Unit X
FURNISHING THE BEDROOM, SUNROOM,
KITCHEN, AND BREAKFAST ROOM
- Furnishing the Bedroom
- Furnishing the Sunroom
- Equipping the Breakfast Room and Kitchen
- Final Emphasis for Alert Salespersons.
Figure 43.—Tile, long associated with the kitchen for walls and floors, becomes the decorative theme of this ensemble, making a striking contrast against the gleaming white walls, and the coral table top marked off in tile effects offers a new decorative note. The color is repeated at the back of the cabinet, on the top rail of the chairs, and on the interior of the unusual utilities which have open shelves for accessories. Small chrome hardware is used.
Unit X.—FURNISHING THE BEDROOM, SUNROOM, KITCHEN, AND BREAKFAST ROOM
FURNISHING THE BEDROOM
Many still think of the bedroom only as a place in which to sleep. In point of fact often it is used as a secluded sitting room where one may close the door and rest, shutting out the cares and activity of a busy day. It should more properly be called a relaxation room, and furnished with that thought in mind. To meet this trend toward more diversified bedrooms, the salesperson should organize his stock mentally on the basis of night stands, desks, boudoir chairs, chaise lounges, lamps, and bookshelves for use in the family bedroom or guest room, and equally suitable pieces for the nursery playroom and the individual bedrooms of young and older children. For years the magazines have been describing these double-function bedrooms, broadcasting their convenience and charm, creating in the minds of readers a widening interest and acceptance, and thus preparing a new field for selling effort.
Moreover, there are multitudes of homemakers who know little or nothing about this comfortable modern trend in bedroom decoration, and still consider that the only furniture essential or desirable is a 3-, 4-, or 5-piece suite and a slipper chair or two. Many of our old customers, who now regard their bedrooms as completely furnished, can be interested in the purchase of additional new merchandise by persistent educational and development work.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BEDROOM
The bedroom differs from the hall, living room, and dining room in that it is a personal room, not shared in common by all the members of the family. Individual tastes and preferences may be given free rein in its decoration. Hence, the salesperson who is able to help his customer express a distinctly personal quality in her room enjoys a great advantage over the salesperson who lacks this ability. In selling bedroom furnishings, the successful salesperson will require knowledge of various decorative accessories, including bedspreads, linens, pictures, ornamental glass toiletries, and pottery.
Many women have clear ideas as to the effect they want their bedrooms to reveal. One will want a restful room; a second, a gaily colorful and animated room; and a third, a dainty room. When such buyers fall into the hands of a skillful salesperson, price (within their economic limits) becomes a matter wholly of secondary importance, and competitive shopping is forgotten. Selling from this approach becomes largely a matter of giving studied expression to the decorative motif chosen for the room. If it is daintiness—furniture, walls, floor covering, draperies, and accessories must be selected and arranged to concur in creating an effect of daintiness. An ability to work out these decorative motifs and to talk about them interestingly in the course of a year's work will "save" dozens of orders.
THE WALLS
Bedroom walls may be tinted, painted, or papered depending upon the type of effect desired.
Tinted walls are used in pastel colors with beautiful effect in a wide range of colors. All that is necessary to know is the customer's color preference since, today, any color may be worked into an effective bedroom.
New wallpapers offer an endless variety of color combinations and many times the entire room scheme may be furnished by the wallpaper.
It is good taste to keep the bedroom in pastels or light tones since dark tones have a depressing effect upon the occupant. In some instances, the type of furnishings to be used will determine the type of wallpaper to be used. French furnishings require the dainty, flowery type of paper; English furnishings are more subdued—either a plain paper with a small figure, or with subdued florals. Early American and Colonial rooms will take a colorful flowered paper or a "quaint" pattern. It is well to keep in touch with the decorative magazines in which room settings using correct paper on the walls are shown in color and which offer many suggestions for other interesting wall treatments.
TREATMENT OF CEILINGS
Ceilings should be either cream, off-white, or light pastel colors harmonizing with the wallpaper. It is most important that the ceiling be kept light in tone with the possible exception of an extremely modern room where a dramatic effect is to be achieved. In a library, the ceiling may be darkened to bring it "closer to the floor," but in a bedroom the ceiling should be kept light to make the room appear large and airy.
FLOOR COVERINGS
A room-size rug is to be preferred when practicable for a small bedroom, because it causes the room to appear larger than does a combination of small rugs, yet many bedrooms are being artistically furnished today with small scatter rugs.
Since the bedroom is closed off from the other rooms, one can be more daring in the choice of floor covering; it is not necessary to blend the coloring to the other rooms. New pastel floor coverings in plain and floral tones offer endless opportunities for bedroom use and color need be considered only when selecting a pattern now that there is no longer any set method of dictating the type of pattern especially adaptable for bedroom use. Today, it is merely a matter of personal preference and good taste, the only requirement being that one keep in mind the general color scheme of the room.
In Colonial and Early American bedrooms, small hooked rugs add a note of color and decoration to the room. In modern bedrooms, scatter rugs in lovely pastel colors add a new, interesting note.
DRAPERIES: GLASS CURTAINS, VENETIAN BLINDS
In the bedroom today Venetian blinds serve to soften and control the light; draperies are used more or less for decorative purposes. The draperies may match the spread, pick-up the color tone of the rug, or repeat the color of the boudoir chair, chaise lounge, or the accent color used in the accessories. Venetian blinds may be used in a variety of colors with matching or contrasting tapes. In many instances, sheer curtains are used as draperies, crisscrossed and tied back in the manner of the formal drape. Usually light weight materials are used for bedroom draperies the material varying according to the type of room. In the more formal room satin and lightweight damask draperies are used. In the informal room printed draperies, crepes, voiles, or candlewick are used.
While glass curtains may be used with Venetian blinds, in many instances they are used instead of the blinds. They are made of net, voile, marquisette, muslin, organdie, or any sheer material. In color, they are white, off-white, or pastel. Preferably, they are made with double fullness of material, and hung either to the sill or the apron.
A popular item now being added to many bedrooms is the small dressing table with detachable skirt. The dressing tablet may be artistically placed in front of the window and the skirt made of the same material as the draperies. In this way the draperies serve as a frame for the dressing table and create a beautiful picture. In many instances where a customer is interested in investing in good bedding but cannot afford to buy the entire bedroom suite at one time, it may be well to suggest a box spring and mattress on legs with detachable headboard and a small dressing table with detachable skirt. An inexpensive chest of drawers completes the ensemble. Later the box spring and mattress can be used on the regular bed, the dressing table maintained or moved into the guest room, and the chest of drawers used in another part of the house.
"PLUS" SELLING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUMMER
The bedroom offers excellent opportunities for the salesman to interest the customer in "summerizing" the house. During the summer, heavy spreads should be removed and light, washable spreads substituted. Cotton curtains, spreads, summer weight blankets, slip covers for chairs, scatter rugs to replace large rugs, new dressing table skirts, and summer pictures and other accessories are all within the realm of summer sales.
Although all the rooms in the house offer wonderful opportunities for summer sales, the bedroom best adapts itself to opportunities for this "plus" selling.
FURNITURE
Bedroom furniture usually is shown and sold in suites. As ordinarily displayed on the floor, closely crowded and with the bed in short rails, the pieces of a suite appear so much alike that an unimaginative customer will find them monotonous and uninteresting. This means that the successful salesman must find words to picture the suite as it will appear against the varied and colorful backgrounds and accents necessary to bring out its beauty and individuality.
There is no sound artistic or practical objection to the use of pieces from different suites in the same room; provided, of course, that the resemblances in proportion, line, and coloring are sufficiently marked to ensure harmony. This is the only way in which antiques can be used, and it is no less effective with modern pieces. This point is particularly important in the sale of furniture for a child's room or a small guest room, which will not take a full suite in any case, but which will offer a valuable opportunity to sell broken lots. Stress the fact that use of unmatched but harmonious pieces is modern practice, that such pieces give interest and individuality to the room, and that ensemble grouping is as desirable in the bedroom as in the living room or sunroom.
THE BEDROOM SUITE
When a customer asks to see a bedroom suite, but gives no further hint as to her preferences, several questions enter your mind immediately:
How many pieces can she use?
What wood, finish, style, and type of design is she likely to prefer?
Has she been looking at furniture elsewhere?
How much can or will she pay?
Figure 44.—"Right and left" twin chests offer a practical new decorative treatment for contemporary rooms and may be used singly or combined into one unit. Included in this grouping are "right and left" twin beds using the same decorative treatment as the dressers. A turquoise green tinted transparent lacquer finish is used on this unusual suite to give an iridescent effect. The large "pouf" hassock is upholstered in turquoise blue pin-dot satin. The Axminster rug has large multi-colored cineraria flowers on a soft grey background.
Do not ask any of these questions at the outset. Normally, the first actual question is whether the furniture is for use in her own room. If the answer is "Yes," she is likely to acquaint you at once with her ideas, if she has any well-defined preferences. In the absence of such a lead, take her at once to an attractive suite, never at either extreme of your bedroom patterns.
The ideal starting point is an open-stock pattern, complete both with beds and with a full assortment of cases. If she is at all interested in this suite, probably she will tell you at once that she cannot use all the pieces. This naturally will lead to information as to the size and character of her room, its woodwork, walls, and floor covering, whether it is to be used by two people, and if so, whether she prefers a full-size bed or twin beds.
LIMIT NUMBER OF SUITES SHOWN
In any event try to gain a fairly clear idea of the room, particularly of its size and available wall spaces, before you show a second suite, as this information will help you to cut down selling time. In the absence of a voluntary and positive statement, do not ask how many pieces she wants. Once on record, she may stand pat; otherwise there always is the chance, even if she plans to use only three pieces, that she may buy a full suite, using the extra piece, if necessary, in another room in order to get a pattern that particularly pleases her.
Bedroom suites are so much alike in general appearance, and usually displayed in ways which so thoroughly rob them of individuality that it is dangerously easy to show too many. Baffled by the prolonged attempt to compare a multitude of minor details and to picture a long succession of suites in her own room, the average customer may be expected to become confused, lose confidence in her own judgment, and decide either to "think it over" or to "look further."
Partitions, dividers, and model rooms speed up the sale of bedroom furniture because they make it possible to preserve a more marked appearance of individuality among the suites thus separated. They serve also to confine the buyer's attention to the suite under consideration, and to reduce the likelihood of confusion and indecision by enabling the salesman to show only such suites as promise to be acceptable. For the same reasons the box method of arranging an open bedroom floor usually is to be preferred to arrangement in rows. The exact method of boxing must be determined by the location of floor columns and the number of pieces shown in a suite.
BUYERS DO NOT WANT TO SEE ENTIRE STOCK
It is important to limit the number of suites shown to the minimum necessary to effect a sale. Obviously, this is possible only in the degree that we learn enough about the buyer's tastes and the details of her room in the earlier stages of a sale to keep away from all unsuitable merchandise. Most women do not care even to look at unsuitable merchandise. They want to see the right thing, measured in terms of fitness for their own purposes and use.
The woman who shops for a dress, hat, or coat in a modern store neither expects nor desires to see the entire stock or any considerable part of it. She is comfortably seated in a well-lighted room which contains little, if any, exposed merchandise. The salesperson, after a quick mental appraisal, asks a few leading questions, and brings from the stockroom one, two, or possibly three models, carefully chosen on the basis of suitability, size, and style. If these are rejected they are removed, and a second small selection brought out. Unsuitable merchandise is not seen by the customer, and the possibility of confusion and indecision thus is reduced to the minimum.
SEE ACTUAL ROOM, IF POSSIBLE
In important bedroom sales which are worked up in advance of the customer's visit to the store for the purpose of actually making selections, it is important for the salesman to see the room to be furnished if possible, or in any event to secure measurements of the floor and wall spaces. This will eliminate guesswork and enable you to have the suite you want to sell set up under such conditions, and with such accessories and related merchandise as will bring out its individuality. Even in ordinary floor sales sometimes it is desirable to have a suite taken off the floor and set up in a situation where it can be seen to the best advantage.
STEPS IN SELLING A SUITE
As a means of summarizing certain factors which the salesman constantly must keep in mind, let us consider in order the steps to be taken in conducting a normal floor sale of a bedroom suite:
Meet the customer and take her to the suite with which you have decided to start the sale.—Throughout the entire interview, whether it results in an immediate sale or not, the customer must be aware of a degree of courtesy, alert and intelligent interest, patience, and attention to her comfort and convenience noticeably greater than she is accustomed to receive in other stores or from other salesmen. This is fundamental, and indispensable to successful salesmanship.
Show the first suite.—This suite is a "trial balloon." You do not expect to sell it, but rather to use it as a means of gaining necessary information about the customer's tastes and needs and the room to be furnished. "High light" the set in a few words, and then keep still and let her talk if she is willing to do so. Remember that you are not in position to instruct or even to advise her as to what she ought to buy. Your first duty is to find out as soon as possible what she wants to buy, or at least what she does not want to buy. In "high-lighting" this suite, avoid superlatives, and statements which may set up resistance. Do not, for example, proclaim that it is the latest, the buyer's favorite, or that you have a suite just like it in your own home. Make your introduction as interest-compelling as possible, but base it on some such noncontroversial subject as wood, style, or beauty of design. If she says nothing, turn to the case nearest her, comment on its wood and finish, run your finger lightly along it, and try to get her to do the same thing. Then say something interesting about the style, the design, or the manufacture. If there still are no signs of real interest, shift to the subject of her room, and begin to draw out the information you require. This should stir her interest. If not, move on to another suite which you know will look well in her room, and begin all over again.
Figure 45.—Square upon square offers a new decorative theme in this Ipswich bedroom group. This suite combines the simplicity of contemporary design with Early American charm. The 4-row Axminster rug illustrated is in one of the new hooked designs.
Remember to point out any "gadgets" which the suite may have—special shirt drawers, locks, secret compartments, jewelry compartments, hidden box, stocking drawers, or drawer mirrors. All of these items offer "plus" selling features and many times are a factor in the sale of a suite. Be sure you have examined all of the suites on the floor thoroughly so that you have discovered all possible gadgets and opportunities for "plus" selling features.
Unless a customer shows such a keen and unusual interest as to warrant the belief that an immediate sale is possible, do not spend too much time with the first suite.
Figure 46.—An Early American bedroom grouping ideally suited to American homes. Simple in design, it is rich in American tradition, for it is the type of furniture first used in this country by the original settlers. Scaled to fit a medium-size room, the furniture is sturdy, practical, and decorative. Made of maple and finished in a rich, red-brown tone, a suite such as this is adaptable to rural or urban homes.
Show the second suite—a contrasting type.—Since all things gain in individuality and distinction by contrast with their opposites, usually it is good salesmanship to show a second suite sharply different from the first in appearance. If you watch some salespersons at work, you will see that they move slowly and regularly down one aisle and back the next, taking each suite as it comes, however closely it may resemble the one before it. At best, this method wastes time, while with many customers it results in weariness, confusion, and a well-defined suspicion that the salesperson is only an order-taker. In general, move toward the sale by longer but fewer jumps, and show contrasting types in the effort to heighten the buyer's interest, and to arrive as quickly as possible at an understanding of her likes. We know, for example, that some women prefer slender, delicately designed bedroom furniture, while others want bulk. It is quite impossible to judge their preferences from their appearance. Suites shown by the method of contrast will uncover this and similar preferences immediately, and thus speed up the sale.
Assuming that you pick the second and all succeeding suites in the light of increasing knowledge of the customer's tastes and the size and decorative character of her room, move forward slowly. Since you are not guessing blindly, but acting in the light of knowledge and taste, you must assume that the buyer will be interested in what you are showing, and take ample time to develop her interest.
Remember that the customer must like the appearance of any suite at which she is looking and regard it as well suited for her own use before she will consider buying it. Emphasis upon the beauty and distinction of wood, finish, and design, and skillful use of the "room-picture" method of presentation should precede emphasis upon construction and price. However, construction becomes an important factor when you reach the second suite just as soon as you see signs of acceptance for appearance and decorative fitness. If no such signs appear, move on to the third suite.
Show just as many additional suites as may be necessary but no more.
Close the sale, if and when possible.—There is no simple formula for closing a sale, and no set point in the sales interview at which to make the attempt. Notwithstanding a vast amount of theorizing on the subject, the only rule of practical value to the salesperson appears to be the old rule of experience and common sense: Try to close any sale the moment you have reason to believe the customer is ready to buy; not before, and not after.
FURNISHING THE SUNROOM
The sunroom, though of ancient origin,[28] is a comparatively recent addition to the American home. Its rapid development doubtless is due to widening popular confidence in the therapeutic value of sunlight. Today's sunroom is in practice an informal lounging room which takes the place of the disappearing back parlor, and as such is a highly useful and important part of the home. Add the fact that it can be, and usually is, so decorated as to offer the relief of striking and colorful contrast to more conservatively furnished rooms, and we have ample reason for the popularity of this room in American houses. Many housewives whose homes contain small sunrooms do not know how to make them attractive, and many others apparently have no desire to do so. Often the room is a mere "catch-all" and final resting place for worn or outmoded furniture discarded from the other rooms.
Many homemakers who come to our stores for ideas on sunroom decoration either turn away to the decorators or big-city stores, or are promptly headed to low-priced merchandise, and leave with little more than two $6.75 reed or metal chairs, a small table, a fiber rug, a bridge lamp, a smoking stand, and a few yards of cretonne.
Salesmen must shift from emphasis upon the drab and commonplace to emphasis upon the distinctive. This will be easy, because persons who have sunrooms usually can well afford to pay for making them attractive. In every sale of sunroom merchandise, whether for a new house or an old, we must have the courage to point out that this room, potentially so large a factor in the comfort and enjoyment of the family, so much used by intimate guests, and so conspicuously placed as to be an open advertisement of the taste of its owners, should be furnished in a manner consistent with its proper importance. In order to convert this talk into profitable sales, we must of course have a stock of interesting ideas and suggestions on modern sunroom treatments.[29]
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
The sunroom should be comfortable, but colorful and stimulating. This will demand good furniture and well-sprung seating, careful arrangement for convenience without crowding, colorful textiles, good lighting, and interesting accessories.
Since the sunroom often is small and of irregular shape, it should be measured before furnishings are selected.
THE WALLS
It is common practice to find sunroom walls covered with bright and strikingly figured papers. Usually the effect is unpleasant because:
1. Such papers make the room seem smaller,
2. With windows on two or three sides of the room, such papers on the remaining wall spaces rob the room of balance,
3. Draperies or furniture coverings, or both, together with the necessary colorful accessories, give the room all the animation it can stand, and therefore make plain or simple wall treatment desirable.
Walls may be painted, papered, paneled in natural wood, or covered with one of the new cloth or wood-veneer fabrics.
THE FLOOR COVERINGS
For general considerations governing choice of floor coverings for the sunroom, see Furnishing the Hall, page 188.
Note as an exception that a plain carpet or large rug often is preferred to a figured carpet or rug in spite of a tendency to shade and the fact that it shows dust and ashes more easily because:
1. It offers a more effective background for gaily figured draperies and floor coverings.
2. The rich and unusual colors often desired for sunroom use are easier to find in plain carpetings.
WINDOW TREATMENTS
Some method of controlling natural light must be afforded by the window treatment. Venetian blinds are preferable for this purpose, because they can be adjusted instantly to the varying height of the sun; whereas moveable draperies, lined and interlined to make them opaque, either will exclude the light altogether when closed, or leave a band of bright light from top to bottom when partially closed.
Glass curtains are not always used on windows which have Venetian blinds and draperies. When such draperies are omitted, thin unlined curtains in a neutral or in a positive color are used alone. They should be made to draw, with sufficient material to provide double fullness when fully drawn.
Sunroom draperies may be of any material not too heavy to accord with the scale of the room or too elegant to accord with its decorative character and other furnishings. Choice among plain, simply figured, and strikingly figured fabrics will be governed by the size of the room and the amount of ornament in other surfaces.
THE SALE OF SUNROOM MERCHANDISE
Suggestions will be welcomed.—Although no new principles are involved in the sale of sunroom merchandise, the subject merits brief comment. A woman interested in home furnishings for any other room in her home is likely to have fairly definite ideas of her own, or least to be familiar with conventional methods of furnishing these rooms. This makes the salesman's talk one of discovering and interpreting her ideas, and helping to carry them out by means of his own merchandise. With the sunroom this is not often the case. It is relatively a new room, serving one purpose in one home, another in the second, and none at all in the third. Customers are likely to be open to suggestions, and to buy better merchandise and with less resistance, in the degree that these suggestions are clever and a little out of the ordinary.
This means that initiative and imagination are necessary to marked success in selling sunroom furnishings,[30] and that accordingly we must be alert both to gain ideas on sunroom treatments from books, magazines, and markets, and to study our own merchandise from the viewpoint of its possibilities for sunroom decoration.
SUNROOM TREATMENTS
The old days when reed and willow were top favorites for sunrooms has passed. Despite the fact that many beautiful styles in these materials are on the market, other types of furnishings have moved into the sunroom to augment and in many instances replace the old favorites.
Early American furniture in soft brown or honey-colored, maple, covered in chintz or printed linens, or in one of the many new textures developed for this type, is a happy choice for many sunrooms. Others are attractive when equipped with light-colored woods upholstered in lovely pastel fabrics. Chrome-steel furniture offers many opportunities for the sunroom as do bentwood, glass, enameled furniture, and rattan.
The sunroom offers an opportunity to sell such "plus" items as studio couches, sofa beds, standing bridge sets, radios, magazine racks, desks, and lamps. Since many sunrooms may be interpreted as an extension of the living room, these offer an opportunity to sell regular living room stock, upholstered chairs, a sofa or love seat, the necessary tables, lamps, and accessories.
EQUIPPING THE BREAKFAST ROOM AND KITCHEN
The breakfast room has no fixed position or character. It may be a nook or small alcove, equipped with built-in table and settles, and decoratively a part of the kitchen; an important room of fair size and pronounced individuality; or—as is often the case—a room so small as to be pretty well crowded by a small table, four chairs and their occupants, and connected with the dining room by a cased opening or French doors.
The proper aims of breakfast room decoration are (a) to make it as comfortable, spacious, and uncrowded as possible; (b) to give it a sunny, inspiring quality; and (c) to emphasize its individuality while linking it harmoniously with the more important room, if any, into which it opens.
WOODWORK AND WALLS IN THE BREAKFAST ROOM
Since the breakfast room is a gay informal room it should be cheerful, light, and colorful. Walls may be tinted, painted, or papered. If tinted, light pastels should be used. If painted, colored decalcomanias may be used to add a decorative note. Fruit and flower prints in gay colors on a light pastel or white background, gay stripes, or colorful figured wallpaper may be used. Woodwork, if possible, should be white or the pastel color of the walls. Since most of the furnishings for the breakfast room are light in color, gay, colorful accents should be used both in the wall decoration and in the pictures and accessories.
FLOOR COVERINGS, DRAPERIES, FURNITURE
Here—as in the hall and the sunroom—imagination, familiarity with good current work, and energy will sell more goods in less time than the stodgy, conventional, lackadaisical methods which so many buyers meet when they undertake the furnishing of a breakfast room. In this field it is easier for a good man to trade up than down, no matter what class of customers he works with. In the comment, "This would be a delightful place in which to start the day," we have the starting point for all good work in furnishing the breakfast room.
THE KITCHEN
Within the last few years, more money has been spent by the consumer on the kitchen and laundry than on any other rooms in the house. Mrs. America today is kitchen conscious and is ready for a thorough modernization job on her kitchen. Kitchen planning as an important phase of selling should be carefully studied. Kitchens should be planned to be efficient and should be laid out carefully, preferably by an architect, for the installation of sink bases, extra built-in cabinets, and other features. However, the kitchen also offers unlimited opportunities for the sale of portable cabinets, kitchen tables and chairs, cabinet bases, work tables, curtains, linoleum, pots, pans, and accessories.
The modern kitchen had its beginning in the United States, less than 25 years ago. The rise in the general standard of living in our country, rather than the increasing scarcity of domestic help, has been greatly responsible for the development of modern kitchen equipment and the innumerable mechanized aids now available to the housewife.
As usual, beauty at first lagged behind invention. Indeed the early cabinets, refrigerators, and ranges differed as sharply in appearance from the beautifully proportioned and smartly colorful models found in the shops today as the automobile of 20 years ago differed from the streamlined aristocrats of today.
In the beginning, convenience and the elimination of drudgery seemed enough, and drab ugliness was accepted as an inescapable part of kitchen work. Later, in a sort of blind devotion to cleanliness and sanitation, kitchens were done like hospitals in hard and shiny white tile, white walls, white curtains, white range, cabinet and refrigerator, white utensils and dishes. From this intolerable tyranny of white we have at last been delivered. The door has been thrown open; color has entered the kitchen. The American homemaker of today, whether her room be large or small, asks for a kitchen which not only is a convenient and pleasant place in which to work but a source of pride and a delight to the eye.
Figure 47.—Chrome adds sparkle and verve to this attractive kitchen ensemble made with flared hairpin-curved legs and enamel and natural-wood top.
Color and convenience in the kitchen.—And truly, the best of modern kitchens are charming places. Seeing them, one wonders how further improvement can be possible. Vibrantly light, yet without glare; cozily warm without excessive heat; tranquil with the tranquility of perfect adaptation of parts to function; unbelievably convenient; and bathed in the glow of soft harmonious-color, they are immensely more pleasant and distinguished than the shops and offices where men must spend their working days. Among all the professions, homemaking has been outstanding in creating an attractive and satisfying environment.
Of course this does not mean that all kitchens are attractive and satisfying. That unhappily is still far from true. Yet beyond doubt, the desire for them is widespread and growing. Yearly, and with accelerating speed, the processes of modernization are going forward.
Floor coverings for the kitchen.—First comes the floor. There was a time when linoleum was regarded purely as a utility, but that time has passed. The new linoleums are handsome in appearance, pleasant to work on, and easy to care for; hence they are almost universally employed in the modern kitchen.
The walls.—The walls may be done in enamel paint, or papered with the new washable fabrics, which offer a wide range of choice in pattern and texture. Never use really dark color on the walls, and remember that the lighter you make the wall color, the larger the room will appear. As to hue, yellow tones, from pale cream to maize, will help to make the room sunny and cheerful; light gray-green will make it cool and restful; apple, or any yellow-green, will make it restful but sunny; and such yellow reds as peach, apricot, or pale salmon will make it warm and cheerful.
The trim.—In very small kitchens the woodwork often is painted to match the walls, either exactly, or in a slightly lighter or darker shade. In rooms which are larger, or where more decorative "snap" is desired, the woodwork may be done in a contrasting color, as apple green with cream walls, or a soft green-blue with apricot.
Kitchen curtains and accessories.—Kitchen curtains may be used as an opening wedge in kitchen sales. Interest in a pair of curtains has been known to start a complete remodeling job. On the market today are innumerable curtains in a variety of colors and designs. Since much originality and ingenuity is used in making attractive kitchen curtains, many women are attracted to these inexpensive items, to "pep up" their kitchens. Often they lead to the sale of a cabinet, table, or new linoleum. Kitchen furniture should be shown with dummy windows on which crisp, attractive curtains are hung. Decorative towels add to the gayety of the kitchen and are helpful in setting up a kitchen display.
Accessories for the kitchen are colorful and decorative and a little ingenuity and suggestion will get a woman interested in the kitchen. National magazines and the women's section of newspapers are constantly giving suggestions for fixing the kitchen. Cookie cutters with colorful handles nailed to the walls, kitchen implements with colored handles hung on attractive racks; wooden bowls cut in half and nailed to the wall, then planted with ivy—all are unusual suggestions appreciated by women. The endless variety of new things which may be suggested for the kitchen is a veritable gold mine for the salesman who takes the opportunity to investigate the possibilities.
Many interesting and delightful things go into the modern kitchen which were unknown in those of 20 years ago. One sees a colorful pad for the work chair, a hanging bookshelf for cookbooks and accessories, an ornamental wall clock, colored prints, and plants. And of course in many a kitchen there is the breakfast nook, with its decorative furniture and its colored linen, glass, and china.
Some breakfast nooks are just sufficiently shut-off from the kitchen by a buttress or low partition to tempt the housewife to make a sharp difference in their decorative treatment. Usually this is a mistake, particularly if it results in a large or striking paper on the walls. It is better to carry the same wall color throughout, and to depend upon small things to lend the desired individuality to the alcove. There is no danger of monotony in this practice; while a sharp change impairs the spaciousness of both rooms, and robs them alike of serenity and beauty.
Study of the above will enable you to offer definite advice to women who want to modernize their kitchens. Even though some of the details may not deal with merchandise you sell, all this knowledge will prove valuable in winning the customer's confidence.
FINAL EMPHASIS FOR ALERT SALESPERSONS
Since we are working in a free country which now contains more than 40,000 retail furniture outlets, it should be clear that we cannot make anyone buy anything. Selling continues to be chiefly a matter of people, not of goods in stock; for example, we find one dealer, operating with a small stock in a small town, complaining that all the good business goes to the city; while a second dealer, operating with a similar stock in a similar trading area, allows almost nothing to get away from him. The latter makes it his business to know what is going on in his community; goes out after an order well in advance of the time the goods will be needed; learns what is required; knows how to sell it; and where and how to secure it. The main difference is in the men, not in conditions.
BE ALERT FOR OPPORTUNITIES
The able salesperson is energetic, stout-hearted, and enthusiastic. He never permits himself even during periods of slow business to fall into the dangerous habit of assuming that every customer will be reluctant and exacting, and every sale difficult. He expects a fair percentage of quick and easy sales, and is prepared to seize every opportunity to make them.
Having confidence in himself, his store, and his merchandise, he works on the assumption that most of the people who enter a furniture store are definitely interested in an immediate or later purchase of merchandise to suit their particular needs and tastes. He further assumes that he will be able to learn those needs and tastes, find in his stock the right merchandise to satisfy them, and present the advantages of this merchandise in a clear and convincing way; and that when they are so presented, the customer will buy. This assumption may not always be valid; but it never fails to give him confidence and driving power, and is the necessary basis of consistently successful salesmanship.
The able salesperson never forgets that his customer will not buy until she is satisfied and convinced, however attractive his merchandise, low his prices, or logically complete his demonstration. He knows that she may have prejudices which are not easy to discover, or bits of information or misinformation which may cause her to question or distrust what he tells her, and thus to impede or wreck the sale.
ORDERLY PRESENTATION OF MERCHANDISE
One may never be certain which method and selling appeal will cause any particular individual to buy. Accordingly the salesperson will be prepared to follow an ordered procedure which will in theory exhaust all the possibilities. The important factors may be emphasized in the following order:
1. Pleasing appearance (design, coloring, materials, finish).
2. Personal and decorative suitability (size, convenience, emotional effect, prestige value).
3. Sentimental appeal (style, historical, or social associations, prestige value).
4. Quality (materials, construction, finish, established service record, manufacturer's reputation, store's reputation or guarantee).
5. Price (in relation both to the customer's means and spending habits, and to the sum total of values provided by all other factors).
CLOSE OF SALE SHOULD COME LOGICALLY
Ordinarily the charted sale will develop in this order:
1. Elimination of possible alternatives and concentration upon merchandise to be sold.
2. Elimination of resistances through answering spoken or unspoken objections.
3. Final demonstration of appearance, suitability, and values.
4. Direct suggestion to buy, when suggestion is necessary.
However, closing a sale is not a separate operation, but rather the natural and logical culmination of a continuous process, planned from the beginning to help the customer buy what she wants or needs. Thus the difficulties of closing a sale often are the result of inept work in the earlier stages. Good salesmanship is far less a matter of overcoming these difficulties than of foreseeing them at the beginning of a sale, and thus making it impossible for them to arise at the end.
For this kind of salesmanship we require: