Furniture for Laredo's sandstone, adobe and brick rooms

San Agustín de Laredo

Furnishing a flat-roofed Laredo room

The San Agustín de Laredo Historic District, listed in the National Register in 1973, records Greek Revival and Mission or Spanish Revival styles. The National Park Service describes the museum building as Mexican vernacular, with rectangular massing, a flat roof and few windows; its restored rooms, an office and sitting area, a bedroom and a kitchen, show furniture from the Laredo area in the 1800s. Just east on Zaragoza Street, the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum fills a two-story red brick house of 1926 that joins the region's flat-roofed style with ornate details.

With few windows, the lighting is up to you. Carved wood, iron and onyx suit these rooms, and a lamp next to each seat does the work a window would. In a brick house with ornate trim, a carved bed or an iron-barred cabinet can carry the detail indoors.

• A study or sitting room: a carved desk and a leather-seated chair.
• A bedroom: one carved bed as the room's large piece.
• A room with few windows: an onyx lamp beside each seat.