The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-12
SCIENTIFIC HOUSE DECORATION.
A Young Woman of Observation Speaks
of Color Schemes for Rooms.

"A Young Woman of Observation Speaks
of Color Schemes for Rooms.
81 have been helping an old school chum
to refurnish her house." said young
woman of observation, 'and have learned
more about color effects in one week than
I ever knew before You see, houses are
not painted or papered as they used to be
on the old, simple plan of that Will
look well here, and such pattern will be
all right there but according to settled
laws, canons and rules. It's quite scien-
tifle matter now, 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 OF
reads or works. Why2 Because yellows
do not absorb any light, but are strong re-
Electors, and the reflected rays of light are
not only trying to the eyes, but positively
affect the brain and the spirits, creating a
So the modern scientific decorator, at any
rate. tells US, and we believe him.
"On the other hand, bluffs and creams
are recommended for the nursery and
children's sleeping rooms, because of their
tonic qualities. They are better than white,
which is apt to disturb the young optic
nerves by its brilliancy, and are calculated
~ Ill paw a Dlll llOb lOO
temperament, as well as a good complex
ion 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 induces a pleasant nirvana feel
ing such as nothing else does; it conduces
TO habits of speculative thought, it pro-
duces philosophical calm, and tits emf
nently successful as mild incentive to
literary efforts TnHnaH fharo 10 H.,
some delicate and abstruse connection be-
tween coffee as beverage and coffee as a
color for domestic decoration. / suggested
something of this sort to the handsome
and interesting young artist who was SUI
perintending the decoration, and he con-
descended TO agree with me.
II have learned one really important
fact about colors, however. 1 used to i'm
agine that there was no color so cool as
white, but have been taught that, to the
contrary, the coolest of all colors is red
not the fiaring, glaring red, but the dull
Pompellan red and terra Gotta. These are
cool because of their peculiarly absorbent
qualities. 1t is almost impossible to light
or warm them, and [ had to-day a most
convincing object lesson of this fact-that
while the cool, white room Of the Words
WORKMAN poem is all very nice to read
about, and does at first sight impress one
as being such, it does not begin to COM
pare in GOODNESS with one in dun 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 l am speaking all
the time OF interior decoration, although |
am not sure whether a terra Gotta town
would not be considerably cooler than a
whitewashed one. So you see the old
Pompeiians were right when they cooled
off their atria and patios by painting the
town red. The only other color which ap
proaches Ponpeiian red for GOODNESS, so
the elegant and artistic workman told me,
is dark green, but it has been found to
have so depressing a mental effect on most
people that it is very sparingly used. Then
was told lots about mass effects, distance
shadows and length lines, and l don't
know what else, but quite enough to con-
vince me that the decoration of our house
interiors is conducted upon a plane so
lofty that it is impossible to say whether it
is an artistic science or a scientific art."-
New York SIM