October, 
1917 
53 
THIRTY-SIX FACTS ABOUT COLOR 
The 
Fundamental Principles Governing 
and Color Arrangement in a 
Color Selection 
Room 
This is the first of a series of pages in which will be told the funda¬ 
mental facts of matters concerning the construction and decoration of 
the house and the maintenance of the gardens. For the sake of easy 
consumption they are set down in the shortest possible terms. Next 
month "Thirty Facts About Building Materials” will be explained. 
A KNOWLEDGE of the value 
and effect of colors and the 
effects one produces on the 
other is necessary to the building up of a color scheme 
in a room. Hit and miss combinations are unrestful 
and annoying. They produce chaos. These rules of 
color have been worked out through long study of 
color experts; they are accepted by decorators as 
fundamental. 
Blue is a contrasting color. It reflects less light 
than it receives. Consequently objects that it colors 
seem smaller than they are. The predominance of 
blue in a room, then, will actually make it appear 
smaller. 
Yellow is an expanding color. It reflects light more 
readily than any other color and seemingly diffuses 
more light than it receives. Hence, it makes an ob¬ 
ject seem larger than it is. 
Red is a positive color. It reflects almost exactly 
the same quantity of light that it receives. Objects 
that it colors hold their true value. But red is gen¬ 
erally so strong a color that it must be used sparingly 
to get proper effects. 
The cold colors are grays, mauves, violets and 
blues, unless used in combination with warm tones. 
Blue-green is cool and retiring. 
Green, purple and brown and all other combined 
colors will follow the tendencies of the dominant 
primary color in their mixtures. A green with a 
strong yellow cast, as olive, will follow the general 
rule of yellow; green with a strong blue cast like 
blue-green, will follow the general rule for blue. 
I N selecting colors for papers and 
hangings for a room do not trust 
to your judgment in the shop. 
Colors in the hand may look quite different on the 
wall. Also, colors in the small compass of a sample 
will not appear as strong as they will be on the large 
space of a wall. Take the sample home, hang it in 
place, and study it in all lights and in all moods. 
It is not advisable to mix warm and cold colors on 
the same walls or in adjacent spaces. Thus gray 
walls call for dull blue or green curtains; cream walls 
for yellow, brown, buff or apple-green curtains. 
Rooms cold in atmosphere can be warmed by using 
cream or gold gauze for sash curtains. Gauze will 
diffuse the light and give it an even tone over the 
room. A north room or any room more or less sun¬ 
less requires the warm, sun-producing yellows, pinks, 
apple-greens, beige and wood colors. 
A cold room can be warmed up by an introduction 
of warm color spots in such accessories as lampshades, 
and sofa pillows of rose or yellow material. 
In every room there should be a dominant color. 
Contrasting color with this should be limited to pro¬ 
portions which give simply a pleasing emphasis. 
cream and tan being warm colors that are required 
in a north room. 
In bedrooms, a light color should predominate. It 
is restful. The colors should be dainty and soft. 
Soft blues, soft yellows, soft pinks and soft creams 
are best. 
For a large, well lighted room, yellow, red and 
orange in delicate shades are not as desirable as 
orange, violet and russet in light shades. 
As one ascends in a house and the light grows 
stronger, there is less need for light colors. A glossy, 
ivory white in a third floor sunny bedroom would 
be too glaring for comfort. Hence, a semi-gloss or a 
dull finish is preferable. 
I N selecting colors for lampshades 
and shields remember that arti¬ 
ficial light changes colors per¬ 
ceptibly. An orange light makes white appear orange; 
red, red-orange; yellow, orange-yellow; green, yellow- 
green ; blue, reddish-gray; violet, a purple-gray; black, 
brown. 
Yellow light gives to white a yellow appearance; 
to red, orange-brown; to yellow, a deeper tone; green, 
yellowish-green ; blue, slate-gray ; black, olive-black. 
Green light makes white appear green; red, yellow¬ 
ish-brown ; yellow, yellow-green; blue, blue-green; 
black, greenish-gray. 
Blue light on white makes it appear blue; red, pur¬ 
ple ; orange, plum; green, blue-green; blue, a deeper 
blue; black, a bluish-black. 
Violet rays make white appear violet; red, purple; 
orange, a red-gray; yellow, a purple-gray; blue and 
blue-violet and black, a violet black. 
B EFORE selecting a color scheme 
for a room, study the exposure 
of the room and the amount of 
light that comes into it. This will be governed by 
the points of the compass, the proximity of trees or 
Colors Effect 
Colors 
R emember that colors affect 
each other. The well studied 
scheme of a room may be en¬ 
tirely changed by the light shed on it by the curtains. 
A deep blue vase will appear purple if the sash cur¬ 
tains are mauve gauze; it will take on a yellowish- 
green tint if the curtains shed a yellow light over it. 
To place white by the side of a color, heightens 
or intensifies that color. Black has the opposite effect, 
it deadens it. Gray, being a medium between the 
two extremes, renders an adjacent color less brilliant 
but at the same time takes to itself a complement of 
that color. 
Cream, tan, gray and green are best for halls, liv¬ 
ing rooms and dining rooms, according, of course, to 
the amount of light admitted into these rooms, the 
other buildings, and the overhang of eaves. The 
type of furniture to be used in the room will also have 
some effect on the general scheme. Heavy dark oak 
or walnut will call for more lightening than would 
furniture painted light French gray or yellow. 
For a hall: Red orange walls; woodwork of an¬ 
tique oak stain touched with blue-violet; yellowish- 
green hangings; dull finish antique oak furniture; 
blue-violet upholstery; red-orange rug. 
For a living room: Yellowish-green walls; antique 
oak woodwork stained and touched with red orange; 
hangings of figured fabrics with blue, violet-red and 
red-orange; antique dull oak furniture; upholstery 
same as hangings with a few pieces in red-orange; 
blue-violet rug. 
For a living room or libary: Brown floor cover¬ 
ings; tan walls; sapphire blue, tan, brown and dull 
pink drapery fabrics; sapphire blue velour cushions; 
dull pink shades trimmed with blue guimpe. 
For a dining room: Yellow-orange walls; antique 
oak stain woodwork; hangings of figured fabrics with 
red-orange or blue-violet predominating; antique dull 
oak furniture; blue-violet upholstery; dark gray rug. 
For a dining room: Dull green-blue floor cover¬ 
ings; dull oak colored wainscot; gray, brown and 
mulberry figured wall paper; yellow, green and mul¬ 
berry upholstery and hangings; plain mulberry 
cushions. 
For a bedroom: Rose rugs; gray walls; rose, gray, 
black, green and yellow hangings; hangings and cov¬ 
ers bound with plain green taffeta; rose upholstery; 
gold and rose accessories. 
For a bedroom: Green floor covering; white walls; 
green, yellow and white draperies; green upholstery; 
bright light yellow and clear green accessories. 
I T is generally recognized that 
each of the periods has a dis¬ 
tinctive color or series of colors. 
Students trace the influence back to Greece, Egypt and 
Pompeii, where colors were used in their full values. 
Such bits as we have of these colors are faded and 
softened with age, but there is every reason to believe 
that they were not toned down originally. 
There is generally a reason for the use of certain 
colors in certain periods. Thus, our Colonial and 
Georgian interiors were painted white for the simple 
reason that the ceilings were low and the windows 
small, and white furnished the necessary artificial 
light. 
Decorators recognize a certain shade of green as 
Empire green. Here again there is a reason. The 
furniture of the Empire style was mahogany with 
brass trimmings, and green furnishes a pleasing con¬ 
trast. 
Louis XIV and XV were characterized by a use of 
gold. These two periods were outgrowths of the Re¬ 
naissance, and in Italian Renaissance interiors and 
paintings the use of gold is evident. Louis XVI, on 
the other hand, was a return to the classic style and 
showed a more restrained use of color. 
Adam caught the inspiration for his style from 
Pompeii. Now, the original Pompeian colors, as ex¬ 
plained above, were white, yellow, blue, red and black, 
all in their full strength. These colors were obviously 
inharmonious in English residences and with the del¬ 
icate lines of Adam furniture. Adam chose light 
backgrounds and accented the design with stronger 
colors, such as white medalions and figures on pale 
blue grounds, and vice versa. 
The Elizabethan fabrics have rich backgrounds 
with floral and figure designs in black, red, deep 
yellow and dark blue. The furniture was oak, and 
these are colors that enliven oak. 
