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CHAPTER V
CANDLESTICKS, LAMPS, FIXTURES FOR GAS AND ELECTRICITY, AND SHADES
Candlesticks, lamps, and fixtures for gas and electricity must accord
with the lines of your architecture and furniture. The mantelpiece is
the connecting link between the architecture and the furnishing of a
room. It is the architect's contribution to the furnishing, and for
this reason the keynote for the decorator.
In the same way lighting fixtures are links between the construction
and decoration of a room, and can contribute to, or seriously divert
from, the decorator's design.
It is important that fixtures be so placed as to appear a part of the
decoration and not merely to illuminate conveniently a corner of the
room, a writing-desk, table or piano.
PLATE X
The dining-room of this apartment is Italian Renaissance—oak,
almost black from age, and carved.
The seat pads and lambrequin over window are of deep red velvet.
The walls are stretched with dull red brocotello (a combination
of silk and linen), very old and valuable. The chandelier is
Italian carved wood, gilded.
Attention is called to the treatment of the windows. No curtains
are used, instead, boxes are planted with ivy which is trained to
climb the green lattice and helps to temper the light, while the
window shades themselves are of a fascinating glazed linen,
having a soft yellow background and design of fruit and vines in
brilliant colours.
Dining-room Furniture, Italian Renaissance
In planning your house after arranging for proper wall space for your
various articles of furniture, keep in mind always that lights
will be needed and must be at the same time conveniently placed and
distinctly decorative.
One is astonished to see how often the actual balance of a room is
upset by the careless placing of electric fixtures. Therefore keep in
mind when deciding upon the lighting of a room the following points:
first, fixtures must follow in line style of architecture and
furniture; second, the position of fixtures on walls must carry out
the architect's scheme of proportion, line and balance; third, the
material used in fixtures—brass, gilded wood, glass or wrought
iron—must contribute to the decorator's scheme of line and colour;
fourth, as a contribution to colour scheme the fixtures must be in
harmony with the colour of the side walls, so as not to cut them up,
and the shade should be a light note of colour, not one of the
dark notes when illuminated.
This brings us to the question of shades. The selecting of shapes and
colours for shading the lights in your rooms is of the greatest
importance, for the shades are one of the harmonics for striking
important colour notes, and their value must be equal by day and by
night; that is, equally great, even if different. Some shades,
beautiful and decorative by daylight, when illuminated, lose their
colour and become meaningless blots in a room. We have in mind a large
silk lamp shade of faded sage green, mauve, faun and a dull blue, the
same combination appearing in the fringe—a combination not only
beautiful, but harmonising perfectly with the old Gothic tapestry on
the nearby wall. Nothing could be more decorative in this particular
room during the day than the shade described; but were it not for the
shell-pink lining, gleaming through the silk of the shade when
lighted, it would have no decorative value at all at night.
In ordering or making shades, be sure that you select colours and
materials which produce a diffused light. A soft thin pink silk as a
lining for a silk or cretonne shade is always successful, and if a
delicate pink, never clashes with the colours on the outside. A white
silk lining is cold and unbecoming. A dark shade unlined, or a light
coloured shade unlined, even if pink, unless the silk is shirred very
full, will not give a diffused, yellow light.
It is because Italian parchment-paper produces the desired glow of
light that it has become so popular for making shades, and, coming as
it does in deep soft cream, it gives a lovely background for
decorations which in line and colour can carry out the style of your
room.
Figured Italian papers are equally popular for shades, but their
characteristic is to decorate the room by daylight only, and to impart
no quality to the light which they shade. Unless in pale colours,
they stop the light, absolutely, throwing it down, if on a lamp, and
back against the wall, if on side brackets. Therefore decorators now
cut out the lovely designs on these figured papers and use them as
appliques on a deep cream parchment background.
When you decide upon the shape of your shades do not forget that
successful results depend upon absolutely correct proportions. Almost
any shape, if well proportioned as to height and width, can be made
beautiful, and the variety and effect desired, may be secured by
varying the colours, the design of decoration, if any, or the texture
or the length of fringe.
The "umbrella" shades with long chiffon curtains reaching to the
table, not unlike a woman's hat with loose-hanging veil, make a
charming and practical lamp shade for a boudoir or a woman's summer
sitting-room, especially if furnished in lacquer or wicker. It is a
light to rest or talk by, not for reading nor writing.
The greatest care is required in selecting shades for side-wall
lights, because they quickly catch the eye upon entering a room and
materially contribute to its appearance or detract from it.
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