A room with a hospitable welcome for family and friends - where toys, mending, and "homework" are never incongruous - where Dad reads his paper and Grandmother settles down with her knitting . . . no wonder so many love an Early-American living-room. For the walls, we chose a blue and tan striped wallpaper, with a blue splatter-dash dado and white woodwork. The floor is linoleum in a plank design. On the floor is a hooked rug, copied in the spirit and colors of the rugs which the whole family Used to hook by hand on cold winter evenings around the fire.
Simple, comfortable upholstered pieces are covered in fabrics that blend with the rug and walls. Ruffled curtains are topped with valances of red chintz with blue ruffles. The handsome pine secretary. flanked by rush-seat ladderback chairs, might have come straight from some Colonial merchant's home.
Over the pine mantel hangs a portrait which might have been of one of the family's English ancestors as a child. Fruit prints, staffordshire dogs, and converted oil lamps are as authentic as they are effective. Note how happily the strong colors used thruout blend to create a bright, cheerful picture. And please don't overlook the upholstery on the sofa - an enchanting reproduction of an old patchwork quilt.
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