68 
House & Garden 
Lighting Fixtures 
These handsome MILLER Fixtures will lend 
enchantment to that new home—or to your 
present abode. They harmonize with Colonial 
and Georgian period furnishings. 
The prices quoted make them irresistible to all 
who appreciate the beautiful, expressed in terms 
of enduring construction, genuine value. 
On display at all MILLER dealers. Write us 
for name of nearest one. 
No. 71, 5-light Fixture: 
Old Brass and Black, $32.85 (West of Rockies $35.35) 
Silver and Black or Umber Bronze, $39.40 
(West of Rockies $41.90) 
No. 711, 2-light Bracket: 
Old Brass and Black, $14.00 (West of Rockies $15.00) 
Silver and Black or Umber Bronze, $16.80 
(West of Rockies $17.80) 
Prices do not include bulbs or installation. 
Old Brass and Black or Umber Bronze for living room. 
Silver and Black for dining room. 
How to Make Colorful Rooms 
(Continued from page 33) 
also play a part in the general harmony 
of the color scheme. 
This tint should not be decided at 
random; it should be considered in re¬ 
lation to the other colors to be em¬ 
ployed in the room. A very good way 
to determine what it should be is to 
make it a neutralized complement of the 
other colors. For example, if the main 
tone is to be some shade of red, a white, 
light gray or light brown, almost im¬ 
perceptibly tinted with red, will make 
an excellent background. If two main 
colors are to be used, such as red and 
blue, a slight and subdued indication of 
violet will serve to tie the two together. 
Of course two primary colors, such as 
red and blue, should never be used in 
equal proportions in a room. One must 
dominate the other, so that the second 
may act as a relieving note to the main 
theme. I have heard of an interior 
decorator who used to determine the 
color of the background by taking the 
other tones to go in the room, pasting 
them on a circular piece of cardboard, 
and revolving them either on a color 
wheel or on a talking machine. In ro¬ 
tation the colors will blend into one 
tone, and that tone which you see is 
the most harmonious background for 
the colors. This is a very sensible and 
sure way to arrive at color harmony in 
a room. 
Besides the complementary colors 
in a room there should be some 
contrasting ones; but these should be 
confined to small objects so that they 
will form merely a contrasting spot of 
interest, and not a conflicting or oppos¬ 
ing color to fight with the general color 
scheme. This is usually accomplished 
with lamp shades, pictures, vases, gold¬ 
fish bowls or some other object of about 
that size. But there must not be too 
many of these, and about the only way 
to determine the proper proportion is 
by actually trying them in the room, 
and seeing whether they add to or de¬ 
tract from the main theme. 
There are two ways to go about dec¬ 
orating a room. If the furniture and 
hangings (or some of them) are already 
purchased, the sensible thing to do is to 
make the background and color scheme 
harmonize with them, if it is possible. 
If it is not possible, some of the inhar¬ 
monious furniture must be discarded or 
used elsewhere. But if there is no ex¬ 
isting furniture to be considered, it is 
possible to work out an effective and 
harmonious scheme of decoration, and 
to get the furniture which will best suit 
the scheme. The architectural form and 
ornament in the room must, of course, 
also be taken into account. If you have 
an English room, with beam ceiling and 
oak wainscoting, it would be ludicrous 
to plan a Louis XV type of decoration. 
However, it is usually possible to take 
the different elements already at hand 
and evolve from them a suitable and at¬ 
tractive system of color decoration. 
It is impossible to set down any defi¬ 
nite rules which will cover all contin¬ 
gencies for such a system, because dif¬ 
ferent conditions demand different treat¬ 
ment. But there are certain basic prin¬ 
ciples which will admit of a general set 
of rules to be followed. It must be re¬ 
membered, however, that just as in play¬ 
ing bridge rules are made only to be 
broken provided the player is sufficiently 
proficient to do so intelligently, so rules 
for color harmony cannot be made to 
cover all kinds of conditions. Usually, 
however, the first step in decorating a 
room is to decide upon the major color 
which is to be used in the greatest quan¬ 
tity, whether it be on the furniture or 
the draperies. This having been deter¬ 
mined, the next step is to select a com¬ 
plementary color which shall be used in 
less quantity in the other furnishings— 
in the curtains, for example, if the color 
of the furniture is the dominant note. 
From these two colors it is possible to 
select a neutral tone for the rugs and 
walls which will, nevertheless, carry a 
hint of the tone created by the combi¬ 
nation of these two colors, in propor¬ 
tion to their relative importance. This 
having been, accomplished, there remains 
only the task of supplying some con¬ 
trasting spots, which can best be done 
by trying out the different possibilities. 
It will be seen, of course, that the 
above elementary rules are very gen¬ 
eral, and they must not be taken too 
literally. A Persian rug, for example, 
might have a dozen colors in it, yet it 
will usually have a predominant note 
which gives the tone to the whole. It 
is this predominant note which must be 
considered in the general color scheme. 
The same holds true of a tapestry or 
patterned furniture coverings or curtains. 
Personally I have a preference for solid 
colors (neutralized, of course) on walls 
and floors, but that does not mean that 
there must be no vibration of tones in 
the general effect. In fact, an artistic 
vibration of color in a large surface 
usually tends to give more brilliancy 
to the main or resulting color. Thus the 
principles for the use of color can be 
only generally outlined, and a few 
“don’ts” may be cited. But, after ob¬ 
taining an understanding of the elemen¬ 
tary principles, it still depends upon the 
individual and the special conditions to 
supply the little touches to the general 
scheme which go to make a highly 
artistic result. 
The Varnish Finish for Wood 
(Continued from page 44) 
and fir do not require the use of a 
filler. If the wood is to be colored, an 
oil stain should be used first, allowing 
it twenty-four hours to dry. Do not 
sand after applying the oil stain. The 
priming coat of varnish should be 
thinned 10% with turpentine, and the 
same precautions outlined above should 
be taken. 
Go over this coat thoroughly with 
fine sandpaper after it has dried, see 
that the surface is perfectly clean and 
apply the second coat, using the varnish 
without thinning—just as it is in the can 
when opened. 
A wood filler must be used for oak 
and other close-grained woods before 
applying the varnish. The filler will 
require twenty-four hours for drying, 
whereupon it should be sanded to re¬ 
move any hard lumps of material that 
may have formed on the surface. 
After this operation, the varnish 
should be applied as above directed for 
surfaces that have been previously 
finished. 
