Evening star., 1902-08-23
WALL DEC0RA Tl0NS
Tasteful as Well as the New
est Thing Suggested.
USING FLOWEREDPAPER
WHAT KIND AND WHERE TO
PLACE PICTURES.
Have a Care That Quiet Effects in
Color and Figure Are Used in
Bed Rooms.
Written for The Evening Star.

science to learn that certain hangings pro-
duce certain impressions on the mind. A
brain specialist is said to have declared that
| a sensitive person living in scarlet room
will soon show the effect in increasing ir-
ritability, which may end in madness. Dark
blue walls and furnishings, every one
knows, are distinctly depressing.
The choice of a satisfactory wall finish
is more difficult matter than it appears
to be. Many a pretty room is spoiled be-
cause the tints are combined unSkillfully
Wall papers or wall fabrics are intended
to serve as backgrounds for furniture and
pictures, but it frequently happens that
walls are covered with patterns that are
either inharmonious or too conspicuous.
In selecting paper the size of the room.
its use and the position of frieze and dado
should be considered. When the walls are
to be adorned with pictures, particularly
with paintings. plain finish is the most
artistic. Painted or stenciled decorations
may be applied to the frieZe. the depth of
which should be determined by the height
of the room. Eighteen inches to three feet
in width may be allowed a frieze. When
a frieze narrower than the height of the
room justities has been put on the walls, it
may be supplemented below by a plain
painted band. The picture rod always di-
vides the upper wall decoration from the
paper.
Dadoes are no longer the style except
in halls and on staircases, though a dado
takes the place of wanscOting in rooms
filled with dark furniture and lined with a
light paper, for a striking contrast between
the outlines of chairs and tables and a
wall is not pleasing. The adoption of a
dado permits the use of dark furniture in
room finished in delicate tints above the
backs Of the chairs. Wood or imitation of
wood makes the best dado. Lincrusta in
simple and unpretentious patterns also
looks well. A substantial wainscoting dado
Will protect that part Of the wall which is
most exposed to hard usage.
When a family takes possession of a new
house, they often decide that certain rooms
shall be papered in certain ways because
the colors selected will harmonize with the
hanslngs' the curtains or the carpet or be-
cause certain cOlOrs are fashionable For
instance, they may determine that the IL
brary, which is a south room. shall be pa
pered with bright red and hung with red
draperies. The sun pours into the windows
all day, and the effect is unsatisfactory
The garishness of the coloring is apparent
even to the least sensitive taste. and, con-
sequently, the room is summed especially
in summer, when the apartment suggests
nothing so much as the interior of a blast
furnace. Had the same red paper been
placed In an apartment having a northern
exposure and a few windows through which
the sunlight casts only indirect rays the
result would have been quite different for
brilliant colors should never be exploited
In glarng lights. The rule of the sktllful
decorator is to put no warm tinted papers
or fabrics on south or west rooms. White
green and blue are most pleasing in such
locations Rooms which face the north
may be lined with red, pink or yellow.
Match Size and Pattern.
Large patterned papers do not look well
on small rooms. For a dining room or IL
brary papers which have dull, subdued
appearance are most satisfactory. Plain
tinted surfaces are best for bedroom and
parlor walls.
In very low rooms it is well to omit the
rr1eze and finish the ceilings In plain colors.
This will apparently increase their height
For the bath room a thick glazed sanitary
paper should be chosen in case the walls
are not tiled or finished in hardwood The
surface VIII be made more durable if coat
ed over with Varnish, for the steam arising
from the hot water tends to loosen the pa
per Painted bath room walls can be wash
ed down the same as tiling and are there
lore recommended by sanitary experts.
Ihe woodwork in q room should never he
finished in two colors or two shades of the
same color. Just at present white paints
are the most fashionable because they pro-
vlde an artistic frame for the f1owered CO.
lonial wall papers. A coat of ivory white
enamel Will stand much cleaning Hot
water soap and sponge will renovate
enameled paints easily and quickly Brown
is a serviceable color and in oak walnut
or mahogany is suitable for halls and din
ing rooms.
Faults in Imitation.
The great fault with fashfona BILE wall pa-
pers is that the majority of them are made
TO initiate tapestries and wall hangings.
what looked very well when draped looks
stlH and inartistic when tackled fat upon
the wall. The use of French designs of
the time of Louis XIV and Louis XVI is far
from happy, for the patterns do not har-
mon1ze with our modern furniture, and
they are much too pretentious to afford a
suitable background for an EVERYDAY living
room. Striking patterns are suitable for
large, open halls where the use of deep
friezes and dadoes are necessary in order
TO reduce the apparent height.
Even the American wall napers reneat
the tapestry designs exploited by French
an ana nt.ng English 81 makers The prettiest foreign
patterhs n,. nave delicate frostwork of
Whlte' over which large and spreading
floral patterns are scattered. These look
well in rooms Of moderate size and espe-
clally well in bed rooms containing furni-
thos. thrs III IN, aisht woods. Chintz papers and
muslins are now fashionable. Tapestry pa
pers come in tan, green, olive blue and
some shades of red, while the fowered pat
terms have pale blue rose and yellow back
grounds. Cartridge papers NAV be had in
all the new shades. Some heavy papers
nave a smooth surface that looks like silk
fSople WHO can AFFORD them cover their
waiis with woven fabrics Of these ere
tonnes, SILK tapestries of various kinds,
burlaps, buckrams, silks and satins are
most popular Some of these are pasted.
others tackled. on the wall. sBuekrams are
frequently applied with a frieze of f1owered
paper sometimes with one, of printed tick
ing. Burlaps are so narrow that they are
not effective on walls, as are some other
Fabrics. Tapestries look wei with a plain
ing.
Mount in Panels.
Inc correct way to use dowered papers
and the tapestries is to mount them, as the
french DO, In panels between the VAIN
scoting and cornice Within oblong spaces
divided off by narrow wooden molding the
SILK, satin, tapestry or paper is laid on No
pictures are hung on walls SO treated as
the rlch panels are considered to be deco
rat tive enough v as
Landscape pictures are suitable for hang
ing IN haHways or drawing rooms Por-
TRAITS should be reserved for the libraries
or private apartments. Gay figures or
anylnins OF light and cheerful character
should nave place in the sitting room.
Snli lie pictures, as they are termed
those representing fruit game and the
ik-are suitable for the dining room In