the new paste may
loosen the old a bit and so let all come down. Old paper must be
entirely removed if there are any marred places as they will show
through the new and ruin the effect.
The amount of wall space and the quality and the quantity of the light
are important factors in deciding the color scheme because by using them
correctly we can brighten a cheerless, dark room or soften the blaze in
a too sunny one.
If the light is a cold dreary one from the north, the room will be
vastly improved if warm, cheerful colors are used: warm ivory, deep
cream color, soft or bright yellow without any greenish tinge in it,
soft yellow pinks (there is a hard pink which is very ugly), yellow
green (but not olive), and tones of golden tan. It is the dash of yellow
in these colors which makes them cheerful and gives the impression of
sunlight. Tans should never come too close to brown for a dark room, for
nothing is more dreary or hopeless than a room done in that depressing
color. The beautiful tones of old oak, or properly treated modern oak
paneling, are quite a different matter. Small amounts of red or orange
will do wonders, if used with discretion, in brightening a dull room,
and are often just what are needed to bring out the beauty of the rest
of the scheme; but it is a great mistake to think that red walls and a
great deal of red in the hangings and furniture covering will make a
cheerful or pleasant room. Red absorbs light and is also an irritant to
the eyes and nerves, and, unless it is used with great skill, it is apt
to look extremely commonplace and ugly or like an ostentatious hotel or
public building. Few of us have large enough houses to make it possible
to use red in great amounts, and it is well for the average person to
shun it and remember that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred a red
wall will spoil a room.
[Illustration: There are few treatments for walls in a Colonial
dining-room that can compare with paneled walls, or wainscoting with a
decorative paper above. The subject, however, must be in keeping. This
paper is extremely inappropriate, and the center light is also badly
chosen and could be eliminated.]
Cool colors should be used in bright and sunny rooms--blues, greens,
grays, grayish tans, and those delightful colors, old ivory, and soft
deep cream color and linen color. Colors with a tone of yellow in them
are easier to use than cold blues and greens and violets, for the yellow
tinge, be
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