February, 1923 
51 
COLORFUL LIVING ROOMS 
It is Principally Through an Unusual Use of Color 
that an Interior is Made Individual and One's Own 
T HERE are so many different points 
to be considered when one is planning 
the decoration of a living room that 
it is best to begin with the essentials. 
First, where is the room? Is it in town 
or is it in the country? What part of the 
year will you spend in the house in which 
the room is? And what is the climate? 
Is it a sunny climate? 
The knowledge of all of these things 
seems to me to be truly essential when one 
is contemplating furnishing a room. Many 
people come to me and without telling me 
anything ask what colors to use in the living 
room. “I do not know whether I want it 
to be English, Italian or French” is the 
statement one hears so often. This is apt 
MRS. EM OFT BUEL 
to leave one a trifle bewildered and I fear 
my clients are often bored at the number of 
questions I ask when we first meet. One 
day a sweet lady resented so many ques¬ 
tions, saying she did not have very much 
time and that she had only come anyway 
to choose material for four pairs of cur¬ 
tains and to get a new mantel, and that it 
bored her to be questioned, and so we parted. 
The room to be charming must be done 
as a whole. Though it may be only a lamp 
that one wants one must know all about the 
room in which it is to go. If it is to be 
placed beside a low chair, one does not want 
a tall lamp out of all proportion to the 
chair. If it is going on a low round table 
it naturally must be a different shape and 
size than if intended for a long refectory 
table. The same thing holds good as to 
color. Learn if the lamp is to be placed 
near a sofa with a plain blue cover or near 
a chair possibly covered in chintz before 
deciding on its color and shade, for one 
lamp that is out of place can throw the 
whole room out. 
When planning a living room try to 
make everything in that room first have 
a reason for being there, and secondly have 
each object bear some relation to the others. 
So many rooms look to me as if they were 
done at cross purposes and all of a sudden. 
Even to put a picture puzzle together one 
must know what the picture is that one is 
trying to make. The trouble with most 
In a country 
house morn¬ 
ing room the 
walls and 
woodwork 
were painted 
cool gray as 
a background 
for the many 
colors of the 
flowers. Mrs. 
Buel was the 
decorator 
