28 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
Small pieces make this small 
Adam dining-room look large. 
The rug is black with two tones 
of tan; the curtains black and tan; 
chairs rose. The stock fixture 
is cleverly disguised. 
We are confined, in most cases,, 
to neutralized shades of colors for 
wall coverings largely because, if 
we were to use intense shades, we 
should find our backgrounds leap¬ 
ing out in front of our furniture, 
bric-a-brac and pictures. That is 
why so many papers in the so-called 
taupe or fawn color, or pale tan, 
have been employed, and so many 
carpets of the same sort. There is 
really, however, no adequate reason 
why soft tones of blue and green 
(which is also a size-increasing 
hue) should not be used quite as 
much, except that these are a little 
more difficult to handle than the 
greyed tans that are in vogue. 
But color is not by any means 
the only element that controls 
(Continued on page 62) 
Green is the prevailing color in 
this boudoir, the furniture being 
soft green striped with black, the 
curtains tan and green striped 
taffeta, the rug and walls painted 
a very deep ivory 
more potently than their surround¬ 
ings. 
It may be supposed from this that 
I am recommending blue walls and 
blue curtains for every small room, 
and one might reasonably tend to do 
this were it not that such procedure 
would conflict very violently with an¬ 
other equally important principle, 
which is that, if the stronger colors 
are used over the large areas of a 
room, the small, important elements 
in the furnishing will be rendered 
unimportant. Just as we should use 
red only for the creation of certain 
spots of color, so we must use blue, 
or any of the other primary or sec¬ 
ondary hues—namely, yellow, orange, 
green or violet—more or less spar¬ 
ingly for wall surfaces, and certainly 
not in anything like their full inten¬ 
sity at any time for this purpose. 
A few dignified pieces have given this foyer a sense 
of space. Against the many-colored tapestry of the 
chairs have been used velvet pillows 
r z ~ .~ -.~- ~. ~ 
Soft tones are used in this Chippendale dining-room: 
a blue and gold Chinese rug; silvered fixtures and 
mirror; curtains and chairs upholstered in blue velvet 
A man’s room in which the bed and the circular, 
rattan panelled chiffonier are the principal objects, 
since they serve most the needs of the occupant 
