Household Decoration 



103 1 



walls that we must rely for uniting our whole interior scheme, for they 

 serve as a common background for furnishings and persons. Moreover, 

 they define the outermost limits of the interior and should be covered in 

 such a way as to hold their place. For this reason we must avoid the 

 use of bright colors and showy patterns; these have no place in the modest 

 home. Bright or gayly papered walls have a way of crowding into a 

 room and clamoring for notice. We must remember that it is never the 

 intent of decoration to 

 be conspicuous or ex- 

 citing. The home 

 should be a place of 

 rest. There is small 

 encouragement for re- 

 laxation in the sight 

 of walls flaring with 

 color, writhing with 

 scrolls, or peering 

 with spots. Discard- 

 ing these two things, 

 then, we have left for 

 use all sorts of quiet 

 colors and modest 

 patterns. Let us dis- 

 cuss these subjects of 

 color and pattern 

 thoroughly in order 

 that we may be armed 

 with knowledge as well 

 as with preferences. 



Color. — For the pur- 

 poses in hand, we may 

 say that (with the ex- 

 ception of black and 

 white) there exist only 

 three colors that can- 

 not be formed by 

 combinations of other 



colors. These are red, yellow, and blue, and are commonly called 

 the primary colors. Many color experiments have been tried on 

 folks, sick and well; and while yellow proves merely cheering and 

 sunny, colors that are strongly red have been found to be somewhat 

 exciting, and those that are strongly blue to be somewhat depressing. 



Fig. 3. — "Gayly papered walls have a way of crowding into 

 a room and clamoring for notice. There is small encour- 

 agement for relaxation in the sight of walls writhing with 

 scrolls " 



