Evening star., 1921-03-18
Working Up a
Color Scheme
Choose One Idea and Work
Around It If You Would
Be Successful.

How did you so about working out
! a color scheme" asked friend of a
young housekeeper who was showing her
over a pretty though small and unpre-
tentious home. Il should never know
where to begin
| That is just the trouble. Many women
don't know where to begin. They want
their rooms to be furnished in harmo-
nous colors They know. when they see
It. room that is in good co'or taste
and one that is in bad color taste. but
they don't know now to go about pro-
| ducing the effect they desire.
An Oriental Rug the Keynote.
The young housekeeper explain ad.
Here in the living room. she SAID,
II had this one fine oriental rug snow
ing soft. rich shade of rah. Il bright
dark blue and a little mustard co'"r
! 1t was the most distinctive thing pos
Sessed for this room. SO | took ii as a
color key. You see. the rom isn't too
sunny for yelloWish walls. so We chose
a tint thai harmonZe1 with the mustard
in the rug And then l got cretonnc for
curtains and cushions that combined the
right shade of red and blue III rather
small pattern. And the touches of bright
color are furnished by Chinese blue
candles, blue pottery bowl .: the rlsht
color for flowers. and such flowers as
can get from the florist in :he winter
and from the garden il, the summer of
deep blue or the right shade of yellow.
MY living room I furnished up to the
china l lad. The furniture was a set
il a soft brown ffnIsn. good with any
color. but the ca'at was that deep
yellow glazed ware that would swear a,
some color schemes. It's difhcu'f, Any
way, for it keeps many flowers off the
table. but l like it.
Well the dining room opens off
the living room, which is one thing
to consider. l chose deep cream
walls, lighter than those of the living
room. and at the window curtains of
blue silk, to match the deep tone in
the living room cretonne and rug.
And the result is lovely room in
soft brown. cream and bright blue.
The yellow dishes are perfect in such
room"
This is the right idea.
Choose something as keynote and
work around it.
Chinese Embroidery.
One woman once refurnished a whole
room because she had become the happy
posSeSsor of a piece of ancient Chinese
embroidery 1t was at a time when
there was a great rage for green as a
color for interiors, and her house was
done in a lovely green and tan color
scheme
At least she thought it was lovely
until she received the precious bit Of
Chinese embroidery.
But the orange and blue Of the
Chinese embroidery, with a touch of
rose and a little black. They were a
wonderful color combination. But they
swore at the green and tan.
So the green and tan went by the
boa rds.
1t was about time for change. any
way, argued the woman. So she set
about furnishing her drawing room,
with the hall that opened from it. en-
tirely to suit the bit Of embroidery. She
went in for gray enamel and soft blue
grass cloth on the walls, black lacquer
and gray willow furniture. blue and
orange cushions, and polished copper
and pot marigolds for ornamentation.
She even changed her floor coverings.
having the heterogeneous Turkish and
Persian rugs taken up, and using
gray carpet. She liked. the result, and.
as she had more money than she knew
what to do with. doubtless the furnish
ing OF the room was a delight to her.
Without Money.
However, you can really do wonders
by this same process even il you have
little money. very little money, to work
with. You will never know until you
have tried it how much you can bring
all your furnishings into harmony SIM
ply by choosing the dominant color in a
rooms furniture and working UP to it,
eliminating and rearranging until you
have things properly grouped.
Remember that paint and enamel and
dye do much to help along this change
of arrangement. And remember that a
different grouping Of furniture can
often be arranged very helpfully. That
is. you can group all the mahogany fur
niture, perhaps, in the library, and leave
the soft brown oak and the wicker fur
niture for the living room-or the other
Way round.