The Modern Home
Colour
CoLoun is the most powerful as it is about the cheapest factor in the making or marring of our houses. By its use we can add point and interest to a room dull both in itself and in its contents. We can so display worthy pieces that they gain in beauty, or, by its misuse, we can murder master- pieces or cause them to pass unnoticed. We can change the apparent proportions of a room, making a low room higher, a long room shorter, according to our needs. More— there is good reason to believe that the colour of our sur- roundings is not without influence upon our feelings and actions. It is, therefore, a subject worth a considerable amount of attention.
There can be no doubt that in late years colour has come to be used with increasing freedom and boldness ; but still in the majority of homes one is conscious again and again of neglected opportunities for its proper employment. The principal reason for this is, I think, timidity. There is a general feeling that if one is an artist, with an eye for colour," it may be all very well to play about with colour schemes, but for the ordinary person it is better to stick to something " safe "—which, in nine cases out of ten, means something drab or muddled. I was staying in a friend's house a little time ago when material was being chosen to cover a " Chesterfield." From the half-dozen or so of patterns choice was almost unanimous on a particularly lovely fabric containing an unusual shade of coppery pink. What was my astonishment the next time I went to the house on finding the Chesterfield covered in a solid mass of drab material just about the average colour of the room and its contents. The result was about as near a piece of nothingness as one is likely to find in a three-dimensional universe. In reply to my enquiries my hostess explained : " We decided on this in the end—you see, it is neither one thing, or the other " !
Another remark which is frequently heard in the presence of the slightly unusual is : " It's very beautiful—but " (hesitatingly) I don't know if I should like to live with it." Now why one should expect to tire of the beautiful—if it is beautiful—sooner than of the nondescript, is a question difficult to answer, unless it be that one never notices the latter at all, and so feels neither pleasure nor pain. No doubt behind many of these instances of timidity lie memories of colour schemes that have gone wrong and have had to be endured possibly for years. But if the main principles of colour usage be observed, there is no reason to anticipate such failures. The traps are well marked, and we shall examine them and their avoidance as they present themselves.
The first consideration in choosing a colour scheme is usually held to be the aspect of the room ; but at least equal with that I would put _the question of the lead in from other E
rooms or passages. Especially in the case of the medium or small house is it desirable that there should be some feeling of a common • note' running through the whole. Though this does not mean that rooms should be alike to the point of dullness, it does mean that if any door be opened the vista beyond should not clash with one's immediate surroundings. I would take this further and say that, except in the cases of town houses or rooms with ugly outlooks, the colour scheme of every room might well be planned with an eye to the view from the windows. One of the most beautiful rooms I know is set south, looking high across a usually sun-lit sea. The walls are distempered eau-de-Nil, a perfect • background for some lovely Breton furniture, and the paint-work is a subtle heliotrope grey— exactly the two colours which can often be seen through the four french windows when small clouds cast " wine- dark patches on the sea.
The influence of the points of the compais on the choice of colours for a room is fairly well understood : one does not choose a cold blue for a north room, nor red nor deep yellow for a south. The vagaries of artificial light, too, are generally recognized. But the problems of colour reflection, which account for a large proportion of failures (at the same time providing us with a valuable remedy for them), are as a closed book to many people. To take the simplest instance first : if one chooses a given colour from a book of distempers or enamels, and then has the walls and ceiling of a room painted with it, the result will be a far deeper shade than the pattern appeared in the direct light of a window. If carpet and curtains of the same shade be added, both they and the walls will suffer an even more marked change. If, on the other hand, carpet and curtains of an entirely different colour be added, the actual colour of the walls, and not merely its intensity, will be profoundly modified —the more so if the window lighting be bright. Clearly, then, reflection can lead to trouble unless due allowance be made in the first instance.
The proper procedure in choosing a colour for walls is to obtain a good-sized sample, fold it in a V so that it reflects on itself and then place it where carpet and curtains can add their effect. If these latter have still to be chosen, remember at least to make allowance for their influence ; but, unless it is utterly impossible, have patterns of them available at the same time and make the selection of each with an eye to the others. One cannot urge too strongly the importance of deciding on a definite colour scheme and then putting it into exact effect rather than the common practice of choosing a bit at a time and then attempting to see what will go with it. In all cases obtain a large pattern and expose it to the influences that will bear upon it when in position before making a final choice. As an example of the result of neglecting this, I may cite a case where stair carpet of bright chestnut was wanted ; and as the colour could not be obtained from stock, a small sample of wool was submitted, and an order given for the carpet to be specially manufactured. When it was delivered and laid, it appeared bright tomato red—although comparison with the sample proved it to be an exact match. This discon- certing change was due to reflection from the walls, which were jonquil yellow and all the more potent for being brightly lighted.
Where coloured sun-curtains or screens of net are employed, tinted light will be transmitted through them, and this should be taken into account as well as other reflected tints. Carpets are apt to have a particularly marked effect in town houses, where much of the light is often down from the sky and horizontal light is less. It will be seen that by calling reflection to our aid much can be done to modify colours that may have come out not quite as expected. The following points will also help. Any colour appears more vivid when placed in contrast with its complementary colour—i.e., that colour or mixture of colours which complete the spectrum. Thus red appears more red when contrasted with green ; blue with orange. Conversely, any colour is sobered down by the proximity of colours near to it in shade : brown will subdue red to some extent ; dead white an over-vivid yellow. I was once present when some friends brought honie a dull —not to say depressing—maroon carpet to which they had been attracted by lowness of price and thickness of pile (it was for their bedroom), rather than by any charm of colour. It was not an inspiring start for a colour scheme; but when I next saw the carpet a transformation had been effected in its appearance. It was displayed against paintwork which had been enamelled a dark peacock-blue—with the result that I wondered how we could ever have considered it a dull colour. In contrast with the blue it had taken on a most attractive wine shade.
A final word of warning should be given on the actual process of choosing colours, before we approach the various methods of employing them in decoration. Never choose colours when tired ; and never go on choosing for long at a time. The colour sense grows jaded very quickly, and rest becomes essential. A test of this is to gaze for a few moments at a piece of bright, strongly lighted material, and then look at a plain white surface. Superimposed on this will be seen an image of the former material complementary in colour to the original. To frustrate these optical pranks it is wise to check each decision the following morning, when the eyes are
rested. G. M. BOUMPHREY. (To be continued.)
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