The room quality which causes most discussion is personality. It is hard to believe that another's personality is as important as one's own. It is still harder to believe that some one else may have a more pleasing conception of anything than we have ourselves. Remember that a room to live in and one to look at are two things and that you do not have to live in every room you see or create.

Many interior decorators err in supposing that because they have succeeded in developing a type of room which has been called beautiful and successful, they can apply the same treatment to any room. It is astounding how many decorators plan other people's rooms while thinking about themselves. This is analogous to the case of a physician who begins his diagnosis by introspection, determining first the state of his own internal organs. Then, having decided how he himself feels, advises his client what to take.

The matter of personality is more important than geography, functional fitness or old things which must be retained. It is more important because every person is more interested in himself than he is in anything else - try as he may to be otherwise. He wants something, and knowing what he wants, believes that he has a right to express that want. The skillful decorator finds out all he possibly can of the personal characteristics of his client, his likes and dislikes, natural tendencies and idiosyncrasies, before he shows him any wall cover or discusses the cost of furniture. By the way, this question of cost is the last thing to mention. A few moments' conversation will usually show whether a client likes red or blue, and should also disclose whether she ought to have it or not. Manifest antagonism is not the method by which to obtain the desired result, but a gradual elimination of one idea and the substitution of another. This is tact.

A MODERN FEMININE SITTING-ROOM RESTRAINED, RESTFUL THROUGH BALANCE, DECORATIVE IN ARRANGEMENT, WITH FURNISHINGS BEAUTIFULLY RELATED TO BACKGROUND CHOICE. NOTE PARTICULARLY DECORATIVE APPEARANCE OF THE LEFT-HAND WALL, AND USE OF CORRECT LINKS IN CHAIR BACKS, MIRROR, FIXTURES AND MEDALLIONS. EXTREMELY INDIVIDUAL.

MANS LIVING-ROOM AND LIBRARY, SHOWING THE SUCCESSFUL COMBINATION OF ITALIAN, FRENCH AND ENGLISH MATERIALS ARRANGED THROUGH THE PRINCIPLES OF DECORATIVE TREATMENT TO EXPRESS UTILITY, REST AND BEAUTY. CHARM IN SMALL NOTES OF INTENSE COLOUR WITH WARM GKAY BACKGROUND AND WALNUT FURNITURE. STRONG PERSONAL QUALITIES.

What is true of colour is apparently so in other fields. Some personalities are expressed in erratic motions; such persons, for their peace of mind, should be set in a perfectly balanced, well-held and consistent room. To so lead and influence the client that he believes the room to be arranged according to his own idea is the work of the clever decorator. When the right setting for the personality is attained, the client is, almost without exception, pleased, even though he may have rebelled during the process.

The essentials of a room are far too significant to permit a personal fancy to interfere with right usage. The matter of backgrounds, the method of hanging curtains, the consistent structural arrangement of furniture, modifications of this structure by the freer elements, the balanced arrangement for rest and the proper placement of decorative objects are not open to personal whim. They are governed by common sense and the laws of choice and arrangement which are fundamental in any right design. But the final hue choice in colour, how dark or how light the room shall be, or what shall be the dominating characteristic of the room, are questions for personal choice.

The personal touch, too, is shown, or should be, in the smaller articles in the room, which by their choice and placement indicate the character of the occupant. This personal touch is found in the selection, framing and hanging of pictures, although the way they are hung and framed is largely a matter of impersonal choice.

The personal touch again is felt in the selection and arrangement of flowers. Both these subjects will be treated later in detail, but a person who habitually selects arid uses lilies is a very different person from one who uses carnations, or one who would chose American beauty roses - not to mention orchids.

A few photographs, too, if properly framed add a personal touch to the quality of a living-room. Pieces of pottery or other decorative objects sometimes give just the note that makes the room the visible expression of the inward thought of the person who occupies the room.

Personality should not interfere with the fundamentals of selection or arrangement which are necessary to good taste. The larger facts are not determined by personal preference, but the way in which they are interpreted varies with personality, and the smaller or more decorative objects in the room may be very personal if they are not ostentatiously displayed, or if there are not too many of them in too prominent a place.

The same thing is true of people. In the main, our friends are all alike. The fundamental facts of their structure, mental and physical, and of their decorative qualities, mental and physical, are the same. Personal traits do not change fundamental facts. It is, however, essential that decorators should understand not only their business but their clients. Those, also, who have houses should not understand themselves and their own whims alone, they should also understand the laws which govern choice and arrangement in all houses.