Read by Grace Conlin
Family Friendly!
Unabridged
4 Tapes $27.95
In the words of John Barrington Bayley, President of Classical America,
"this book has charm.THE DECORATION OF HOUSES brings to mind the
pictures of Walter Gay: There are the reflections in looking-glasses,
and on parquet, and the garnitures of chimney-pieces, boiseriers, the
odor of wax; outside the tall glazed doors there is a sunny silent
terrace, we are now at Mrs. Wharton's Pavillon Colombe-a well laid-out
parterre, a rose garden, and an orchard of Reinette apples and luscious
double cherries."
In addition to charm, Wharton provides us with numerous keen and
practical axioms for house design. For example: (1) The better the
house the less need for curtains; (2) A coved ceiling increases the
apparent height of a low room, but rooms of this kind should not be
treated as an Order because the projection of the cornice below the
spring of the cove will lower the walls; and (3) The height of a
well-proportioned doorway should be twice its width.
