COLOR and arrangement are the two most important factors in developing a sympathetic and attractive interior. Color—first, last and always. The importance of color is only just beginning to be recognized. The reaction psychologically is very powerful—and very subtle.
How often, on entering a room or a house, one has felt an overpowering sense of gloom and depression—strong enough to make conversation almost impossible, so heavy were one’s spirits! If analyzed, the cause of this could almost invariably be traced to color.
A charming old country house, lovely in line and type, had, when purchased, an entrance hall about 25 feet square, running through the width of the house at that point, with a Dutch door and two windows opening onto a garden at the rear. This hall had a fireplace and a finely proportioned long low mantel. A wonderful possibility! But—the walls were covered with deep red paper of an enormous pattern, with yellow grained varnish on the trim—gloomy, repellent and most hideous.
The paper was removed, likewise the yellow grained varnish; the walls were panelled; and walls, trim and ceiling were all done in soft, creamy, flat-tone paint.
A long box under a group of windows, built in with mouldings and panelling like the walls to the left of the door as one entered, was covered with a cushion of a small patterned velvet in dull gold. This box held golf clubs, tennis rackets and other odds and ends very conveniently. The lighting fixtures were black sconces with raised lacquer in gold. An old black lacquer Chinese chest with raised gold decorations served as a wood box and gave color and character.
Above this hung a black Chinese lacquer mirror of Queen Anne type. An inexpensive Chinese rug of blue with gold figures covered the centre of the floor, which had been properly varnished and waxed. Some Canton willow chairs with a low table of the same, cushions of plain Chinese blue and of brocades in Chinese design of blues, old golds and black carried out the idea of color. The room was made so attractive that it was decided to place the piano there. The windows, being small and many-paned, were hung to the sill with sheer sash curtains against the panes and soft old gold silk at either side of the window, all pulled back so that the vista into the gardens might not be obscured—a vital point in a country house.
In one corner stood an oleander bush which reached to the ceiling—a distance of only nine feet—but imagine the glow of color, the light streaming through the old gold curtains and bits of gold, blue and black everywhere against the cream-painted background. A standing lamp of wrought iron whose parchment shade was banded with blue and gold, lighted the piano. It all welcomed you most charmingly. An entrance like this must express a happy, cheerful household. One had a sense of pleasure and expansion at once on entering.... Then close your eyes and think of the red paper and yellow varnish. What a comparison!
The living room, opening off directly to the right, had its walls done in a soft Colonial yellow flat tone with cream trim; old mahogany furniture was covered in soft brown and dull old greens; an Oriental rug of great beauty and unusual coloring in golds, browns, tans and blues covered the floor. A piece of old brocade hung flat against the chimney breast, against which was hung a long oblong antique Colonial mirror. A pair of old brass candlesticks stood on the mantel with a bowl of laurel leaves reflected in the mirror in the middle; brass andirons and fender—all gave sparkle and life to the room. A wing chair with a low table at its left, on which stood a reading lamp, was placed beside the fire and gave a very inviting touch. There were no fixtures in this room, but many lamps all with gold colored silk shades. The rooms all opened so closely into one another that it was felt best to employ the same colors, though differently expressed.
The trim, throughout the entire house, which was small, with very low ceilings, was kept in the soft creamy tones. The wainscoted dining room had the same soft creamy paint, with a very quaint old black-backgrounded paper above the wainscoting, which was part of the original old house. Old brass sconces made into fixtures added another quaint touch, with soft yellow silk shades lined with deep rose to give a glow of color when lighted. Old mahogany table, chairs, sideboard and corner wall cupboard fastened high up into the corner. The floor, which was finished in a very dark stain, varnished and waxed, was covered with a dark brown—“tête de negre”—seamless chenille rug. None of it expensive, none of it done in a “scheme,” yet all harmonious, happy and unobtrusive.
The loveliest rooms are those that grow from one thing to another as the suggestion is developed. Of course, if your house is so pure in style or period as intelligently to call for only the period furniture of its type, that is a different proposition. We are dealing here with the ordinary conditions of thousands of our American homes—houses and apartments that have no special architecture or “period” background to work up to.
The guest bedroom contained a motley collection which would have cost much to replace with desirable and attractive furniture. An inexpensive copy of a French chintz paper in lovely soft blues and red pinks was found to cover the walls. The trim was painted creamy white. Then, as an inspiration, it was decided to paint the furniture, and a soft dull blue which was in the paper was decided upon. Everything—brass beds, bureau, chiffonier, desk and chairs, all were painted old blue. The dressing table had a much too ornate cheap mirror which was removed entirely and a small antique mahogany shaving mirror was stood on the dressing table in its place. Copies of old hardware handles, etc., replaced the common commercial variety. A red mulberry carpet rug (also one of the tones in the paper) made a wonderful background for the blue furniture, the floor having been properly done as to finish, varnishing, etc. At the windows were organdie curtains ruffled and looped back—no other hangings. The whole made a most charming room.
The same thing was done with another bedroom, in which a soft green instead of blue was used. The trim was done in the same creamy white; a green and white striped paper covered the walls. Again everything, beginning with the brass beds, was painted. An inexpensive English block print chintz was used in this room for curtains. A chaise longue was upholstered in this same chintz which had pink and soft mauves to offset and balance the green paint. Bed spreads with a full gathered valance covered as much of the ugly brass bed as possible. A dark green carpet rug was used,—and so another room was transformed by a coat of paint, at small expense, using what one had and painting all to bring it together happily. A few pieces of old mahogany or walnut can always be used in a room with painted furniture and they relieve the hardness which sometimes occurs with certain types of this kind.
In another old house in New Jersey, the large living room had an old cupboard with a wonderful green on the panels of the doors. This made the starting point for that room. The color was copied and all the trim, doors and cornices done in this tone. The walls were painted a flat cream. A very simple type of wicker furniture, painted black, was used, with old gold cushions of very inexpensive material. Portieres of this same material were hung. The fireplace was painted black—mantel and all—and black wrought iron lamps with parchment shades of cream with old gold bands and black lines were used. Ruffled curtains of organdie looped back were at the windows.... And, at a very small outlay, simply the application of color and paint, a really delightful room was evolved.
It is always best to keep to the simplest types in furniture, avoiding cheap adaptations and the kind of wicker furniture that is full of scrolls and fancy loops.
A living room in an apartment had a most distressing look when first beheld by its prospective tenants. The apartment was in an old-fashioned house which had been made over. The doors and trim were of heavy solid oak with a yellow grained varnish finish—very expensive and very ugly. Nothing could look well against such a background.
This was entirely refinished and painted a soft dull green with a gold line on the smaller mouldings. The walls were tinted a greenish grey, the ceiling a soft, dull browny gold. At the windows were hung, only to the sill, filet net curtains, with old gold silk pushed back at the sides, both curtains hanging flat against the window pane to give full value to the deep embrasure of the window and do justice to the panelling and architectural detail.
In this room a lovely English glazed chintz was used to cover the large davenport and large winged chair. Pleated valances were used on these pieces. The chintz had a very soft pinky tan background with flowers in red pink and blue and yellow, producing a very old mellow effect. The other odd pieces of furniture were covered in a dull dark old blue. Built-in sunken book-cases flush with the wall were filled with books whose bindings reflected again the colors in the chintz. A fireplace of Italian design in dull green and gold composition with a pair of very quaint andirons of Italian reproduction and fixtures of the same style made another note in the room.
A very beautiful old Sheraton table was pulled up to the left of the guest as he sat on the davenport, which was placed at right angles to the fireplace, and held magazines, books and a large reading lamp with a gold colored shade. A room which was a mixture of English, Italian and Colonial, yet the effect of which was warm, soft and most sympathetic—all of which would have been impossible with the yellow varnished oak background originally in the room.
In every one of the rooms described, extraordinary results were produced by paint and color at small expense.
Arrangement is most important and furniture should be shifted and changed about until, by the very sense of balance you get, suddenly you know you have hit it.
It is right. The light falls in just the right way over your shoulder as you read, write or sew. The chairs are grouped in the living room in such a way that friends dropping in for tea find a cozy spot at once. It is not a question of vast expense. With the right touch and the right color it can be done with most satisfactory results and really marvellous things can be done with paint. Every room herein described has actually been done.
In furnishing the Hostess Houses at the Camps throughout the country, wonderful effects were produced almost entirely with color and paint. The men craved color. They were weary of khaki, tans and dust color, and their joy in and appreciation of the Hostess Houses was a delight to see. Expensive fabrics were out of the question. How, then, to get color? By paint! Perfectly ordinary kitchen chairs and tables in the cafeterias were painted soft light cheerful greens. Body color coats of brilliant warm orange and deep royal blue were given to a very simple type of wicker chair in the huge living rooms. The effect of these masses of color offset by the khaki of the men was gay and cheerful beyond words. Large paper shades of orange color shaded the lamps. The rooms glowed with a joy and welcome that none of the men failed to appreciate.
Make your homes as gay and cheerful as you possibly can, not “jumpy” with hard, unlovely color, but as full of warm soft tones as you can get them, remembering always that Home must be a place of peace and rest as well as joy.
We feel like echoing the sentiment of the old Gloucester fisherman who gave his schooner a new coat of paint in the spring, and, gazing with pride and admiration at his work, remarked, “Ain’t it wonderful what a lick o’ paint’ll do!”