The Decoration of Houses

{{Short description|1897 interior design manual by Edith Wharton}}

{{One source|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox book |

| name = The Decoration of Houses

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = The Decoration of Houses.jpg

| image_size = 200px

| caption = The Decoration of Houses, 1898 edition

| author = Edith Wharton

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| genre = Interior design

| publisher = B. T. Batsford

| release_date = 1898

| media_type = Print (Hardback)

| pages = 204

| isbn = 978-0-8478-2916-3

| isbn_note = (2007 Rizzoli reprint)

| dewey = 747 22

| congress = NK2110 .W5 1897a

| oclc = 86111252

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

The Decoration of Houses, a manual of interior design written by Edith Wharton with architect Ogden Codman, was first published in 1897. In the book, the authors denounce Victorian-style interior decoration and interior design, especially rooms decorated with heavy window curtains, Victorian bric-a-brac and overstuffed furniture. They argue that such rooms emphasize upholstery at the expense of proper space planning and architectural design and are, therefore, uncomfortable and rarely used. Wharton and Codman advocated the creation of houses with rooms decorated with strong architectural wall and ceiling treatments, accentuated by well-suited furniture, rooms based on simple, classical design principles such as symmetry and proportion and a sense of architectural balance. The Decoration of Houses is considered a seminal work and its success led to the emergence of professional decorators working in the manner advocated by its authors, most notably Elsie de Wolfe.[http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/wharton/whar3.htm "Edith Wharton's World"] National Portrait Gallery The book was reprinted by The Mount and Rizzoli and in a hardcover facsimile in 2007.