MY studio was not intended to set a shining example, nor did it aim to evade all responsibility by being a mere workshop. It is simply the little home which my husband and I have evolved through a number of years of keen interest in decoration. It is a real little home, too, because it is actually owned - being located in one of the modern cooperative studio hotels overlooking Central Park in the big city. Its homelike propensities are further intensified by a minute but attractive stairway which leads from the studio living-room to the sleeping-rooms and bath on the floor above. In other words it is of the variety of apartment known as duplex. One enters from the outer hall into a small reception room. A door leads off from this into the electrically equipped kitchenette, or serving room as it is generally known, with dumb-waiter service to the cooperative kitchen, and straight ahead lies the studio bounded by the great nine-foot studio window. The close proximity of these two rooms led to the adoption of a single decorative scheme for both and their treatment as a single large room instead of two individual smaller ones.

For a background color blue green of a shade between turquoise and peacock was selected. There were several reasons for this. In the first place the great window formed nearly an entire side of the room and in order to make it appear like a part of the background and not a huge piece cut out it was necessary to bring some of its natural background of atmospheric blue, into the walls. The exposure is southern and the large expanse of window makes the interior very bright, so that the green quality is refreshing and restraining. Neither of the rooms were large enough to scorn the additional spaciousness created by the blue. Besides that, blue green formed an excellent background for a few prized pieces of old oak and walnut furniture which we had accumulated and, not incidentally, it was also one of my favorite colors. The walls were first painted light blue and then stippled with deep blue and green water colors. The doors, baseboard (of which very little was visible when furnishings were in place) and the wood trim around the windows were stained a blue green a shade deeper than the walls, but the stairway was finished a dull brown to blend with the pieces of old oak and walnut. The ceiling received a tint of light turquoise.

The window was thus made to take its place as a part of the background in the daytime, but it needed further consideration to make it act in the same capacity at night. Hangings were finally decided upon of heavy raw silk which were dyed to order a shade of blue green slightly deeper than the walls and a little lighter than the woodwork. They were made so that they could be drawn completely across the win-dow at night making the window space appear almost like an uninterrupted continuation of the wall surface. There was another small window facing west and this was treated in the same manner, thin glass curtains of deep cream net with an invisible lacey pattern being attached inside of the hangings by top and bottom rods directly to the panes.

We had decided on a color scheme of blue green, orange and violet, and one of the greatest thrills attendant upon the furnishing of the studio was received when we compared this selection with the harmonies in Mr. Taylor's color chart and found it to be the first chord of the key of orange. The gay, light and joy giving qualities of orange were, indeed, just the tone and spirit we had wished to introduce into our home, although we had arrived at it in a roundabout manner.

Across the lower edge of the blue green hangings were appliqued two two-inch bands of silk, one of violet and one of orange, the orange being placed two and a half inches above the violet.

For the floor we had made two violet chenille rugs with borders of brown orange and tan which melted into the hardwood floors.

Across opposite sides of the studio, interrupted only by the west window, a succession of open shelved sectional bookcases were placed arising to a height of five and a half feet. The base sections had wood paneled sliding doors, protecting the contents of the lower shelves from dust and providing a good place for storing oversized books and untidy papers. One section of bookcase on each side was replaced by a desk section which closed up flush with the shelves and gave commodious desk space. This proved a great boon, allowing us each our individual desk with ample room for working and keeping our notes and papers, and which, when not in use, took up no space. Desks put to hard service are not usually very decorative objects but these could be hastily closed, removing all trace of disorder, and the contents kept intact.

The bookcases had been finished originally in dull fumed oak. Their function was purely utilitarian and they had been designed with as little wood as possible exposed. Even this, however, was too much to preserve the light background quality, and they were scraped and received a blue green filler which brought out the grain of the wood and made them blend inconspicuously with the walls.

Under the west window an old oak trousseau chest was fitted between the bookcases. It was picked up at auction and had many peculiar qualities which endeared it to us. One section of the carved paneling opened, and concealed behind it were a row of secret drawers each beautifully carved in a different motif. What a delightful hiding place they must have furnished for the trousseau knickknacks and jewels! Instead of the upper side, the under side of the lid was carved so that the chest was even more beautiful open than closed. It was a wonderful place to store things and when equipped with pillows afforded an excellent window seat. In the cushions we had an opportunity to work out the complete harmony of the key of orange by using the colors not in the chord employed in the dominant colorings. These colors were blue, yellow green, red and red orange, and were used in dull shades of plain and figured materials, forming a thoroughly satisfactory touch between the blue green hangings and the violet rug.