging of prints and pictures and mirrors is a matter on which opinions vary greatly.
The unbroken continuity of papered or distempered wall is admired by many, but although it may be a charming setting for furniture, it can gain additional interest by the thoughtful arrangement of suitably framed pictures. With panelling the need for pictures is not so great, for a panelled wall possesses lines of light and shade that prevent it from becoming monotonous. It is a mistake to hang pictures in a room simply for the sake of having them there ; we should never allow a feeling that we must have pictures at all costs to run away with us and impair our judgment. It is far better to have only pictures that interest us, and prints possessing some decorative merit. Rows and rows of small prints or paintings are too unrestful, and three or four etchings in wide white mounts and dark frames are far more effective on a wall. Pictures of flowers and fruit are very decorative and are often preferable to copies of well-known pictures that have become too familiar to the eye and are consequently mechanical in effect.
Only a passing reference can be made to the subject of pictures, for personal taste must govern their selection ; our concern is with their display on walls. Uniformity in the hanging of pictures, with plenty of plain spaces of wall, should be one of the aims of this particular section of room arrangement, and when we analyse this problem we find that we are studying the whole question of balance and proportion.
We are considering the placement and appearance of our furniture as we hang our pictures, and this simplifies matters. We can contrive little features that take in two or three articles. A bureau bookcase or a china cabinet may be flanked by two columns formed by two groups of three small engravings hung above the dado, and balanced below by a pair of single antique chairs. Or a side table can be given added dignity by two pictures, one above the other, or a tall, narrow mirror, balancing it above the dado level. Such combinations of pictures, mirrors, sconces and hanging shelves are endless ; but apart from the hanging of objects on long walls there are many ways in which pieces of colour and touches of interest can be introduced.
