Milford chronicle., 1929-10-18
COLORS THAT REFLECT LIGHT
By Helen B. Ames.

When the days grow shorter and
the electric light bill begins to show
an appreciable increase, has it ever
occurred to you that this item of the
winters expenses can often be cut
down by changing the color scheme
of your walls and ceilings? The il
Eliminating value of colors is some
thing which should be studied by
every housewife who wants to run
her home at a minimum of expense,
and though it is obvious that dark
walls will dim the light of any room,
it is not so generally known that
even the lighter colors have their
comparative values.
While scientific tests place white
at the top of the list as light re-
flector, it has no color value and for
this reason does not appeal to the
home decorator. There was a time
when every ceiling was painted
white as a matter of course, but for
tunately we have learned that there
are ways of effecting compromise
between the practical and the artis-
tic. A soft cream is not far behind
glaring white in Illuminating value,
and it is therefore unnecessary to
sacrifice the decorative appearance
of an interior in order to make it
we'll lighted
Yellow is almost on a par with
cream as an aid in Frightening a
room, buff comes next, then yellow
green, light red, light blue, and fin
ally gray, which, in the darkest
shade, reflects only about Is per
cent of the light that falls upon it.
In room that faces the north or
lacks sufficient windows, yellow or
cream walls are an absolute neces-
sity, since they not only reduce the
cost of artificial lighting by post
poning the twilight hour, but make
the room cheerful all day long. With
the walls painted robins egg blue,
such an interior would seem cold
and cheerless although this would
be just the right color to tone down
the brightness and warmth of a too
sunny room.
Colors that reflect a large proper |
tion Of light and others, such as red |
and orange which seem to radiate |
warmth, are known as advancing"
because they appear to move toward
the observer. The cold colors, such
as blue, lavender, and Tin lesser
degree) green, are called "receding,"
since they have a tendency to in
crease the apparent size of room.
Just as important as the selection
Of the color for a room is the choice
1f the paint finish. While fiat and
glossy finishes reflect the same per-
,entage of light, the former spreads
t evenly throughout the room, while
he shiny finish shows glaring high
lights in some place but dark shad-
,ws in others. In other words, a
DOM that is painted with gloss
Inish is likely to be over-illuminat- J
d in spots and under-illuminated in
he corners where the light is most {
eeded. This not only results in in i
dequate lighting but is not very
leasing to the eye. To obtain a uni I
Orm distribution of light it will be t
ecessary to choose a fiat finish. b
But in your desire to use every v
lcility for Frightening up the in
,rior of a dark room, don't overdo b
lie matter. While the surface should Il
e fiat, dead fiat finish may collect d
lst and dirt too quickly. Therefore h
is better to have a little gloss in b
le finish so that the walls can be h
lsily washed. This will take away IL
Ie roughness and give a soft vel ci
,ty texture to the walls. te
So when you redecorate this fall
Id most homes need some renova- "
On at this time of the year-bear in bl
ind these two important points. W
he right color and the right finish m
r your walls will lower the month Al
total on the debit side of your =
,usehold ledger and capture every
y of the winters chary sun. I