What to Do With the Walls 
SOME HINTS ON INTERIOR DECORATION 
By LEILA MECHLIN 
O NE of the most vexing questions of interior 
decoration is what to do with the walls—how 
to treat them, what to put on them. The 
prevailing impression seems to be that they are racks 
upon which pictures and all manner of flat objects 
can be hung, either as a matter of convenience or 
for the purpose of exhibition; but this is all wrong. 
Walls are primarily the background of the room and 
should be treated accordingly. They must be con¬ 
sidered a part of a single composition, not as an 
independent unit. They should supplement the 
furnishings but never intrude upon them. As in a 
picture the background should never be most 
noticeable, so in a room tbe walls should never be 
conspicuous. If one is furnishing as well as deco¬ 
rating, the problem is comparatively simple, for then 
a scheme of color can be determined upon and 
carried out with consistency, but in the other event 
it is sometimes necessary to call a compromise. 
There are certain hard and fast rules, however, 
which will be found applicable to all conditions, 
chief among which is the axiom of simplicity—the 
common use of plain, low-toned colors. For north 
rooms with little or no sunshine warm tints should 
be employed, the varying shades of pink and 
red, of buff and yellow; whereas, in south rooms, 
flooded with light, cool colors, such as blues, greens 
and grays, are best suited. These must be selected 
with reference to the woodwork. It is as incon¬ 
gruous to combine red wall covering with cherry 
or mahogany doors and window frames, as to trim 
a crimson gown with terra-cotta velvet; and yet this 
is something which few decorators seem to compre¬ 
hend, though one, who was reasoned with once, was 
known to declare that he himself did prefer “’armony 
to contrast.” 
As to the kinds of wall covering there is an endless 
variety, from silk tapestry down to fifteen cent paper. 
Japanese grass-cloth, decorative linen crash and 
burlap are being much used to-day and in many cases 
with excellent effect, and common calcimine, or 
water-color wash, is not to be despised. These, 
unless the ceilings are high, can be put on without a 
border, being finished by a moulding like the stand¬ 
ing woodwork, the ceiling tint being carried to this 
mould. Cartridge paper of course is good, and some 
excellent effects can be produced with two-toned 
papers. Figured patterns are not bad for bedrooms, 
but great care should be exercised in the choice of 
these; spotted devices should be eschewed and con¬ 
ventional rather than naturalistic arrangements 
chosen. A very awful effect in wall covering is a 
paper simulating a bright colored tapestry, hanging 
in folds. It was a clever imitation and the result is, 
that upon inspection the entire room takes on an 
undulating motion which in time proves very dis¬ 
concerting. Small bedrooms papered with large 
flaring peony, chrysanthemum and rose designs 
are also apt to prove extremely annoying. These 
sometimes in combination with plain papers, used as 
a deep border, have been made effective in rooms 
remittently occupied; such, for example, as a guest’s 
chamber, but even they conflict with the use of 
pictures or other decorations. 
An interesting effect is produced by the use of a 
plain paper with a cut-out, figured border. A charm¬ 
ing bedroom, for instance, was made by placing as a 
finish to pearl gray walls a festooned border, a foot 
in width, of roses and green-gray garlands cut out 
along the lower margin. A dining-room in another 
tasteful home gave equally pleasing effect in green 
walls with a foliage border treated after the same 
manner. 
Rooms with little furniture, or for use on gala 
occasions, will stand more elaborate decoration than 
living-rooms, commonly well filled; and likewise the 
choice and arrangement of pictures should be made 
with a view to their environment making qualities. 
All pictures to be agreeable companions should 
have a decorative motive; they should adapt them¬ 
selves or be adaptable to the general scheme of 
decoration and not be individually insistent. I his 
is a day when pictures—good pictures—can be had 
very cheaply; when excellent reproductions of the 
world’s masterpieces are within the reach of the 
most humble. These in photographs and half-tone 
prints, neatly framed and tastefully hung, are infi¬ 
nitely preferable to the more costly, highly colored, 
commercial products. It is reported that millionaire 
Blank paid $75,000 for a painting by Rembrandt; 
that Tompkins, the railroad magnate, purchased 
a Romney for two thirds that sum; but it is not 
noted that John Smith, the lumber dealer, bought 
a clever little landscape by a local painter, which 
will bring him lasting pleasure, for $75; or that archi¬ 
tect Jones was lucky enough to possess himself of 
an admirable little water-color, made by a brother 
artist, during his summer holiday, for a crisp twenty 
dollar note. Rembrandts and Rubens and Romneys 
are undoubtedly enviable possessions, but the present 
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