36 
House & Garden 
THE COLOR OF SUNLIGHT 
IIozv Such a Strong Color as Yellow May Be Induced To Serve the 
Purpose of Domestic Decoration 
A WIDE field is covered by the term 
yellow. It is capable of many inter¬ 
pretations, and is habitually used in 
similes of most contradictory import. Cheerful 
as sunlight, cool as a lemon, hot as mustard, 
pale as a primrose, gay as daffodils—these are 
a few of the antitheses that come to mind. 
But speaking from the decorator's stand¬ 
point, yellow is a safe and successful color, 
even the abhored mustard hue can be turned to 
gold by capable hands. Everything depends 
on the tone and the surroundings. No color in 
decoration can be judged alone and apart from 
another color; one helps the 
other, and the best laid 
schemes can be marred by 
the introduction of a false 
note. 
There is a large range to 
choose from, and although 
sharp distinctions are diffi¬ 
cult to make among the 
subtle yellows, still it is just 
possible to divide them into 
two classes—the cold yel¬ 
lows and the warm, 
The cold yellows, which 
verge on pale green and 
have a hint of grayness in 
their gold, may be compared 
with the pale, chilly tints of 
early spring in which some¬ 
thing of winter still lingers. 
The w r arm yellows, which 
run through gold into the 
fine tawny reds and russets 
of autumn, would seem to 
have absorbed sunlight and 
warmth into their composi¬ 
tion, and these sunny shades 
are, on the whole, the safer 
choice. Certain of the 
spring shades—invaluable 
as they are for strange and 
original schemes—still need a little finessing 
in order to ensure their success, 
The principal yellows used for oil and water 
plants are the following: Naples yellow; the 
chromes—lemon, middle and scarlet chrome; 
ochre, burnt sienna and raw sienna, which 
strictly are not yellows but warm and cold 
browns of a yellowish tinge; zinc yellow and 
Dutch pink, although this last is but little used. 
Of these, zinc yellow, lemon chrome and Na- 
pies yellow are cold shades, and the remaining 
are the warm shades. 
Naples yellow is a color without much body 
and more or less transparent, therefore it is a 
good color for glazing, which means laying a 
color thinly over the original paint to give it 
quality and tone. It is used with zinc white 
or as a staining tint for enamel. 
Chrome has a tendency to fade and conse¬ 
quently is not much good for water paints, it is 
better for paint in connection with white lead 
and oil. 
Ochre can be used either with oil or for 
water paint. 
From these pigments every gradation of yel¬ 
low is evolved, from cream or buff to orange, 
from golden brown back to primrose. 
Yellow lias had its ups and downs; a rage 
for it has been succeeded, from time to time, by 
neglect. In the days of our grandmothers it 
was counted preeminently a suitable color for 
the stiff and stately drawing rooms of the time. 
Accordingly the ottomans and sofas, chairs and 
footstools were upholstered and buttoned 
tightly into silk or satin brocade, and curtains 
An old parchment yellow is especially valuable in a dining room where it can take a 
richer hue from the sunlight. Here it has been used with a mantel of cream marble 
and yellow surrounds, a gold carpet and beech colored velvet curtains 
to match completed the admired yellow draw¬ 
ing room. To protect this fragile elegance, 
holland pinafores were made for every piece 
of furniture and popped on and off according 
to the occasion. 
Yellow has once more come into fashion; 
people who a little while back looked askance 
on canary and gold, now demand the brightest 
without a tremor. But we use our yellow with 
a difference. Modern woman is at once thrifty 
and free from petty carefulness; she refuses to 
sew overalls for her chairs, but, on the other 
hand, she will not have the furniture done up 
in a silk too fine to be sat upon. The yellow 
room of today will have the woodwork painted 
and the walls hung with the chosen color; a 
ceiling will be gilt or colored in tempera; a 
saffron cushion will be placed here and there. 
In some such way we achieve our desire, a room 
to live in, not a room for show. The wonderful 
imperial yellow of China can be imitated 
exactly by using zinc yellow and white, and if 
it is for paint, the work should be finished with 
a glaze of turpentine to which a small quantity 
of gold size has been added—say, one in 
twenty—and a tinge of emerald green. This 
gives at once a beautiful and subtle quality to 
the work. 
For a fresh and brilliant modern color effect, 
zinc yellow mixed with a little white is stippled 
on to a ground of emerald green. White mixed 
with raw umber, black and a little zinc yellow, 
will give that deep parchment color which just 
borders on yellow. This is an admirable treat¬ 
ment for the walls of a farmhouse or cottage 
where there are oak beams 
and dark furniture. A lovely 
treatment for the walls of a 
fairly large room is to paint 
them with middle chrome 
mixed with white, and then 
finish with a glaze which is 
made of raw sienna and 
black mixed in the propor¬ 
tion of about six sienna to 
one black. The effect of 
this is a yellow glow, the 
color of ripe corn. 
Biscuit color just verging 
on yellow is highly popular 
and makes the best of back¬ 
grounds in any form— 
paper, water or oil paints, 
for a flat paint—one with a 
dull finish—ochre and 
white are the ingredients 
used, with a small quantity 
of orange chrome. 
Gold is highly valued 
now in the decorative 
scheme of things. To get a 
dull gold look in paint, the 
mixture is middle chrome 
with ochre and white, and 
a final glaze is given with 
raw sienna and Vandyke 
brown. Beautiful as this is in appropriate sur¬ 
roundings, it requires good light and a certain 
spaciousness. With these, and in capable 
hands, it can be perfection. 
For a good and simple yellow scheme that 
would be successful in almost any room, yellow 
woodwork is suggested, with an elephant gray 
paper and a pale yellow wash for ceiling and 
cornice. This yellow is made by mixing the 
zinc yellow with white, and for the woodwork, 
glazing with a little black and raw sienna 
mixed. The elephant gray is made from a 
blend of cobalt blue, flake white and black with 
a touch of vermillion. 
Small wonder that yellow can never be long 
ignored. It gives the illusion of sun and light 
as no other color can. In cold north rooms its 
glow can work miracles, and at the same time 
it is not a hot color like scarlet; certain of the 
spring yellows are particularly cool looking. 
There is no reason why yellow should not be 
used in even what is known as a sunnv room. 
