In designing the furniture for the model house the questions that constantly suggested themselves were: What is this piece of furniture under consideration to be used for? What form, construction, and finish will enable it to give the best service? What features of design are needed to render it suited to its surroundings? In considering the furniture for the model house it was most natural to apply these tests to the various rooms in order.
[Illustration: A library desk in fumed oak]
_Hall of the Model House._--First, there is the hall. This is the room into which a visitor is first admitted, and from its atmosphere he gets his first impressions. But in this house it is a very small room and designed to serve not merely as a place for the formalities of welcome but also as an expansion of the rooms on either side. Its furniture must consist largely of the fireplace. There is no room for a hall settle nor even for a chair. A mirror, simply but richly framed, might hang on the wall near the front door, balanced by a picture on the opposite wall behind the door. An umbrella rack should stand outside on the porch.
[Illustration: A hall settle--simplicity, strength, dignity]
_Hall Furniture in General._--The halls of modern houses vary greatly in their relative importance. In some the traditions of the old English manor houses seem partially to survive. In mediæval England the hall was the principal room, if not the only one comfortably furnished. When modern houses combine the living room and library or reception room with the hall, there is need of something more than hall furniture of the formal kind. The requirements of comfort must be met. But, generally speaking, hall furniture is of little real use. Odd chairs, attractive by reason of their oddity, the richness of the materials used in their construction, or some other assertive quality, but not fit to sit in, are suitable or at least excusable in the hall. The hat and coat rack of our fathers has been declared insane and no longer appears in well-regulated houses. In place of it is found the hall settle, which is of real use. It should be designed on simple lines and give the impression of strength and dignity. If the hall is to be used as a waiting room for guests, a few good chairs, conveniently placed, will be needed for their comfort and a choice picture or two on the walls will add greatly to their pleasure.