or plaster, and the necessary color and variety could be supplied
by the rugs, hangings, furniture, and pictures.

Another charming plan is to have different tones of one color used--a
scheme running from cream or old ivory through soft yellow and tan to a
russet brown would be lovely, especially if the house did not have an
over supply of light. Greens may be used with discretion, and a cool and
attractive scheme is from white to soft blue through gray. If different
colors are to be used in the different rooms the number of combinations
is almost unlimited, but there must always be the restraining influence
of a good color sense in forming the scheme or the result will be
disappointing, to say the least.

A very important matter in the use of color is in its relation to the
amount and quality of the light. Dreary rooms can be made cheerful, and
too bright and dazzling rooms can be softened in effect, by the skillful
use of color. The warm colors,--cream white, yellows--but not lemon
yellow--orange, warm tans, russet, pinks, yellow greens, yellowish reds
are to be used on the north or shady side of the house. The cool
colors,--white, cream white, blues, grays, greens, and violet, are for
the sunny side. Endless combinations may be made of these colors, and if
a gray room, for example, is wished on the north side of the house, it
can be used by first choosing a warm tone of gray and combining with it
one of the warm colors, such as certain shades of soft pink or yellow.
We can stand more brilliancy of color out-of-doors than we can in the
house, where it is shut in with us. It is too exciting and we become
restless and nervous. No matter on what scale a house is furnished one
of its aims should be to be restful.

There is one great mistake which many people make of thinking of red as
a cheerful color, and one which is good to use in a dark room. The
average red used in large quantities absorbs the light in a most
disheartening manner, making a room seem smaller than it really is; it
makes ugly gloomy shadows in the corners, for at night it seems to turn
to a dingy black, and increases the electric light bill. Red is also a
severe strain on the eyes, and many a red living-room is the cause of
seemingly unaccountable headaches. I do not mean to say that red should
never be used, for it is often a very necessary color, but it must be
used with the greatest discretion, and one must remember that a little
of it goes a long