Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-31
New Furniture Tones
Bridge Gap Of Dark
And BIeached Woods
Mort Also Reveals
Blow at TroditionuIism;
Construction Changed

The greatest offensive" ever
staged by the home furnishings in
dustry has just occurred at the
American Furniture Mart in Chi
cago. This offensive was struck at
'traditionaIsm" in an attempt to es-
tablish recognition for contemporary
designs. Radical changes in con-
struction details were evidenced.
Noteworthy was the adaptability of
the new designs to present living
requirements in their unitarian fea-
lures, functionalism of design and
economy of space.
An entirely new tone was lent to
the home furnishings picture by the
new finishes. The wide gulf between
dark, traditional finishes and their
opposite, modern "bleached blonds."
Is pleasantly closed by the new inter-
mediate finishes. These are better
defined as the brown honey" or
'.toasted" tones. These tones are of
sufficient richness to bring out all
the beauty of the wood. Although
appearing to the greater extent in
contemporary styles, they also ap-
pear-and most satisfactorily So-in
Sheraton and Hepplewhite. Natural
ly, they give a new contemporary
feeling to the suites wearing them.
Not only is maple, birch and walnut
affected by them but mahogany is
also included-its natural pink
brown tone shaded to a warm toast
color. More attention is being paid
to the serviceability of finishes than
ever before-a definite effort to de-
velop finishes that can take the
punishment of present-day living.
Many Regency Suites.
Many regency suites-regency in
q modified form-were shown at the
furniture mart in the new half-tone
finishes. These suites could pass as
18th century, modern, regency or
transitional, as the case might de-
mand. The term transitional" in
cidentally, appears with growing
frequency to denote new style
trend developed to harmonic with
the American way of living. To
quote a market report:
"a liaison between period and con-
temporary design will be established
in the new transitional pieces which
will merge the past forms with the
present-day streamlined require
ments to create a new style reflect
ing period influences in simplified
form"
In key with the flare for regency.
IL
in many high style lines. Chairs
and wall brackets in lacquer were
favored and these were included In
regency groupings.
Must Harmonic.
Whether in black lacquer or the
new wood finishes which pause mid
way between light and dark in color,
the transitional pieces must har-
monte beautifully with backgrounds
painted in characteristic regency
colors-those subtle hyacinth blues,
eggshell and other warm pale tones.
Eighteeth century colors, too, will
be equally harmonious-olive greens,
soft blue-grays, pale yellows, dove
grays, lilac and rose taupes. Accord
1IlS W tIlC CO1IcCOCQ OdId "a IilC
Council for Paint Styling, whatever
type of furnishings are used in a
room, there are fundamental style
rules for the application of color. In
living and dining rooms the most
popular practice Is to use a single
color for all walls, except where the
room is abnormally proportioned.
Perhaps it's too long for its width.
If this is the case, the room may be
made to seem in better proportion II
the end walls are painted a darker
tone than the side walls.
The ceiling, say the paint stylists,
should be lighter than the walls and
of different color, but the trim
should match the color of the walls.
The most popular colors used on liv-
ing and dining room walls, according
to the Nationwide survey of the
Council for Paint Styling, are white,
ivory, flesh, light cream, medium
gray-green; on ceilings white, ivory,
light cream, light gray.