The Furniture of the Modern Home

We can tell a person's character by many means: by observing his talk, his gait and his gestures, his dress, his deeds — and also by observing his room, his house, and the kind of furniture in it.

I once entered the home of a Lebanese family in one of the villages, and in the reception room my eye was caught by covers of gleaming white over the long, old-fashioned seats, and by furniture simple in appearance, with no trace in it of taste or of modern art — except that the room as a whole was well ordered and clean. But no sooner had I entered the bedroom and the kitchen than I noticed the difference between the reception room and the rest of the rooms. The bedroom was dirty and ill-kept, and the kitchen in a pitiable state of meanness and sanitary neglect. It became clear to me that the people of the house had deliberately set out to show their guests the best they had, and to appear outwardly other than they truly were within. That is the disease of the love of show, widespread in most circles, and it holds true of many aspects of our life, not of houses and their furniture alone.

There are two rules that must be observed in furnishing the modern home. First, that we give its rooms equal importance, in observance of the principle of unity, and not confine our attention to the reception room. Indeed, the most important parts of the modern house, in the eyes of the men of hygiene, are the kitchen and the bathroom, because they are the chief pillars of healthy living — and health is the most important thing in the family's life. The modern kitchen must be spacious, always clean, with polished floor and walls, well ventilated, open to the sun, modern in its furnishings, equipped with means of carrying off waste through closed pipes and with modern appliances for cooking, washing dishes, and preserving food, so that a part of it may be used for taking meals if the house has no dining room. Likewise the bathroom must be fitted with shower piping and with means of heating water and draining it in a sanitary manner. What shows us the importance of the kitchen and the bathroom and its appurtenances is that these parts of the house must be cleaned and washed every day with water and mop, once or more, while for the rest of the house a washing once or twice a week suffices, along with the daily sweeping and dusting.

The second rule that must be observed in choosing furniture is to adopt simplicity and a small number of pieces, for modern taste inclines toward simplicity, toward economy limited to the necessary, and toward the avoidance of embroidery and ornament. This is unlike the old taste, which inclined to a multitude of furniture and effects and to excess of decoration.

This modern evolution in taste goes back to the change in the ways of present-day living. We live today in an age that demands speed and lightness of movement. Furniture simple in form, straight of line, free of curlicues, suits this kind of living, because it is easy to move and to use;

it requires of the craftsman no long time to carve its parts, nor of the housewife a long time to clean it and care for it, and it does not hamper her movement about the house from one side to the other. Modern furniture shows us, in its parallel lines and level surfaces, the inclination of modern art toward Greek simplicity and beauty at one and the same time; for despite its simplicity it reflects refined taste in its form and in the design of its parts.

You enter a modern house after passing through a short corridor, or an outer entrance that looks upon the street and separates it from the house, and you find yourself in the hall or in the reception room. If you cast a searching glance at the pieces of furniture, you will see them divided into circles or units, each made up of parts facing one another, suited to the sitting of a circle of people. Here some chairs face a principal seat that forms a center of attraction; there another circle surrounds the radio, or the bookcase, or the fireplace set against the wall. Thus, since the room is for sitting, we see its furniture

arranged so as to allow a number of visitors, or of the household, to sit together facing one another — for rest, for conversation, or for reading — without making the least change in the placement of the furniture. Between the circles of furniture are easy passages, for each of their parts has been set near the next, facing the axis of attraction. The paintings or pictures are near the pieces of furniture, forming part of the whole, and the beholder can easily examine them and enjoy their sight. Every piece of furniture in the room has its value and its use: on the walls a few artistic paintings, facing one another, not exceeding three; and near one of the walls a large carved chest with a side opening, used for keeping certain vessels, while its top serves in place of a table for the tea things and the like — thus fulfilling two purposes at once and saving space in the sitting room.

The idea of saving space is very widespread in our present time, because of the high cost of lodging and the crowding of populations in the cities and elsewhere. You may enter the bedroom and notice there two facing seats, used for sitting by day and for sleeping by night, both of them comfortable, ample in form, Eastern in origin; the Franks call it a "sofa," and its original name in our Arabic lexicon is "suffah."

Or you may see a seat with a table joined to one of its sides, on which the sitter leans, or which he uses for setting down the tea plate or the ashtray. Then you look at the front side of this attached table and find within it a shelf, or two shelves, that make of it a small bookcase.

Or you find a room small in size that yet appears larger than it is, because its walls and curtains are light and gay of color, ranging between white, pale blue, beige, and off-white. That is because light colors give the idea of breadth and spaciousness, unlike dark colors.

And there is a room oblong in shape that nonetheless appears square. Why? Because the broad pieces of furniture have been set along its short side, against the shorter wall, while the pieces of little breadth run along the long wall; and by this arrangement the room appears square.

What strikes you most in the modern house is the harmony of its colors. Most of the walls, or all of them, are of light or neutral colors, forming thereby a fine setting that brings out the lines of the furniture: among them beige, off-white, dusty yellow, petrol green, pistachio, and tahini. That is in the sitting room. As for the bedrooms, their walls are white, or pale blue, or faded rose, suggesting stillness and tranquillity to the sleeper. Where the seats are wine-dark or deep in color, you will find behind them walls of a warm color such as beige or tahini, while a white wall goes well with furniture of a cool color such as light green and blue.

If you turn your gaze to the ceilings, you find them white, or lighter in color than the walls — the opposite of the floors of the rooms. You notice also the height of the ceiling, for it is better suited to the climate of hot or temperate countries. Likewise the windows and balconies, numerous, ensure good ventilation in the houses together with rays sufficient to destroy germs; over them hang curtains straight of line and light of color, which soften the sharpness of the sun without shutting it out.

I close with a list of observations that sums up this talk:

1 — The reception room contents itself with comfortable seats ranged in circles, to which are added the bookcase, which must exist in every home; a musical instrument such as the piano, or the radio; the fireplace, if it is necessary; and a few paintings, sparingly, on the walls.

2 — We should use the local color, or the Eastern style, in furniture, for it is more expressive of

our character — on condition that we lighten its ornament and make its pieces more restful and better suited to the needs of the age.

3 — The large pieces of furniture — the seats, the cupboards, the bookcase — should run along the walls, and the small pieces, such as chairs and the like, be distributed among them in transitional lines, while the carpets lie parallel to the large pieces, following their direction.

4 — We do not place a picture small in size beside a piece of furniture huge in size, so that the two look like a dwarf beside a giant; it is better to set them apart.

5 — If the windows and curtains and pieces of furniture are many, and the empty spaces on the walls few, it is better not to hang pictures on them. Conversely, pictures are commendable on ordinary walls, on condition that their colors harmonize with the colors of the walls and the furniture.

6 — We do not gather the precious and the mean in one place. A small room of mean appearance does not go with furniture huge in size and costly in price, gleaming with luxurious paint on the walls; and the cheap, simple house needs simple, cheap furniture — provided it combines solidity and taste.

7 — Lighten the pieces of furniture in the room to prevent confusion; for example, do not place a table bearing a vase, a lamp, and other objects in the middle of a circle of seats, lest it hinder the movement of those sitting and stand in the way of their comfort.

8 — If dark colors abound in the room's furniture, we may set in it a brightly colored vessel, or a picture, or another small piece of gleaming appearance, to give it a touch of cheer and gladness without bringing out the sharpness of contrast.

Finally, the appearance of the house must be a source of rest and delight to its inhabitants, for the material environment has a powerful effect upon their spirits, reflecting in them beauty or ugliness. We must secure taste, order, and beauty in our homes in order to secure the existence of these same qualities in our souls.