BACK TO PUBLICATIONS

Brick, Cut Stone, Concrete Block, …

January 12, 1930
Detroit News Quilt History Project; Michigan State University Museum; Susan Salser
Detroit, Michigan, United States
A column from the Interior Decoration Department home series describing the Crittenden house.
Any One of Materials Make Pretty Exterior
This Home Can Be Built To Suit your Tastes As Well As your Auto or Your Clothes

By Edith B. Crumb
(Interior Decoration Department)
Just as you suit your own tastes in the automobile you drive, the clothes you wear and the friends you choose, so must you select a design for your home that will fit your family and your needs and yet at the same time have an exterior that appeals to your aesthetic taste and an inferior with the spacing and arrangement that create your ideal of a home.

The early settlers in American built their homes of wood hewn form the trees they had to cut to clear sites for their farms and villages. But the force of civilization worked fast and presently the settlers were constructing dwellings of the same type as those they knew in their mother countries, and then stone and brick came into use wherever they were available.

From this beginning the American home developed until today there are a number of different materials that may be used in its construction. But wood, brick, stone and concrete in their different applications, still form the fundamentals. It is the combination of these basic materials in their proper proportions and correct positions that should be carefully planned in order to produce a home that will give the same satisfaction of ownership as the automobile you drive or the clothes you wear.

The home pictured today employs a number of materials in its construction. It is a combination of architectural ideas with the English type predominating. The first story would be constructed of brick, field, or cute limestone, or concrete or concrete blocks. The second story provides for a stucco finish in panel with the front table in English timber trim, which gives the real English touch to the house. The chimney extends beyond the outside wall and adds massiveness and dignity to the building. The high sharp pitched roof lines supple the finishing touch to make a really imposing structure.

The interior is really an inspiration for one would scarcely believe so many well-proportioned, livable rooms could be placed in a floor area of this dimension. One enters this house through a vestibule with closet for wraps, and immediately beyond in a spacious living room with a beautiful sun parlor to the right, through French Doors. An archway leads to the dining room from which another set of French doors lead to the terrace at the rear.

The kitchen is sufficiently large for serving breakfast and still not interfere with the routine of kitchen duties. The second floor contains three nice sized bedrooms and bath.
Following are ideas for decorating and furnishing this home which could easily be modified to suit ones fancy:

Living Room: Woodwork, light effect paper as near as possible to the shade of the woodwork, floor covering blue and grey all over small repeat pattern Wilton glass curtains cream striped net, over draperies blue ground cretonne with floral design in bright rich shades of yellow, rose, violet, and green, furniture, sofa, covered in Roman striped flax frieze blue predominating the other shades harmonizing with the design in the draperies, easy chair with dull mulberry mohair or velour covering wing chair covered in taupe ground tapestry, armchair, with blue antiques seat cushion, extra pillow for sofa be covered in blue and gold changeable taffeta, circular gate leg table approximately 28 inches in diameter, copper luster table lamp with shade of pleated mulberry chintz bound with blue, wrought iron bridge lamp with natural colored theatrical gauze over amber taffeta pair of end tables, over mantel oration, mirror in dull silver frames, dull silver candlesticks with shades of pale gold, and blue pottery basket, electrical fixtures to be equipped with shades of sand chiffon or georgette over pale gold taffeta and trimmed with pale sand silk braid.

Sun Nook: Woodwork and walls like those in the living room, floor covering, ble flax rug, curtains, yellow theatrical gauze, furniture wicker and to consist of settee, two armchairs, single chair and oblong table. This furniture to be finished grey, walls treated with a stippled black, trimmed with yellow and to have yellow ground cretonne containing large figures in blue.
French doors between living room and sun room should be equipped with shirred panels of glass curtain material, hung from the first bar from the top.

Dining Room: Woodwork like that in living room, walls, to be treated with gray ground paper with deeper shade of small pattern, very faint floor covering, plum Wilton, glass curtains like those in living room, over draperies, plum gourd semi glazed chintz with fruit, bird and flower design in dull rich shades of orange, green blue and yellow, furniture, mahogany and to consist of drop-leaf table, ladder-back chairs, Welsh dresser and serving table which may be a tip leaf table equipped with shade to match those in the living room. The French doors from the dining room to the terrace should be treated with shirred panels of the glass curtain material hung so as to cover the glass entirely.

The archway between the living room and dining room should be equipped with double faced portieres, blue on the living room side and plum on the dining room side, the material for this being sunfast rep.

Kitchen: Woodwork, cream walls light bluff, floor covering, green and cream checked linoleum, curtains apple green checked gingham, furniture (chair or chair or stool) to be enameled black and green.

Front bedroom over Living Room: woodwork, ivory, walls to be treated with an ivory ground paper with tan lattice pattern, the intersections to be decorated with a small bouquet of flowers in various soft colors, curtains, cream dotted Swiss made with cream organdie ruffles, over draperies, rose taffeta, floor covering, rose Wilton, furniture, walnut and to consist of full sized bed, chiffon robe, dresser, single chair and easy chair covered in cream ground warp print containing floral design in soft shades of rose, blue, lavender, green and yellow this to be piped in rose Stateen or linen, bedspread rose and gold sunfast taffeta dresser covers, dotted Swiss glass curtains material finished with frills of rose organdie electric fixture to be equipped with shades of deep ivory chiffon over pale rose taffeta, trimmed with cream lace, blue ribbon and a small spray of French flowers.
Rear Bedroom over Living Room: Woodwork, ivory, walls, treated with ivory ground paper containing pattern of lilacs in the natural coloring, glass curtains, like those in the first bedroom, over draperies violet voile, made to hang straight floor covering, violet Wilton, furniture ivory and to consist of bed dresser, dressing table and easy chair covered in apple green ground cretonne with flowers in violet, rose, blue, and yellow this to be piped in violet, bedspreads, violet linen trimmed with bands and ruffles of the green ground cretonne, dresser covers, violet linen, bound in green electric fixtures to be equipped with shades of pale green chiffon over yellow taffeta trimmed with cream lace and violet ribbon.

Bedroom over Kitchen: Woodwork apple green, walls, treated with a rose and silver striped paper, glass curtains, like those in the other bedrooms, but to be finished with hems only instead of ruffles these to hang perfectly straight to the sill, over draperies, green and candle finished with ruffles floor covering, oval braided rag mats in rose, green, tan and a touch of black, furniture to be apple green, trimmed with rose lines and to consist of single bed, dresser, small table desk, single chair and easy chair covered in green linen, piped with rose, bedspread rose linen, trimmed with bands and flounces of apple green chintz, dresser covers, rose linen, bound with green, electric fixtures to be equipped with shades of pale green chiffon over rose taffeta trimmed with cram lace and rose ribbon.

Bathroom: Woodwork, ivory, walls pale coral curtains. Cream voile with bouquet design in mixed colors, bound in coral.

Courtesy of The Detroit News Archives.

Load More

img