To summarize (Note ¶ 37):
53. In harmonies of contrast the side-walls, the furniture woodwork,
wood trimming, cove, ceiling and the curtains should be related.
54. The rugs, frieze, wainscoting or dado, furniture upholsterings and
the curtain borders should be related. (See ¶ 49.)
55. If the curtains have no borders, then the curtains contrast with the
wood trims.
56. Remember always cove and ceiling should be the palest tint of the
side-wall color, and the rug should be of the deepest contrast to the
side-wall, in harmony with the wainscoting, if there is a wainscoting.
Remember, also, that the colors here prescribed are never to be of the
same scale. The rug or carpet is of the deepest, and the ceiling of the
palest. While certain colors are to contrast, they are not to contrast
in the same scale. (See ¶ 37 and ¶ 40.)
57. If we find that the tone of color of the wainscoting, for instance,
is a bluish green, the side-wall should be of a reddish orange; for the
reason that if green contrasts with red, and if blue contrasts with
orange, a bluish green would contrast with a reddish orange.
58. Exception to ¶ 56. Only large or well-proportioned rooms can stand
the diminishing or reduction effects of contrast. In low ceiling rooms,
leave out the contrasting frieze, and let border, cornice and ceiling be
in receding colors. (See ¶ 89.)
59. We all know that a northern exposure gives a room a deficiency of
sunlight, and the wall treatment should supply this. A southern room, on
the other hand, gives so much sunlight that counteracting wall
treatments in cold color are permissible.
60. In the color treatment of a room one has either to adopt a harmony
of analogy or a harmony of contrast, and this is a matter which depends
upon so many conditions that it should be carefully considered.
(See ¶ 88 and ¶ 89.) Where a plate-rail is used one must remember that a
great deal of color may be furnished by the bric-a-brac, and that the wall
behind this plate-rail should be of a color in contrast to the contents
of the plate-rail.
61. When we follow a scheme of _contrast_ the borders should be usually
complements, and if the reader has studied our diagram he will very
readily understand how to determine the exact complementary color.
#WALL PROPORTIONS#
62. The wainscoting or dado should be the same as the top border or
frieze, but of a darker tone. The intermixture of white or black is
always permissible; thus a paper as a side-wall might have as its
frieze the complementary coloring with more white, while the wainscoting
or dado should be the complementary with black added.
63. The cornice should be lighter than the border, and its members may
show several tints, with the ceiling lighter still. (See ¶ 92.)
64. As a rule the color of the chair coverings should be the
complementary of the side-walls, and the color of the furniture frames
should be complementary to the wainscoting; so by following this rule we
find that the wainscoting serves as a contrasting background to the
chair frame.
65. Let us imagine a room wherein the side-walls are of a reddish tint;
the wainscoting, being a complementary color, is of a greenish cast. The
furniture is of mahogany, and in contrast to the wainscoting, while the
chair covering, being greenish in contrast to the chair frame, is also
in contrast to the side-wall. Here we have, then, the color relations of
side-wall, wainscoting, furniture-frames and covering; but it is
undesirable that these tones should be in the same scale. (See ¶ 62 and
¶ 92, also tables pages 42 and 43.)
{ { { _Furniture_: Large pieces, preserving broken
{ { { heights.
{ { { _Designs_: On walls, draperies and furniture
{ { { coverings follow rules of proportion.
{ { HIGH { _Color_: Subdued contrasts of somber tones
{ { CEILING { picked out in contrasts of gold, red
{ { { and orange. Masses of luminous color are
{ { { permissible in well-lighted rooms. Borders,
{ { { friezes, dadoes and wainscotings may be
{ { { used, and a bordered carpet or large rug
{ WELL { { in the low tone of the color scheme.
{ LIGHTED {
{ { { _Furniture_: Avoid high pieces, excepting as
{ { { relief to the use of many low pieces.
{ { { _Designs_: On walls, draperies and furniture
{ { { coverings follow rule of proportion,
{ { LOW { using perpendicular stripes to give height
{ { CEILING { effect on wall; avoid friezes, wainscoting,
{ { { dadoes. Carpet borders may be safely used.
{ { { _Color_: Subdued contrast of somber tones
{ { { picked out in bright effects; luminous
{ { { masses permissible.
LARGE{
ROOM { { { _Furniture_: Large pieces, preserving broken
{ { { heights.
{ { { _Designs_: On walls, draperies and furniture
{ { { coverings follow rules of proportion.
{ { HIGH { _Color_: Softly luminous, soft orange, yellow,
{ { CEILING { green, sunshiny colors to give artificial
{ { { light, picked out with contrasting color.
{ { { Border, frieze and wainscoting may be used,
{ { { also carpet or large rugs in the low tone
{ POORLY { { of the color scheme.
{ LIGHTED {
{ { { _Furniture_: Low pieces relieved by some high
{ { { pieces.
{ { { _Designs_: On walls, draperies and furniture
{ { { coverings follow rule of proportion,
{ { LOW { using perpendicular stripes to give wall
{ { CEILING { height; avoid friezes, wainscoting or
{ { { dado; carpet borders may be safely used
{ { { in the low tone of the color scheme.
{ { { _Color_: Softly luminous, soft orange, yellow,
{ { { green, sunshiny colors to give artificial
{ { { light, picked out with contrasting color.
{ { { _Furniture_: Small pieces, relieved by small
{ { { high pieces.
{ { { _Designs_: Small, proportionate to the size
{ { { of the room.
{ { HIGH { _Color_: Use harmonies of analogy or related
{ { CEILING { parts and of a receding character, blue
{ { { or gray green, gray predominating; avoid
{ { { orange or red, excepting in the
{ WELL { { bric-a-brac. Small rugs. Horizontal
{ LIGHTED { { effects on walls.
{ { {
{ { { _Furniture_: Low pieces relieved by small high
{ { { pieces.
{ { { _Designs_: Small on draperies and furniture
{ { LOW { coverings; use perpendicular stripes to
{ { CEILING { give height effect on wall; avoid deep
{ { { friezes, wainscoting, dado or borders.
{ { { _Color_: Use harmonies of analogy or related
{ { { parts, of greens or blues, grays
{ { { predominating; avoid luminous colors--yellow,
{ { { orange or red, excepting in the
{ { { bric-a-brac. Small rugs.
SMALL{
ROOM { { { _Furniture_: Small pieces, relieved by small
{ { { high pieces.
{ { { _Designs_: Small on wall and fabrics.
{ { { Horizontal effects.
{ { HIGH { _Color_: White in the woodwork gives artificial
{ { CEILING { light; use pale gray colors on wall,
{ { { slightly tinted green or yellow, faintly
{ { { relieved by red or orange--the stronger
{ { { colors only for the bric-a-brac. For the
{ { { floor avoid bordered carpets; use small
{ { { rugs.
{ POORLY {
{ LIGHTED { { _Furniture_: Low pieces.
{ { { _Designs_: Follow the rule of proportions,
{ { { with perpendicular stripes on wall, to
{ { { give height effect. Avoid borders on
{ { LOW { wall; use small rugs on floor.
{ { CEILING { _Color_: A preponderance of white in woodwork
{ { { and fresh gray on wall with a touch of
{ { { yellow and green in soft tones.
{ { { Contrasting colors only in bric-a-brac
{ { { and small details.
#ROOM PROPORTIONS#
66. In small rooms harmonies of contrast are unsafe, because contrasts
must involve advancing colors, which make a room look smaller. (See ¶ 86
and ¶ 90.) Harmonies of analogy are far better; and as frieze,
wainscoting and dado are not recommended in the small room, we suggest
that the furniture woodwork and the wood trims should be of one color
note, unless it is desired that the wood trims should be white; and that
the side-walls, curtains and chair upholsterings should be of a note in
some degree related and of receding color, picked out with just a touch
of contrasting color. (See ¶ 90 and ¶ 91.)
This contrasting color may be introduced in the accessories, the
pictures, bric-a-brac, flowers (natural or artificial) or books.
[Illustration: "... pronounced patterns must balance," etc.
(See page 38.)]
[Illustration: Broken heights. (See ¶ 75.)]
#DECORATIVE PROPORTIONS#
(SEE CHART)
On the preceding pages we present a quick-reference chart of rules that
should be followed in furnishing rooms under various conditions of Light
and Proportion.
67. A large room with high ceiling and well lighted.
68. A large room with low ceiling and well lighted.
69. A large room with high ceiling and poorly lighted.
70. A large room with low ceiling and poorly lighted.
71. A small room with high ceiling and well lighted.
72. A small room with low ceiling and well lighted.
73. A small room with high ceiling and poorly lighted.
74. A small room with low ceiling and poorly lighted.
There are two considerations to bear uppermost in mind: Proportions
affected by Color and Proportions affected by Design.
75. It is easily understood that a large room may be safely furnished
with large pieces of furniture, but where there is a wide expanse of
floor space care must be exercised to secure broken heights: In a
high-ceilinged room the furniture must not be all high; in a
low-ceilinged room the furniture must not be all low.
Avoid straight line effects in the furniture heights and in the
wall-paper, which, if in pronounced patterns, must balance in
conspicuous wall members and show the broken junctures or bad matchings
in inconspicuous or obscure corners.
#COLORS THAT GIVE SIZE TO A ROOM#
76. The wall and fabric designs must be of a size proportionate to the
size of the room. The color treatment of a well-lighted room must be
subdued to offset the glare of the natural illumination, and the natural
illumination be subdued to soften the color treatment; glare must be
avoided.
77. Advancing colors are colors which contain red or yellow in the
ascendancy; _receding_ colors are those which contain blue in the
ascendancy. Green in its purity, being half yellow and half blue, is
almost neutral. In the same way violet, being made up of half red and
half blue, is theoretically neutral, although the blue tone is usually
more assertive than the red and makes the color recede. Any color or hue
possesses advancing or receding qualities according to the ascendancy of
red, blue or yellow in its composition.
78. Orange is an advancing color; so also is violet in the shades
approaching red; green in the shades approaching yellow.
79. Of the tertiary colors russet is an advancing color, because while
it contains some blue in the violet of its composition, it contains a
preponderance of red and orange.
#ADVANCING AND RECEDING COLORS#
80. Citrine is an advancing color, because while it contains some blue
in the green of its composition, it contains a preponderance of yellow
and orange; slate is a receding color, because while it contains some
yellow in the green of its composition, it contains a preponderance of
blue; in the same way plum may be regarded as an advancing color,
because of its preponderance of red; buff is an advancing color, because
of its preponderance of yellow; sage is a receding color, because of its
preponderance of blue.
81. The carpet should always be in the low tone, and in a small room a
bordered carpet should be always tabooed. So also should one avoid the
use of one rug so placed that a border of woodwork shows around it,
because this gives the border effect and makes a small floor space look
still smaller. Better use small rugs. The use of a lot of narrow rugs
lengthwise along a narrow room will make the room look all the narrower,
but the same rugs placed crosswise would make a room look wider.
The diagrams which we have prepared will give even the man who
understands it all a quicker grasp of the points involved.
82. Width effect and distance effect are obtained best by arranging the
smaller pieces at the farthest points.
83. It is the same with pictures. While a room should be balanced, and
the pictures placed in a manner to give this result, it is best, where
possible, to keep the larger pictures, larger effects, always near the
eye. The crowding of large pieces at the farthest point diminishes the
apparent size of the room.
#FLOOR TREATMENTS#
[Illustration]
84. Continuous design in ceiling or carpet weakens the size effect;
hence rugs which break the continuity by being laid across the room
instead of lengthwise are preferable. (See Diagrams and ¶ 81.)
85. It is a safe rule to do a small or narrow room in harmonies of
analogy or related colors, colors of a light tone and of receding
character. Apart from any effect which color may possess decoratively or
pictorially, its value cannot be overestimated in its application to the
laws of proportion.
[Illustration]
86. Borders may be safely used on the wall or on the carpet of any large
room with high ceiling, but wall friezes should be avoided where the
ceilings are low, for they foreshorten the height effect.
87. We would avoid borders on the floor of a small room to make it look
larger, and we would use wide borders in a large room with a low ceiling
so that the floor may be foreshortened.
88. One may utilize in a large, poorly lighted room masses of luminous
colors to give artificial sunlight to the room deficient therein, but in
the small, poorly lighted room this treatment should be avoided.
#COLOR SCHEMES FOR ROOMS UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS#
(TN: left page of two page table)
KEYNOTE
#B# #B# COLORS #B#
#A# #Drapery# #A# #A# #Furniture#
#Floor# #Border# #Wood Trim# #Wainscoting# #Side-Wall# #Coverings#
(Brown
and gray
tones) (Full tones)(Wood tones)(Deep tones)(Soft tones)(Soft tones)
Brown Yellow Mission Green Red Green
Deep oak
brown Orange Mission Blue Orange Blue
Light oak Green Light oak Violet Yellow Violet
Deep olive Blue Oak Red Green Red
Mission
tones of Violet Mahogany Orange Blue Orange
slate
Deep plum Red Violet toned Yellow Violet Yellow
or tulip
(TN: right page of two page table)
#A# #B# #A# #B# #A#
#Furniture# #Frieze# #Draperies# #Ceiling# #Cornice#
(Wood tones)(Soft tones)(Full tones)(Pale wash tones)(Pale wash tones)
Mahogany Pale green Red Palest green Pale yellow
Deep oak Blue Orange Palest blue Pale green
Gold, gray or Violet Yellow Palest violet Pale blue
yellow
Walnut gray Grayish red Green Palest red Pale violet
Mission brown Gray orange Blue Palest orange Pale orange
Gold or violet Yellow Violet Palest yellow Pale pink
tone
Exception 1. The ceiling, where there is no pronounced cornice or cove,
should follow the wall tint.
Exception 2. Independent of rule, a low ceiling should be in receding
color.
* * * * *
It is impossible to tabulate directions for using color without an
understanding of the conditions, the size, light and height of a room.
(See pages 34 and 35.) The above tables relate only to normal
conditions.
White woodwork can be used effectively in the trims of a room and give
greater light and size. The darker the wood trims the smaller the room
appears. We have left out of consideration the window treatments which,
as a rule, should be of white lace, perhaps overdraped in colored
stuffs. If the room is poorly lighted, it is obviously undesirable to
cut off any light from the window by even laces; the curtains,
therefore, in a poorly lighted room should be draped back. Colored
laces, grenadines or madras stuffs are frequently used to give period
style or color tone, and wherever they are used, such curtains should
harmonize with the wall. So also with the overdraperies to the lace
curtains.
89. Luminous or advancing colors make a small room look all the smaller;
therefore in small rooms we suggest the use of white woodwork, and in
the color treatment we would avoid contrasts, but would suggest
harmonies of analogy in receding colors, soft grays, greens and blues.
These are not luminous colors and will make a small room look the
larger, while the white will give light effects, and if the room appears
a trifle somber it can be easily relieved by the bright colors of the
bric-a-brac and by a touch of gold here and there on the wall. (See ¶ 66
and ¶ 85.)
90. There are cases where a small room has a northern exposure, and
while apparently expedient to treat such a room in warm colors to supply
the deficiency of sunlight, such a course would make a room look
smaller.
91. Under the circumstances treat the room in light hues, gray
preferred, and get the deficiency of sunlight through some warm isolated
details and in the lace curtains.
#THE WALL THE KEYNOTE COLOR#
92. Our theory of color as applied to room furnishings provides always
that the side-wall is the keynote and this keynote is usually fixed for
practical reasons in sympathy with the furniture; above to the ceiling's
center the note ascends and below to the floor center it descends; it
goes into tints as it ascends and into deeper shades of gray and brown
as it descends.
If, for instance, blue is the keynote, by adding black you have drabs,
slates or grays for the floor, while if the keynote be red you have
ecrus and browns for the floor light or gray, according to the color
scale of the keynote.
93. It must be understood that in designating a color we do not mean
that it shall be solid or pure, but merely that it prevails. (See ¶ 29.)
A side-wall may be treated in several colors, but as long as orange
prevails, it follows the conditions of the combination, pages 42 and
43. The factors included in the line designated A are all of one color
family. The factors indicated by B are also family colors. It will be
seen that the A or B colors taken by themselves form HARMONIES OF
ANALOGY; it is only by combining the A's with the B's that we have
HARMONIES OF CONTRAST.
If a room is to be done in harmonies of analogy, use the A colors alone
or the B colors alone, but never A and B together.
#THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COLOR#
94. Whatever may be the charm conveyed by design there is a reason for
it. We can analyze it.
It has an inherent quality of beauty or historic interest, and there is
a definite and distinct reason for our liking it.
But the effect of color is exciting or disturbing, tranquilizing or
pleasing, inexplicable and inexpressible, affecting the senses like an
appeal to the passions or the appetite. One might as well explain the
love of sport, literature, art or vice. The sense of color is a nerve
sense, and this sense varies in the individual. We know that colors
which are strongest in direct sun rays, like red and orange, arouse the
normal senses, while the blues and violets quiet.
Nature provides vast fields of green because favorable in its effects
upon humanity. Experiments prove that men of extreme sensibility exposed
to the influences of red light finally show excitement which gives
muscular development fifty per cent. in excess of the power possessed by
the same subject when exposed for the same period under the influences
of blue light.
#TO DETERMINE THE COLOR SENSE#
Color, like music, while subjected to positive rules of harmony, appeals
to natures according to the responsiveness of their nerve sense, and the
practical decorator in dealing with a customer should discover at the
outstart the character of that nerve sense. Some natures respond to the
normal colors, barbaric colors. Some respond to the softer tints and are
disturbed by the sharper tones. A dulled sense requires sharp contrasts;
a quickened sense is satisfied with the soft gray tones. Apart from any
question of propriety or environment the individual taste for color must
be determined before the individual taste can be pleased.
A demonstration of four examples in color may serve the purpose of
determining one's color sense.
First. Combinations of normal primary and secondary colors, (_a_)
arranged in contrasts, (_b_) in analogies.
Second. Combinations of tones of the above colors, (_a_) arranged in
contrasts, (_b_) in analogies.
Third. Combinations of tints of the above colors, (_a_) arranged in
contrasts, (_b_) in analogies.
Fourth. Combinations of the gray (tertiary) tones of the above colors,
(_a_) arranged in contrasts, (_b_) in analogies.
95. Do not allow your personal color-sympathies to dominate your work.
All colors have their usefulness, for there are occasions when it is
proper they should be used, apart from any question of harmony; one
must consider always the uses of colors, the lights, and the purpose of
the room under treatment.
96. Nature gives to the dark forest depths great brilliancy of
floriculture, and dark-skinned people indulge unconsciously the same
bright scale of color. But as we come out of the forest and advance in
civilization we use barbaric colorings more discriminately.
97. We employ gold, orange or yellow for the north room not for inherent
beauty, but for the sense of warmth which they convey to an atmosphere
chilled by the absence of sunlight. We employ receding colors in a small
room that the room may look larger. We employ cold colors in a sunny
room, especially in the summer home, for reasons psychological rather
than aesthetic.
#PERIOD USES OF COLOR#
98. If our furniture is white and gold, it is clearly evident that the
colorings of a room should be soft and harmonious. If we adopt the dark
teakwood of India or the deep brown of Flanders, our color scheme again
changes. The preponderance of white in Colonial rooms was due to
architectural conditions. White illuminates; and in the days when our
ceilings were no higher than seven and a half feet, and our windows were
small, the room needed an artificial light, and white supplied this.
99. In furnishing an Empire room, the decorators have, little by little,
led themselves to believe that what is known as Empire green is a
distinct shade of green. On the contrary, green was used in the period
of the Empire simply because it was in pleasing contrast with the
mahogany and brass so much used. If the mahogany is dark, a dark green
is desirable; if light, a light green.
100. Egyptian decoration was full of gold and brilliant coloring, and a
popular form of combination was the triad form:
Black, yellow and red.
Red, blue and white.
Dark blue, light blue and white.
Cream color, blue and black.
Dark red, medium yellow and blue.
101. The Greek decorators, who painted in fresco, used white, red, blue,
yellow and black. Natural marbles were much used in green and red and
alabaster, and bronze, gold and silver.
We see the flat colors of the Greek, Etruscan and Pompeiian age and we
imagine they are typical of the period, but we must consider that the
examples of that period which we now possess are faded and emasculated,
and that the more authentic the example, the more aged it is, and hence
the more weakened in color character.
The Greeks loved color, and their embroideries were in gold and blue and
Tyrian purple.
Roman coloring was but a continuance of the Greek, characterized by dark
and rich backgrounds, which were frequently black, red or deep yellow
and dark blue, on which figures and landscapes, or animals, or groups
from still life, were executed in bright colorings of powerful
contrasts. Black and white were used, and later, when the Byzantine
artists and craftsmen found their way to Western Italy, they spread this
love of bold coloring, so that at the dawn of the Renaissance we find a
return to the Greek and Roman coloring, which, however, was modified in
England, Germany and Flanders, according to temperamental conditions.
102. We find, for instance, some forms of Florentine decoration, full of
yellow, red-yellow, blue-greens and light slate blues. Botticelli used
whites, creams, reds and citrine, with umber tones heightened by gold,
and if we examine carefully the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century
Italian brocades which are preserved in the museums, we discover a great
preponderance of yellow-green as an ornament on dark violet, or light
olive green on dark blue, or dull orange on crimson brown.
In some of the richest early Italian fabrics we find:
Purple and sage-green ornaments on indigo ground; outlines in gold.
Dull crimson, pale blue and chrome yellow ornaments on dark gray
ground.
Pale yellow-green ornaments on deep amber ground.
Dark blue-green and light greenish-yellow ornaments on deep crimson
ground.
Pale greenish-blue ornaments on dark gray-blue ground, with white
and gold picked out in small quantities.
Emerald green and dull orange ornaments on dark gray-green ground
outlined in gold.