AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDEN 
WITHIN THE HOUSE 
SUGGESTIONS ON INTERIOR DECORATING 
AND NOTES OF INTEREST TO ALL 
WHO DESIRE TO MAKE THE HOUSE 
MORE BEAUTIFUL AND MORE HOMELIKE 
The Editor of this Department will be glad to answer all queries 
from subscribers pertaining to Home Decoration. Stamps 
should be enclosed when a direct personal reply is desired 
March, 1912 
THE VALUE OF “EFFECT” IN INTERIOR DECORATIONS 
By Harry Martin Yeomans 
NE need not despair of getting satisfactory 
results, when decorating the rooms of an old 
house, or even those of a new one, where 
existing conditions have to be coped with, 
and for economic reasons it is expedient to 
make the best of poorly designed woodwork, 
ceilings that are either too high or too low, windows that 
are badly placed, and-so-forth. This has special reference 
to rented houses or apartments, where, although the archi- 
tectural defects cannot actually be changed, one can create 
an “effect” or optical illusion, so to speak, which will do 
much towards blotting them out and make objectional fea- 
tures less apparent. By emphasizing the good points of an 
interior and keeping the bad features in the background, 
even the most unpromising material can be molded into a 
homelike and artistic room. We must first create a suitable 
setting for our furniture and pictures, however, and this can 
only be accomplished by first getting a harmonious back- 
ground, in which each component part keeps its proper place 
and against which our furniture will appear to the best 
advantage. 
PLENTIFUL use of paint and wall-paper, when prop- 
erly applied, is an excellent antidote for remedying the 
defects of a poor interior. The badly designed wood trim 
of a room will not be so conspicuous if it is treated to a few 
coats of paint, slightly darker in tone than the color that is 
going to be used on the walls. The paint should have a 
dull, flat surface when dry, as it will give a much better effect 
than a hard enameled or glossy finish. By having the side 
walls and woodwork almost the same tone 
of color, the outline of the woodwork will 
be softened to a very considerable degree 
and the two will blend harmoniously to- 
gether. In this manner uncompromising 
woodwork can be “painted out’’ and its de- 
fects will pass almost unnoticed. If the wood 
trim is good enough to stand white paint, let 
it be a deep ivory-white, which is so much 
more attractive than the pure white or blue- 
white which is so often used. 
The plain or almost plain wall-papers, 
those printed in two tones of the same color 
and having a small repeat, which have the 
effect of plain papers at a little distance, will 
make small rooms appear larger, while wall 
coverings having large designs of contrast- 
ing colors, and dark tapestry papers, will 
have the opposite effect, and should be 
avoided in small rooms when the appearance 
In a hall of this size, flooded with 
light, the dark - figured papers in 
eeaee aioe oe ot E aT out was deemed best to do over only a few of 
of greater space is desired. The two-toned of place 
striped papers, or wall-papers having small designs arranged 
in an up-and-down pattern, will have a tendency to make a 
room appear higher than it really is if the paper is run right up 
to the ceiling and finished with a narrow molding. To obtain 
the opposite effect and reduce the apparent height of a room, 
one must create interesting lines running around the room 
parallel with the lines of the floor and ceiling. This can be 
accomplished by using either a high or low wainscoting 
or a dado, or, in a living-room or library, low bookcases or 
built-in book shelves would help along this effect. ‘Tinting 
the side wall the same color as the ceiling to a depth of 
twenty-seven inches or more and running the wall-paper up 
to this tinted frieze is an easy method of decreasing the ap- 
parent height of a room. In a bedroom, the floral crown 
effects in wall-papers will accomplish the same result. 
Color also plays an important part in redeeming an un- 
sightly interior. North rooms that do not get the direct 
rays of “Old Sol” can be made sunny and bright by choos- 
ing wall coverings of yellow, neutral orange, terra-cotta, old 
gold, and the rose tints. All of the pumpkin-yellows and 
warm browns in which yellow predominates will brighten 
up a cold room. A room that is sunny for the greater part 
of the day can take a wall-paper of gray neutral blue or 
green. These are the cool receding colors and the blue 
and green should only be used in well-lighted interiors, as 
these two colors absorb the light. 
The problem of window openings that are too high can 
have this difficulty overcome by having window-seats and 
using a valance and sill-length over-curtains. At low win- 
dows one can gain height by having the over-curtains hung 
in long straight folds coming all the way to the floor. Solid 
color floor coverings, or those having a simple border de- 
sign, will make the floor area appear greater 
than when the eye is attracted by designs 
placed here and there on a plain background. 
One can immediately reduce the apparent 
size of a room by placing a small table or 
other piece of furniture in the center of it, 
which makes it apparent at once that in small 
houses and apartments, where the effect of 
greater space is desired, the furniture 
should be kept away from the center of the 
room as far as it is practical to do so. 
What had originally been a long, high- 
ceilinged, formal parlor, in one of the Man- 
sard-roof houses with which we are all fa- 
miliar, was transformed into a homelike and 
comfortable living-room by the ingenuity of 
the amateur decorator in a family that had 
but recently rented the house. A very limited 
sum was allowed for redecorating, and it 
the rooms at first, instead of attempting to 
