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The House in Good Taste
·
Elsie De Wolfe
17
It
is
such
a
relief
to
return
to
the
tranquil,
simple
forms
of
furniture,
and
to
decorate
our
rooms
by
a
process
of
elimination.
How
many
rooms
have
I
not
cleared
of
junk--this
heterogeneous
mass
of
ornamental
"period"
furniture
and
bric-a-brac
bought
to
make
a
room
"look
cozy."
Once
cleared
of
these,
the
simplicity
and
dignity
of
the
room
comes
back,
the
architectural
spaces
are
freed
and
now
stand
in
their
proper
relation
to
the
furniture.
In
other
words,
the
architecture
of
the
room
becomes
its
decoration.
III
THE
OLD
WASHINGTON
IRVING
HOUSE
I
have
always
lived
in
enchanting
houses.
Probably
when
another
woman
would
be
dreaming
of
love
affairs,
I
dream
of
the
delightful
houses
I
have
lived
in.
And
just
as
the
woman
who
dreams
of
many
lovers
finds
one
dream
a
little
dearer
than
all
the
rest,
so
one
of
my
houses
has
been
dearer
to
me
than
all
the
others.
This
favorite
love
of
mine
is
the
old
Washington
Irving
house
in
New
York,
the
quaint
mansion
that
gave
historic
Irving
Place
its
name.
For
twenty
years
my
friend,
Elizabeth
Marbury,
and
I
made
this
old
house
our
home.
Two
years
ago
we
reluctantly
gave
up
the
old
house
and
moved
into
a
more
modern
one--also
transformed
from
old
into
new--on
East
Fifty-fifth
Street.
We
have
also
a
delightful
old
house
in
France,
the
Villa
Trianon,
at
Versailles,
where
we
spend
our
summers.
So
you
see
we
have
had
the
rare
experience
of
transforming
three
mistreated
old
houses
into
very
delightful
homes.
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