Mrs. Dorothy Draper

Yesterday, I was given Dorothy Draper's Decorating is Fun!: How to Be Your Own Decorator as a holiday gift. I've been browsing through it for the past few days and I can't recommend it highly enough, especially if you're looking for a housewarming gift.

Originally published in 1939, the hardcover was reissued recently, with its original blue and white striped dust jacket (Mrs. Draper loves her bright stripes), and is a charming and hysterical glimpse into pre-war society life, as well as an actually useful decorating manual. While I wouldn't want her WASPy stripes-and-chintz-in-every-room style dominating my place, Mrs. Draper did open my eyes to the importance of things like the heights of tables, scale and balance of furniture arrangements, and the color of doors.

Mrs. Draper (yes, it is her real name, though not her birth name, as she married Dr. George Draper in 1912) tells us not to follow trends (except with lampshades - like hats, they go in and out of style and are an inexpensive way to be modern), that color is our friend, and that we have to be considerate of all the residents of our homes. She illustrates her points with black and white (was there anything else?) sketches and photos, in addition to 'case studies'.

We hear the case study of Mrs. Valentine who isolated Mr. Valentine and their large son Johnny by creating a delicate and pink parlor (Mr. Valentine now spends his nights at the club instead of with Mrs. Valentine, as he is afraid of breaking things). She tells us of Isabel Smart (yes, Mrs. Draper changed the names to protect the innocent and those with bad taste), a young girl who came to the big city to make her fortune, and now has more friends and beaux than she knows what to do with after she redecorated her studio apartment (she made it a place where everyone wants to sit and listen to the baseball game on a Saturday afternoon). And - after old maid Miss Susan Silver's mother died - we learn how she redecorated her bland house and made herself over to match the house, resulting in a life of friends, parties, and great success.

Look past the fact that it is dated (her bedroom schemes include separate single beds) and not a little sexist ("Men and dogs love an open fire - and they show good sense."). Her work is cheery ("most modern kitchens are models of sparkling efficiency."), encouraging ("now's the time to haul out all your Yankee ingenuity and dust it off."), and ultimately to-the-point ("Without benefit of technical knowledge or mumbo jumbo, we have found five most powerful friends to guide us: Courage, Color, Balance, Smart Accessories, and Comfort."). How can I complain about the woman who says, "The home is the backdrop of your life, whether it is a palace or a one-room apartment. It should honestly be your own - an expression of your personality."

Mrs. Draper may have been the original Swell girl, also published Entertaining is Fun!: How to be a Popular Hostess, and was featured in a recent retrospective at The Museum of the City of New York (New York Magazine calls her "anti-Minimalist"). I expect to turn to the book often when we move and may even use Mrs. Draper's cut-out furniture pages to lay out potential floor plans. Our 950 square foot apartment might not be much but, as Mrs. Draper says, "You can take a chicken coop and get more pleasure out of it than a marble palace - just as long as you do it with an air!"