The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-05-01
Scientific House Decoration.

chumb to refurnish her house." said
n young woman of observation, land
/ have learned more about color eff
fects in one week than / ever knew
before. You see, houses are not
ainted or papered as they used to
Q, ON the old, simple plan of that
will look we'll here, and such pat
tern will be all right there, but ac-
iJrding to settled laws, canons and
rules. It's quite scientific matter
now, l assure you.
"Yellows. for instance, are all right
for q hall or vestibule, but they must
not be used in any room in which
one rests or reads or works. Why?
Because yellows do not absorb any
light, but are strong reflectors, and
the reflected rays of light are not
only trying to the eyes, but positive
ly affect the brain and the spirits,
creating distinct disturbance of the
nervous centers. So the modern
scientific decorator, at any rate, tells
us, ana we DelleVo HILL
ION the other hand, Bluffs and
creams are recommended for the
nursery and children's sleeping
rooms because of their tonic quail
ties They are better than white,
which is apt to disturb the young OPP
tic nerves by its brilliancy, and are
calculated to impart cheerful but
not too boisterous temperament as
we'll as a good complexion to the
youngsters.
For the library or workroom
there is no color like coffee. Coffee,
in fact, is the most soothing thing
in the color world, it seems. 1t in
duces a pleasant nirvana feeling,
such as nothing else does. 1t con-
duces to habits of speculative
Thought 1t produces philosophical
calm, and it is eminently successful
as mild incentive to literary efforts
Indeed there seems to be some deli
cate and abstruse connection be-
tween coffee as a beverage and coffee
as color for domestic decoration. !
suggested something of this sort to
the handsome and interesting young
artist who was experimenting the
decoration, and he condescended to
agree with me.
Il have learned one really impor.
tant fact about colors, however.
used to imagine that there was no
color so cool as white, but l have
been taught that, to the contrary,
the coolest of all colors is red-not
the haring, glaring red, but the dull
Pompeiian red and terra Gotta. These
are cool because of their peculiarly
absorbent qualities. 1t is almost i'm
possible to light or warm them, and
| had today most convincing OBJ
| ject lesson of this fact-that while
the cool white room of the Words.
WORKMAN poem is all very nice tc
read about, and does at first sight
impress one as being such, it does
not begin to compare in GOODNESS
with one in dull red. A visit to the
two rooms had just the same cooling
effect on me that is produced by
passing from sunshine into shadow
OF course you know am speaking
all the time of interior decoration
although | am not sure whether /
terra Gotta town would not be con
siderably cooler than a whitewasheC
one.
$50 you see the old Pompeiian
were right when they cooled off thei.
atria and patios by painting the tow
red. The only other color which ap
proaches Pompeiian red for cool
ness, so the elegant and artist
Young workman told me, is darl
green, but it has been found to hav
SO depressing a mental effect on mos
people that it is very sparingly used
Then l was told lets about mass et
fects, distance shadows and lengtl
lines, and / don't know what else
but quite enough to convince m
that the decoration of our house il
teriors is conducted upon a plane S
lofty that it is impossible to sa
whether it is an artistic science or
scientific art. New York Sun.