The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Theory Of Decoration
The change in types of living quarters has encouraged a phenomenal amount of building. The transposing of tremendous quantities of household posessionsi from large to mailer quarters has not only brought about a necessary process of elimination and reassembling, but has attracted attention to, and created a dominant interest in home furnishings and tilings artistic. This interest has been seized upon and capitalized by not only manufacturers of furniture, fabrics and household accessories, but also by importers of antiques and objects of art, to such an extent that the sources of supply have become both numerous and varying in quality and price. In other words, the market has become complicated) making the furnishing of the home in a thoroughly useful, beautiful and economical manner a veritable problem, although an interesting one.
The remaining factor that has made the Decorator essential, is the Woman who is fundamentally responsible for the planning and furnishing of the home and who has broadened her interests socially, philanthropically and politically. While demanding a more efficiently planned and artistic background, she has not the knowledge nor the time to gain a knowledge to cope with this complicated market of ancient and modern, domestic and imported household furnishing and objects of art. Who is better fitted, in this day of specialization! to meet the need of the busy home-owner and planner, than the Interior Decorator, who is, or should be thoroughly capable, technically trained in things artistic and practical, with comprehensive knowledge of the market through continual contact? The decorator is not only fitted for the work but is essential to it.
While the interest in Decorating and the need for it, may have had its inception in the large congested centers, do not be misled into believing that the field for this new and interesting profession confines itself in any way to the larger cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, etc. To the contrary—there is no district, no matter how isolated or how small the population, where there is not only the need, but also a demand and appeal for the service Decorators are offering today.
If those interested in studying and practising this profession could be brought to realize the truth of this, many decorators in congested centers, struggling against heavy competition, high operating expenses and overhead, battling to gain a sufficient clientele to make their business worth while, would, like the proverbial Arab "fold up their tents—and silently steal away" to the great opportunities offered in the smaller cities, where expenses are lower, competition less keen, clients more eager, and the resulting profits therefore greater. This is true throughout the middle west, west and south, where there are only a limited number of practising decorators.
