Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-03-31
Hints for the Dining.R DOM.
From the Art Amateur for April.

The general plan of the decoration of the din
ing room should be somber, but at the same time
cheerful, or, in other words, deep in tone, but
not dull. 1t may have painted dado of good
dark tone, with stencilling or hand painting
upon it, There should be dado mould or
chair rail about 2 feet inches from the floor to
prevent the chairs from damaging the paint
The walls of course, would have to be plugged
for it. and. in order to get over the difficulty of
the plaster, it had better be flat rail about 3
inches wide, rather than q bold projecting
mould; if this is DONE most of the injury to the
plaster would be covered by it.
If there are to be many pictures, the walls
above the dado may be painted good war m
brown or chocolate color as this forms capital
background for them; or, ii papered, use one of
an all-oyer pattern in which the colOrs are well
blended. There would be the usual picture rail
or rod with frieze above which, supposing the
room to be about II feet high, should not be
more than IL inches or Is inches deep. run
ming painted or stencil pattern. with painted
panels or tiles at intervals, will be found suit
able for narrow trieze of this description. The
general tone of the cornice should be lighter
than the trieze. but darker than the ceiling. and
picked out in co!Ors to emphasize the mould
fngs. Sometimes one meets with immense
ugly cOrniceS in comparatively low ICONS. In
such cases good plan is to cut off one or two
OF the bottom members if it can be done with
In rooms under IL feet high M will often be
found better to omit the dado, Or rather, to
carry up the dadO for about two thirds OF the
height of the wall. letting the upper third form
deep frieze, which may be painted in dis
temper, and stenciled with foliage. birds. and
animals, not in one flat tint, or shade of tintng
only, but in various shades and tnts produced
by mingling the col ors on the palette. and also
by the deXterous handling of the stencil brush
in laying them on. Another plan of treating a
tc IN nir,k,,
and fixed to the wall; this, of course, could be
removed when occasion required. good
treatment for a dining-rOOm is to have dadO
of stamped leather paper OF a dark red or brown
ground. wall paper above of neutral blue,
and frieZe OF blue and white flock paper 1t
is very necessary, in choosing papers, to see
them both by day and also by artificial light the
difference in appearance of some is eXtraOrdi-
nary: as rule, yellOws look comparatively pa lie
and blues considerably darker by artificial light.
The woodwork may be painted in two tints
OF brown, dark red, or green, harmonizing with
the walls, and, where the room is papered,
good plan is to paint the panels of the doors the
same tone as the ground of the paper. the styles
and rails darker shade, and to pick out the
mOulds in still darker color, or in blue or
black. The panels may be stencilled or hand
painted, but, as rule a very little suf1ices to
relieve them, and it should be done in quiet
neutral colOrs Another way Is to fill in the
panels with Lincrusta Walton.
The floor should have stained and vanished
margins, about 2 or feet wide, but if the floor
boards are not good enough for this, they may
be painted and vanished. The first coat
should be as nearly as possible the same as the
finishing color, so that scratches may not be
seen upon it. All the wood work should be
vanished. SO that it may be easily cleaned. The
painted walls are also better varnlsh for the
same reason, but when required as a back
ground for pictures, should be flatted. 1t is
good plan, in painting room, if there is the
least suspicion of damp in the walls, to start
with two coats Of red lead. and let it he worked
we'll into the pores of the plaster.
The ceiling may be formed into panels, with
very light moulded wooden ribs, which can be
screwed to the laths if the latter are ordinarily
strong ones, and a fairly good effect may be
produced by this means very cheaply. The
whole may be painted in oil, or dstemper; if
not white, then warm gray or cream color,
the ribs picked out in one or two darker
shades and the panels may have little simple
stencilling. but the less that is done in this way
the better, In place of ribs the ceiling might
be divided into compartments, or panels, by
bold lines in distemper. with stencil border
inside; or if the room is small, large scroll.
commencing in one corner with leaves and
flowers. may be painted over the whole ceiling.