ABSTRACT
There are Two Things to remember about details: that they have definite character of their own, and that their character should be used to reinforce the overall impression the designer wants a room to make. A design attitude cannot be abandoned once the basic outlines of a design are established; it must also inform the most minute parts of that design if the result is to be coherent. Inappropriate details are as destructive in interior design as clumsy brush strokes in painting or discordant notes in music. On the other hand, any interior design, beyond an infinitesimally brief first impression, is an amalgam of many ingredients that are experienced individually. The whole detailed analysis is of interest only to a specialist, but the interior designer who may design a balustrade needs to be such a specialist, not necessarily in attributing baluster shapes to specific designers or periods, but at least in attributing to baluster shapes their individual characters.
