62 
House & Garden 
USING RED IN DECORATION 
The Conservative Use of This Color May Eventually 
Justify Eugene Field’s Famous Quip 
E UGENE Field is reputed to have 
said that he liked any color so long 
as it was red. This quip generally 
expresses the proverbial male opinion 01 
color. All men are supposed to like red. 
That is why so many hotels and men’s 
clubs at one time were furnished in red. 
Then for a while red as a color to be used 
in furnishing passed under a cloud of dis¬ 
favor—it was considered a vulgar taste. 
Now the pendulum is swinging -back and 
the conservative use of red is being ap¬ 
preciated—by both women and men. 
Before one attempts to use red in deco¬ 
ration she should understand the relation 
of red to the other primary colors and the 
variations of red which are available. 
R ED is the most intense of the three 
primary colors, yellow, red, and blue, 
and its place, midway between the 
other two, is established by its progress 
from white to black. 
White, through its nearest equivalent 
yellow, leads through orange up to red; 
red passes down through the violets to that 
blue which is nearest to black. 
Generally speaking, the blue-reds which 
shade to purple are softer than the yellow- 
reds which turn towards orange. 
Red includes all shades of purple and 
pink, which is merely white tinted with 
any bright red. 
The reds may be said to fall into two 
categories—the Iron (or earth) colors, and 
the Crimsons, chemical derivatives. "Vene¬ 
tian, Indian, and Tuscan red, the ochres 
(red ochre and light red) and the umbers 
derive their color from iron and belong to 
the first category. 
The crimsons begin with carmine (made 
from cochineal) and crimson lake, which 
is a derivative of carmine. Alizarin crim¬ 
son, a product of coal-tar, is useful, though 
less vivid than the Madders which are 
made from the madder root. 
The iron colors have more body and a 
greater covering capacity than the crimsons. 
They are also cheaper and more generally 
useful to the house painter for ordinary 
purposes. Cinnabar, which is a mercuric 
sulphide, provides vermilion, the brightest 
red of all. The note of this red is too em¬ 
phatic for general use; house decorators, 
therefore employ it sparingly, and use it 
chiefly to give accent and emphasis. 
A touch of vermilion or bright scarlet 
in a room tells instantly; it is more asser¬ 
tive than any color, and this fact must lie 
borne in mind, if it is to be dealt with 
successfully. If, for example, a cabinet of 
red lacquer were to be placed in a room 
BARRY KENNEDY 
with parchment-colored walls, it would set 
the key. Even in a large room this note 
of color would remain dominant, though it 
might have no stronger repetition than may 
be afforded by one small piece of china 
or embroidery. 
A LTHOUGH there are difficulties 
about using this glorious color in the 
mass, they are not insurmountable. 
Ceilings of vermilion can be extremely deco¬ 
rative in lofty rooms, and the reflections 
cast are distinctly good. For this purpose 
a plain tempera paper will be found to be 
more intensely red than one with a shiny 
surface. When introduced in this way 
vermilion will not be found exacting, nor 
will it contract the apparent size of the 
room. Scarlet walls, on the other hand, 
would be likely to have that effect, since 
red is an advancing color, and the brighter 
the red the more it advances. If a room 
of moderate proportions with hangings and 
carpet of grey or of some quiet neutral 
shade were to have the surrounding floor 
painted in vermilion, it would look well 
and vet not -be obtrusive. But if a ver¬ 
milion floor were to be introduced in juxta¬ 
position to a black carpet, or in very pale 
surroundings, it would be conspicuous, 
though a room deliberately planned on 
such a decorative scheme might evolve 
charmingly. 
Vermilion is a permanent color, but not 
one of the cheapest, and substitutes known 
as vermilionettes are often used for paint 
work. There are others to be had ready- 
mixed under various names, such as signal- 
red, fire-red, which is similar to deep 
vermilion, and so on. 
If vermilion is to be lightened, pale 
chrome yellow must be used, and not white 
lead, as the latter simply turns the vermil¬ 
ion to pink. Orange-vermilion is a pale 
shade,'but the color does not admit of much 
variation. It cannot be darkened; when it 
is mixed with Alizarin crimson it is called 
scarlet-lake, and is still a vivid hue, but it 
is no longer vermilion. 
HILE red has not the restful 
qualities desirable in a bedroom, it 
is counted suitable for dining rooms. 
A full deep crimson paper makes a fine 
background for old portraits and pictures 
in gilt frames, and is highly appropriate 
to solid, “handsome” surroundings. Most 
of the reds can also be trusted to light up 
beautifully, though the shades with a 
purplish cast are less reliable in this 
respect. 
Royal purple often looks gloomy at night, 
and the reddish purples, such as maroon, 
etc., are apt to turn an ugly vague brown. 
Maroon is associated with the reds of 
the middle 19th Century; terra-cotta was 
the red for cultured folk in the eighteen 
"eighties. 
The trouble with all indeterminate “Art” 
colors is that they are not improved by 
time, and they look shabby when colors 
of original strength and purity are only 
growing mellow. This particularly applies 
to curtains and brocades for upholstering, 
and the more or less permanent and costly 
things; wall coverings are, of course, easily 
renewable. The old crimson brocades that 
have come down to us from Carolean times 
have scarcely suffered by the passage of 
centuries. 
Terra-cotta is a good and useful color 
when properly understood. It should ap¬ 
proximate to one or other of the beautiful 
tones in old red-brick. A fine rosy terra¬ 
cotta may be produced with Venetian red 
for base brightened up with yellow ochre 
and a little crimson lake. The color 
known by artists as light red is made from 
burnt yellow ochre, and is most valuable 
for tempera work, as it is quite permanent. 
The pink shades divide into the rose- 
pinks and the yellow or salmon-pinks, and 
with nearly all the pinks there is a ten¬ 
dency to the insipid. 
\T O one color which is intelligently 
.1^1 handled can be earmarked as 
“wrong” or “bad” more than an¬ 
other, if the proportions in which it is 
used have all been well considered, and 
the effect of surrounding colors taken into 
account. The style or period of the fur¬ 
niture must also be considered. It must 
be taken as a guarded statement that the 
rose (or violet) pinks are less liable to 
insipidity than the yellow or salmons. 
Certain of the violet-pinks which are in 
high favor today err on the other side. 
The red lampshade has many adherents, 
and a certain decorative value cannot be 
denied it, but for practical purposes it is 
a wrong choice. A red light is bad for 
the eyes and unsatisfactory for general 
illumination. Red window blinds are an¬ 
other matter; seen from the outside on a 
winter night there is something cheerful 
about the red light of the windows. V hen 
drawn as a protection against the sun they 
tend to look hot, though in reality they 
keep the room cool by absorbing the sun s 
ravs. The old-fashioned Turkey red is 
still unrivalled for country casements; for 
little low windows the curtain should run 
on a bright brass rod with rings, and these 
dyed red will add to the effect. 
