Figs. 80 to 83.—Improper arrangements for wall-papers or room decoration.
its imitations, and by paper-hangings. If pictures are to be hung on a wall, it is obvious that a low-toned decoration, that will set them off, is alone admissible; since the pictures themselves are the principal decoration, the walls should be treated as an unobtrusive background. The best decoration for appearance after simple colour or a painted pattern is silk or woven stuffs.[6] If paper-hangings be chosen, they should have a uniform pattern and be free from spots; for the eye should not be arrested by any particular form, nor be forcibly carried in any direction. In illustration of this, we may suppose the diagrams, Figs. [80], [81], [82], and [83], to represent decorated wall spaces. All these decorative arrangements are bad as wall-coverings; but by combining their elements, at [Fig. 84] a tolerably good paper-hanging is produced that will form a background for furniture and pictures.
Fig. 84.—Arrangement for the lines of a wall-paper.
The diagram, [Fig. 80], arrests the eye; 81 and 82 tend to exaggerate the height or breadth of the room; for patterns in which vertical or horizontal lines predominate will have the effect of lengthening or widening the surface of the wall; whilst the diagram 83, being composed of oblique lines, will not only give a look of weakness to the wall, but will lead the eye from one corner of the room to the other. A pattern, to be satisfactory as a background, should neither arrest the eye nor carry it in any particular direction.
The height of a real dado generally depends on the height of the chair-backs, but it may be influenced by the height of the ceiling, and partly by the use to which the room is put; high wainscoting prevents small-sized pictures from being seen. If the wainscot