The House in Good Taste

restfulness has been brought about. Certain colors are antagonistic to each of us, and I think we should try

in surroundings of rich red tones, the tones of the old Italian damasks in which the primitive colors of the Middle Ages have been handed down to us. No half shades, no blending of tender tones are needed in

ost intense, feeling I have about decoration is my love of color. I have felt as intimate

ppy and vividly alive. We say another woman is "colorless," because she is bleak and chilling and unfriendly. We demand that certain music shall be full of color, and we always seek color in the pages of ou

ken toys and bits of gay china and glass, the American Indian with his gorgeous blankets and baskets and beads-all these primitive minds enjoy the c

, while color is a pleasing result of their artistic use in a combined way. So colors are means to an end, while color is

e who have a deep feeling for color, and the great masses of people in between, while they know colors one from another, have no appreciation of hue. Just as surely, there are some people who cannot tell one t

good from bad effects, even though she may not be able to tell why one room is good and another bad. It is as simple as the problem of the well-gowned woman and the dowd

the necessary small furnishings for your color. Then, with an excellent background of soft quiet tones, you can venture a little way at a time, trying a bit of color here for a few days, and asking yourself if you honestly like it, and then trying another color-a jar or a bowl or a length of fabric-somewhere else, an

d for it. She gives us color plans for all the needs we can conceive. White and gray clouds on a blue sky-what more could she use in such a composition? A bit of gray green mo

DROOM IN ROSE AN

ctures that you can have. When this has been arranged, it is time to consider the color-scheme for the interior of the house, the colors that shall be in harmony with the window-framed vistas, the colors that shall be backgrounds for the intimate personal furnishings of your daily life. You must think of your walls

re and no ornaments, no actual color save the blue sky framed by the windows and the flood of sunshine that glo

warmth and just a little mystery. Some of you have seen the Sala di Cambio at Perugia. Do you remember how dark it seems when one enters, and how gradually the wonderful coloring glows

sing in "The Belle of New York"? I am not sure of quoting correctly, but the refrain was: "Follow the Light!" I have so often had it i

know of a library paneled with cypress. The beamed ceiling, the paneled walls, the built-in shelves, the ample chairs and long tables are all of the soft brown cypress. Here, if anywhere, you would think a monotony of brown wood would be obvious, but think of the thousands of books with brilliant bindings! Think of t

chair from long ago, and build a room around it. I have some such point of interest in every room I build, and I think that is why some people like my rooms-they feel, without quite knowing why, that I have loved them while making them. Now there

rked out the shell of the room: the woodwork white, the walls bluish green, the plain carpet a soft green. I desig

ows. The bed is of wood and is painted a soft green, with a dark-green line running all around, and little painted festoons of flowers in decoration. The mattress and springs are covered with a most delightful mauve chintz, on which birds and flowers are patterned.

d the only decoration is the line of dark green about half an inch from the edge. Any woman who is s

oom in red and blue. "Red and blue"-you shu

s the color of an old-fashioned rose-you know the roses that become lavender when they fade? The mantel is of Siena marble, and over it there is an old mirror with an upper panel painted in colors after the manner of some of

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hich are ivory in tone. The hangings of the bed are lined with taffetas of rose red. The bedcover is of the same silk, and the inner curtains at the window are lined with it. The small tab

gray parrots and paroquets swing in blue-green festoons of leaves and branches. The dressing-table is placed in front of the window, so that you can see yourself for better or for worse. There is a three-fold mirror of black and gold lacquer, and