Proper Decorating and Its Influence

In his 1923 booklet titled Better Homes – How to Furnish Them (sixth printing, third edition), Sterling B McDonald (Art Director, S. Karpen & Bros., Instructor of Interior Decoration, Art Institute of Chicago), states:

“While there is an almost universal craving for Better Homes, the reason for this desire may not be so thoroughly understood.
The function of interior decorating is to make our homes more beautiful, our living rooms more livable, our sun-rooms places of sunshine in the heart.
The home should be the place of rest and relaxation…
A room is well furnished when the eye, the heart and the emotions, as well as the intellect, feel the absence of want – when nothing can be added or taken away, and still leave it pleasing.  Harmony of parts, harmony of color, and appropriateness should all conspire to make the habitation a fit dwelling place for the family.
A living room should present an air of comfort and cheer, of comradeship, of friendliness.  Rooms are like people, in many ways.  They seem to reflect a real personality.  Some people are cold, distant, unapproachable, while others are warmly sympathetic, cordial, and friendly.  So rooms can be hard, cold and cheerless, while others seem to invite cheer and cordiality, companionable friendships.”