Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-05-04
COLORS FOR ROOMS,
Why Some Are Regarded rs More
Desirable Than Others.

From the Upholsterer.
A man who has given the subject much
| thought has laid down a few rules which
are worth thinking about. 81 have not"
said he, put yellow into a sitting room in
ten years with the exception of the little
that gets into gold paper, and when
hear about Whistler's yellow room it makes
me shudder.
"Yellows are all right for hall or vesti-
brle, but they must not be used in any
! room in which one rests or reads or works.
Why2 Because yellows do not absorb any
light, but are strong refiectors and the re-
Elected rays OF light are not only trying TO
the eyes but positively affect the brain and
the spirits creating a distinct disturbance
OF the nervous centers So the modern
scientific decorator, at any rate, tells US,
end We believe him.
On the other nand, bluffs and creams are
recommended for the nursery and chill
aren'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
to impart a cheerful but not too boisterous
te temperament well 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 induces pleasant nirvana feel
ing such as nothing else does; il conduces
to habits Of speculative thought; it pro-
Guces philosophical calm, and it is emf
Lently successful as a mild incentive TO
literary efforts Indeed, there seems to be
some delicate and abstruse connection be-
tween coffee as beverage and coffee as a
ccior for domestic decoration. l suggested
something of this sort to the handsome and
interesting young artist who was superin-
tending the decoration, and he condescend-
ed to agree with me.
Il have learned one really important fact
about colors, however. / used to imagine
that there was no color so cool as white,
but have been taught that, to the contra
ry, the coolest of all colors is red-not the
f1aring, glazing red, but the dull Pompeiian
red and terra Gotta. These are cool because
of their peculiarly absorbent qualities. 1t
is almost impossible to light or warm them,
ar d had today most convincing object
lesson of this fact-that while the cool
white room of the Wordsworthiap poem is
all very nice to read about, and does at
first sight impress one as being such, it
does not begin to compare in GOODNESS with
enc 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. or course, you know l am speak
ing all the time of interior decoration, al
though l am not sure whether a terra cot
ia town would not be considerably cooler
than a whitewaShed one So you see the
old Pompeiians Were right when they cool
ed off their atria and patios by painting
the town red. The only other color which
approaches Pompeiian red for coolness so
the elegant and artistic young workman
told me, is dark green, but it has been
found to have so depressing a mental eff
feet on most people that it is very sparingly
used. Then l was told lots about mass eff
fects, distance shadows and length lines
and L don't know what else, but quite
ell ough to convince me that the decoration
of our house interiors is conducted upon
plane so lofty that it is impossible to say
whether 1t is all artistic science Or a scien-
tific art