October, igi6 
33 
THE ROLE OF WHITE PAINT IN THE ROOM OF EFFECTS 
And What the Painter and A Certain Lady Said 
BIRDALINE BOWDOIN 
Bowdoin & Manley, decorators 
It was a hall bedroom, tiny as a ship’s cabin. 
The problem was to make it look large 
White paint did the trick—white walls , white 
furniture, white floor 
H, make me a room of sombre hue, 
all solemn and tender and sad, for 
I would sit in the gathering dusk and dream 
and be weary and mad. It would be so 
psychic—if you know what I mean. 
“It is such a luxury to feel sorrowful. 
Don’t you think so? I care little for bright 
colors. They make my head ache. I like 
a dark room best, with lots of heavy cur¬ 
tains—the sun is so dazzling.” 
All of which sounds so nicely delicate and 
mid-Victorian and sentimental and—un¬ 
healthy. Moreover, such stuff is everlast¬ 
ingly out of date. In these days, when it is 
considered most divine to be most normally 
human, men and women together seek the 
sunshine, the gaiety and gladness of life, and 
dare to express their delight in bright colors, 
lively music and ringing laughter. 
Sincere Colors 
We furnish our rooms to suit ourselves, 
not to gratify the imagined opinion of our 
next door neighbors or our next of kin. Let 
them close themselves in rooms of neutral 
hue; some are strong enough to endure it. 
Let them wear sombre colors; they may 
like them; or they may find enough hilarity 
in the single jewel at the neck or wrist. 
But most of us who smile from a glad¬ 
some heart will have our bright colors, be- 
Over the chiffonier is a sten¬ 
cil in black of girls at tether- 
ball. No other pictures are 
used, this strong one fully 
sufficing 
cause bright colors are simple and clean and 
direct. We like straightforward sincerity. 
See that quiet man, full of years. How 
he loves that flame-colored silk ! Look ! He 
is tossing it up and down in his hand as 
though it were a true flame! He has been 
in again and again to fondle that silk. 
We are breaking away from tradition in 
so many ways, the young and the full of 
years. Each day, it seems, some further 
barrier is broken down. 
“I want,” said the young lady, “a room 
done in blue and orange—you know, bright 
dark blue and orange, a kind of pinkish 
orange. I know it is crazy, but I’d love to 
have it. I am so tired of pink rooms and 
blue rooms. I’ve had those colors always. 
But mother won’t hear of it, so T shall wait 
Slip covers of apricot and black make the 
bed a couch by day. At night you fold your 
slips like the Arabs, and silently steal away 
to peaceful slumber 
with my pink room till she gives her con¬ 
sent, and then you will help me to get it 
all just right, won't you?” 
And after the family were convinced, 
then the workmen! They remember doing 
that house for a special man years ago, and 
their traditions were strong. 
What the Painter Said 
“Oh, no, lady!” said the painter, “I 
couldn’t possibly paint the floor white—they 
don’t do that. I’ll paint it brown or red or 
tan—but oh no, not white!” And he shud¬ 
dered at the idea, notwithstanding that most 
willingly had he painted the trim creamy 
white, and gladly had he papered the walls 
with smooth creams, white paper and smiled 
at the creamy whiteness of the furniture, 
but the floor white— never! 
And again, “Why, white paint on the floor 
wouldn’t wear, lady—no, not even if it had 
varnish and shellac over it.” 
The room in question is a tiny room, the 
characteristic apartment bedroom. It re¬ 
minds one of the cabin in a small sized 
yacht, very small sized. And with the in¬ 
genuity of a yacht builder and furnisher 
must such a room be treated, or the occu¬ 
pant will be lost beyond recall. 
The floor space is 8' 10" x 10' 10", the 
(Continued on page 62) 
