Читать книгу The Englishman's House: A Practical Guide for Selecting and Building a House онлайн

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Stained deals, varnished, afford a good material for panelling, and for covering the walls of rooms. We have in our eye a dining-room thus fitted which has an effect approaching to some of the oaken fittings of olden times. The material is cheap and durable, whilst the surface can always be renewed in its freshness by a new coat of varnish. It has been largely adopted in churches for pews and other fittings, with the best possible results.

The minor objects of decoration, such as handles, finger-plates, bell-pulls, &c. &c., can only be here named. In many instances designs are given in the following pages, suggesting the most suitable either for indoor or outdoor use, according to the character of the room or entrance for which they are intended.

So much for the picturesque exterior and tasteful interior of a house; a few words however may be said in respect to its immediate surroundings, such as the lawns, gardens, pleasure grounds, &c.

The most picturesque villa would be a nonentity in a wrong situation. It would be opposed to what is usually called the “fitness of things;” a phrase that expresses much meaning without an exact definition. Hence “landscape gardening” has become an almost necessary adjunct to the art of architecture. An unframed picture has possibly every merit that the painter’s art can bestow on it, yet it lacks that finish which the exterior confers on it. So the well laid-out garden, the vista at its extremity, the carefully arranged parterre, the judicious management of floral culture, especially with regard to colour; neatly arranged walks, and many other exterior matters of detail, add to, enhance, and occasionally become indispensable adjuncts to the picturesque.