330 September, 191 
Fig. 1—Dining-room with tile and brick semi-inglenook fireplace. The head casing runs 
around the room, forming a frieze panel 
Fig. 2—Mahogany red and brown wood stain in a bungalow in which all the construction 
(roof, walls, etc.) is exposed 
Fig. 3—The front door and the living-room of the Charles Parsons bungalow at Pasadena 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Color Tones that Fit the Bungalow 
By Katharine St. Clair 
HERE are certain archi- 
tects, famous for their 
bungalows, with whom 
it has become a fad to 
admit only the low 
tones of russet brown 
or bronze green in 
their buildings. Sometimes, as a concession. 
they permit these tones to run up the s 
into a pale tobacco brown, but color—rich, 
le 
strong, appealing color—is utterly ta- 
booed. 
Undoubtedly, this fad pointed in the 
beginning in the right direction. It Was a 
protest against the use of pale colors in 
bungalows, where they are, in fact, utterly 
out of place. 
There is much that has to be taught in 
connection with the furnishing of this new 
and popular type of house, or there is much 
to learn by the longer and sadder route of 
experience. 
A few points that will appeal to the in- 
telligence of a public that has not yet made 
a study of the bungalow may be helpful, 
and may save many from mistakes. 
Strange as it may seem, there are certain 
colors that seem to belong distinctly to bun- 
galow furnishings. The blue and white of 
the Japanese crepes, that can now be found 
in every market, show up with great beauty 
against the wooden walls of a bungalow. 
There are also wistaria patterns, in purple, 
white and green, that add the greatest 
charm to a bungalow room; these are inex- 
pensive stuffs that are filmy and yet strong, 
and are sturdy enough to find their place 
in such furnishings. 
It is well to beware of the cheap, crass 
materials, in bold designs and strong colors, 
that are now being shown in the shops on all 
sides as “bungalow” curtainings. If there 
is a style of building in which it behooves 
the furnisher to beware of bright, crass 
colors, or cheap, fadable ones, it is the 
bungalow. 
However, any stuff that is clear and 
strong—in white or cream, or pale clean 
&ray—may carry out a bungalow scheme 
successfully. The point is that many things 
will be brought in by the shops for bunga- 
lows—as this is a popular term now—which 
would ruin the artistic beauty of a house. 
There are two ways of making a room ef- 
fective in its furnishing, and both relate 
to color. 
One is to adhere only to some cool, per- 
vasive color, which strikes the beholder 
on entering, and the other is to pick out 
different features of the furnishing with 
rich and appropriate colors that blend in 
a harmonious whole. 
r 
The first is the easier way, and on the 
whole the most effective. There is a keen 
delight in walking into a room, for example, 
in which that delicious shade of old blue 
which looks as if a breath of smoke had 
blown across it meets the eye at every turn. 
It varies in tone, perhaps, until it melts into 
the pewter and silver accessories of the 
room without a sigh. On all sides is the 
harmony of cold blue, changing into gun- 
metal gray, to silver gray, to silver itself. 
These subtle gradations of colors and tones 
are the delight of the sybarite in fur- 
nishings, and nowhere has he a better op- 
portunity for experiment than in the mod- 
ern bungalow. 
Here everything conspires to show up 
his color scheme to good effect, and here 
he may safely introduce combinations that 
would be utterly out of place in a conven- 
tional house. The “studio,” that generic 
term which cloaked so many sins, no longer 
reigns alone; the bungalow has arrived to 
fight for first place. 
In illustration Fig. 1 we have a car- 
pet which is old blue, with a silvery high 
light over it. This blue is deepened in the 
couch coverings and window scarfs, and 
lightened in the walls. Pillows of blue 
velvet, embroidered with silver threads, are 
tossed upon the couch, beside silk ones of 
silver gray. The woodwork and furniture 
are of silvery satinwood, and the clectric- 
s are little pewter lanterns. The 
ny glass on the table alone 
varies, with its rich tones of blue and green, 
the color scheme of the room. 
Tt would be difficult to explain the reason 
why one instinctively combats the idea of 
flowered or figured walls in a bungalow. So 
many of them are built with wood paneling 
instead of plaster, and the re so simple 
and restful in effect, that it may be this fact 
has induced a feeling against the use of 
flowered papers. 
Figured material, however, may be used 
delightfully with wooden walls, and is pic- 
tured in Fig. 2, an interior where the brown 
woodwork is offset by brocaded hangings in 
dull mahogany-red and white. Japanese 
baskets in black or dark-brown lacquer, and 
a few pieces of Japanese bronze, accentuate 
the scheme and assist in bringing the walls 
and hangings together. This room is very 
clean and rich in tone, and its carpet of 
neutral brown, “bungalow weave,” does not 
interfere with its scheme of color. 
There are many instances where it is im- 
portant to keep the floor and side walls of 
a room absolutely neutral, and this is nearly 
always the case when a rich or striking fig- 
ured material is used as drapery. 
September, 1911 331 
Fig. 5—Dining-room, showing archway with posts and buttresses, and with wide box-shelf, 
above which is a simple lattice grill 
Fig. 6—Dining-room of Charles Parsons’ bungalow, showing the Nouveau Art buffet 
