 While she originally asked Mercer to use octagonal tiles interspersed with small square ones, upon which de Forest would stencil additional designs, she settled on the same small square tiles that were used in the Thomas Library.The additional stenciling was never applied as planned, as Mercer feared that the large quantity of traffic in the room would quickly destroy the stenciling, as had happened in the Deanery's dining room.Four larger tiles with Old English designs were incorporated to differentiate this design from others on campus.