Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-20

How to make ones home attractive
and livable, home-like and beautiful,
with an air of cheer and rest about it,
is a question deeply interesting to
every normal woman. Many women
feel that things are wrong, but cannot
tell just what the matter is. and try
one experiment after another without
success This is very discouraging and
often gives rise to the mistaken feel
ing that only the wealthy can have
perfect home. The real fact is that the
same rules of beauty apply to the great
and to the small house. and it is my
aim in this article to tell a few simple
laws of decoration that will help sim
plify the problem of furnishing a home.
The most important things that make
a home successful are, beauty of color,
color in relation to light, color In grad
alton and masses, appropriateness,
harmony between wall coverings and
furnishings, good proportion and the
absence of the superfluous With faith
ful following of these fundamentals
satisfaction ought to be the result,
Taking the subject of color first. we
must remember that the points of the
compass have a great deal to do with
the making or marring of a room.
Rooms on the north side of a house,
where there is no sun, should be treat
ed in warm colors, such as cream
WhitS, WdIih ytllOWS, ItuSt anu All tHelr
gradations, yellow and red browns,
and yellow greens. On the south side
of the house, the cool colors should
predominate-white, blues, grays and
cold greens. On the east and west sides,
having equal amounts of sun and shade
any tint that is neither too warm nor
too cold may be used. Red, although
one of the warm colors, IL used in
masses, does not make a north room
c1aprfn1 "a II 10 oil
light. 1t is also one of the most diff
ficult colors to manage satisfactorily
Among the expensive papers and tex
tiles one can find good reds, but 1t is
often safer to depend on the hangings,
cushions and chair coverings for the
touch of red so often necessary.
Personal taste in the matter of color
should always be taken into account
Some people dislike blue or green in
tensely, and it would be a cruelty to
force them to live in either a blue or
green room. Many people do not real
ize what an effect color has upon them,
and laugh to scorn the idea that some
colors soothe and some irritate, some
cheer and some depress, but it is true,
nevertheless.
The chief color in a room should be
used in masses large enough to DOM
mate the whole, and tones of the same
color and contrasting colors used in
draperies, rugs and furnishings. In
cluded in the subject of massing of
color is the gradation of color. The
best way to treat room, for 1t is the
natural way. is to have the floor the
darkest, the walls lighter and the cell
ing the lightest.
Plain colors and light tints make a
room seem larger. and one color note
struck clearly and distinctly gives q
feeling of space and rest. Too many
unrelated colors in a room form spots
and take away the charm from it, The
wall covering gives the dominant note
of the color scheme and the scheme of
all connecting rooms should be care
fully planned, so that as one looks
from one room to another there is no
discordant jar felt. If one has a great
number of pictures or some very beau
tiful or important ones, plain colors
are better for a background.
Figured papers are often fine in de-
sign and color, but should be chosen
with care, and beware of papers of
violent design and color or with gold
or silver in them. They always look
vulgar. A dull gold burlap or car
fridge paper is quite different matter.
Ingram papers come i'm beautiful colors,
and If the best grade is bought do not
fade rapidly. Papers in imitation of
different fabrics and grass cloth make
fine backgrounds and give variation
without contrast; of course. the real
fabrics have a charm all their own.
Among the figured papers the small ur
large designs in two tones of the same
color are beautiful in effect; tapestry
rapers in soft colors, reproductions of
old ia shioned designs and many of the