January, 19 18 
51 
PAINTED FURNITURE 
Some Notes on Its Possibilities 
and Proper Use 
H. A. MARQUIS 
U SED with discrimination nothing can so give 
life to an interior as painted furniture. But 
that discrimination presupposes many things. 
It presupposes a recognition of color combinations, an 
understanding of what backgrounds are necessary, 
and a feeling for the types of furniture. 
For the decorative value of painted furniture lies 
in the fact that it adapts itself to any color scheme 
and can be re-painted when the scheme is changed. 
Thus, if we want a bedroom in mauve and lemon 
yellow, for example, the carpet, or foundation of the 
room, would be purple or mulberry. The walls would 
be a neutral tan, the curtains mauve silk piped with 
lemon yellow, which will vitalize the mauve. 1 hen 
the furniture would carry the same value mauve as 
the curtains and be striped with lemon yellow. Or 
if one chooses for the hangings a figured cretonne, 
secondary colors are red, brown, and green. Hie 
furniture could be painted in one of the dominant 
colors and decorated in one of the secondary. 1 his 
choice of the right color is the secret of success with 
painted furniture. Having decided on the hangings, 
take a sample of the fabric to the furniture shop and 
see that the paint used harmonizes correctly. 
The Choice of Backgrounds 
One must be careful in the choice of backgrounds 
where painted furniture is used. The background 
color should be unobtrusive and neutral, permitting 
the furniture to give its full color value. If the walls 
and the furniture “clash,” the room is immediately 
made chaotic. If the color and design of the wall are 
more prominent than the furniture, then the furniture 
loses by comparison. Therefore, it is always a safe 
rule in using painted furniture to let the color be 
found in the furniture and the hangings and keep the 
wall, as it should be, a background. 
An understanding of the types of painted furniture 
is necessary before we can properly use it. The lack 
of this knowledge has caused much misuse of it. 
There are three general types—the crude peasant or 
farmhouse variety that fits well on the porch, break¬ 
fast room or country cottage, where strong natural 
color is possible; the simply painted kinds that are 
being used in bedrooms; and the more formal types 
of period furniture. 
The painted period furniture is used, of course, 
according to the general rules of its period. One 
can choose the color, but the contour of the furniture 
will decide its historical background. The simply 
painted furniture that one finds so popular in bed¬ 
room decoration has been described above. Finally, 
comes the cruder work that fits in so admirably with 
the al fresco rooms of the house. 
In Nursery and Porch 
Nothing is better for a nursery than painted furni¬ 
ture. See that the color is quiet and restful to the 
child’s eye. The decorations can be taken from the 
hangings or represent some Mother Goose figure. 
Innumerable sets of this kind can be found on the 
market at reasonable prices. If one wishes, the 
decorations can be laid on by decalcomanias and 
afterward shellacked. 
Used on the porch, painted furniture partakes some¬ 
what of the atmosphere of outdoors, and ?t can there¬ 
fore be painted in strong colors—bright reds, blues, 
yellows and greens, such as Nature herself uses. • 
Here again a definite color scheme should be followed. 
But most of all does painted furniture appeal to 
us for the country cottage, where old nondescript 
furniture can be gathered together and painted to 
suit any scheme one pleases. Here the color effects 
made possible by paints are especially appropriate, 
their simplicity peculiarly desirable. 
The furniture shown in the photographs on page 
68 is part of the fittings of a drawing room which 
was constructed almost entirely from pieces of furni¬ 
ture that had been discarded by the owner, as too 
ugly, and too much out of date to be used any longer. 
The owner’s house had been rented furnished, and in 
moving into a cottage which she had built, she “bor¬ 
rowed” from her tenants such pieces as could be best 
spared without notice. A chair was taken from this 
room, a desk from that, a table from the dining room, 
an obsolete music-rack from the drawing room; and 
when the lot were assembled they presented a sorry 
sight. But a solution of the difficulty was found. 
(Continued on page 68) 
iiill liilUiilil ***g V&S&- 
mmmm 
Maugans 
Another type is that in which 
polychrome decorations en¬ 
rich carved wood. Here the 
chest is used in a formal 
living room. II. F. Huber Fr 
Co., decorators 
In the nursery simple 
painted furniture adds the 
interest of color and quaint 
decorations and creates a 
pleasant atmosphere for 
the children 
The more jormal patterns 
require a corresponding 
background, as in this din¬ 
ing room. From the resi¬ 
dence of Samuel McRoberts, 
Esq., Mt. Kisco, N. Y. 
Foster & Gade, architects 
