Color of Country Houses. 156 



the effect. The principal walls should be of some agreeable shade 

 of color ; the roof-trimming-s, verandas, and other wood-Avork being' 

 either of a different color or different shade of the same color, so that 

 a contrast, but not a harsh one, may be established. The third tint, 

 not widely diffci-ent from the other wood work, should be applied 

 to the solid parts of the Venetian blinds, while the movable slats 

 should be painted of the fourth tint. — This last tint shoukl be by 

 far the darkest used on the premises, for the effect of a glass win- 

 dow or opening in a wall is universally dark when viewed from a 

 distance, and if this natural fact is not remembered, the shutters 

 being painted the same color as the rest of the house, a blank, un- 

 interesting effect will be produced ; for when the blinds are closed 

 (which is generally the case), the house, except to a person very 

 near to it, will appear to be without any windows at all. This er- 

 ror is often fallen into, and requires to be carefully guarded 

 against. 



It is, however, a very simple and easy matter thus, in a few 

 words, to lay down common sense rules that may be advantagous- 

 ly followed in painting all country houses, but it is a very differ- 

 ent affair to overcome the difficulties of ignorance and prejudice. 

 In some cases the house-painters themselves show a laudable de- 

 sire to escape from monotonous repetition, but, on the other hand, 

 they are at times troublesome opponents to a reform in this matter. 

 It is, indeed, scarcely surprising that a mechanic, who has been 

 brought up on a chalk-white and spinach-green diet ever since he 

 was old enough to handle a brush, should have little taste for deli- 

 cate variations of color, because a perpetual contemplation of 

 white-lead and verdigris is calculated to have the same effect on 

 the aya that incessant tobacco-chewing has on the palate ; in each 

 case the organ is rendered incapable of nice appreciation. Any 

 person who may wish to have his residence judiciously painted 

 will do well to depend on himself to make the selection of colors ; 

 and if he will but study the question simply and fairly, trusting to 

 his real, natural, instinctive taste, and regulating his decision by 

 his private feeling for what is agreeable or otherwise, instead of 

 by what he finds next door to him, he will at once cut loose from 

 conventional absurdity, and in all probability arrive at a result 

 that ^^'ill be artistic and pleasing. 



It is highly satisfactory that, in this matter of color, which is 

 so important to rural art, there is constant opportunity for im- 



