268 KURAL ARCHITECT0EE. 



paint- the whole house plain drab, gives it very touch the same dull 

 and insipid effect that colorless features (white hair, pale eyebrows, 

 ' lips, &c., &c.) do the face. A certain sprightliness is therefore al- 

 ways bestowed on a dwelling in a neutral tint, by painting the 

 bolder projectingfeatures of a different shade. The simplest practi- 

 cal rule that we can suggest for effecting this, in the most satisfac-' 

 tory and agreeable manner, is the following: 'Choose paint of some 

 neutra,!, tint that is <|uite satisfactory, and let the facings of the win- 

 dows, cornices, &o., be painted several shades darker, of the sftme 

 color. The blinds may either be a still darker shade than the fa- 

 cing, or else the darkest green.* This variety -of shades will give a 

 building a cheerful, effect, when, if but one of the shades were em- 

 ployed, there would be a dulness and heaviness in the appearance 

 of its exterior. Any one who will foUow the prinpiples we have 

 suggested cannot, at least, fail to avoid the gross blunders in taste 

 which most common house-painters and their employers have so long 

 been in the habit of committing in the practice of painting country 

 houses. - * 



Uvedale Price justly remarked, that many people have a sort of 

 callus over their organs of light, as others over those of hearing ; 

 and as the callous hearers feel nothing in music but kettle-drums 

 and trombones, so the callous seers can only be moved by strong 

 opposition of black and white, or by fiery reds. There are, we may 

 add, many house-painters who appear to be equally benumbed to 

 any dehpate sensation in shades of color. They judgeof the beauty 

 of colors upon houses as they do in the raw pigment, and we verily 

 believe would be more gratiiSed to paint every thing chrome yeltoW, 

 indigo blue, pure white, vermilion red, and the like, than with the 

 most fitting and dehcate mingling of shades to be found under the 



* Thus, if the color of the house be that of Portland stone (a fawn shade), 

 let the windpw casings, cornices, etc. be. painted a light brown, the color of 

 our common red freestone — and make the neeessaiy shad6 by mixing the re- 

 quisite quantity of brown with the color used in the body of the house. 

 There is an excellent specimen of this effect in the exterior of the Belavan 

 House, Albany. Very dark green is quite unobjeotiona'ble as a color for the 

 Venetian blinds, so much used in our country — as it is'qxiite unobtruave. 

 Bright green is offensive to the eye, and vulgar and flaShy in effect. 



