Do not use restless-patterned wall papers. Leather (used with paneling or above wainscot), modern tapestries, fabrics of all kinds are suitable for covering dining-room walls. If low, the ceiling should never be dark, since this makes the room appear still lower. (A breakfast room done in lacquer is very effective, however, if not too low.) A single large rug, harmonizing with the wall color scheme is admirable in any room. In the dining room, however, a figured carpet is often preferred for practical reasons: it stands wear and tear around the table better. Well-chosen paper (See Chapter II) often improves a badly proportioned room by optical illusion. The ideal lightings for dining rooms are side lights. Dining-room drop lights or domes are very trying to the eyes of those who dine, and are unbecoming. Side lights (adding candles for grace and charm) are far pleasanter to the eyes and look better.
In the dining room the table is the dominating furniture note. A round table, an oblong table or a square table may be the more desirable according to the shape of the room. But a round dining table may be harmonized with an oblong dining room by means of an oblong rug, with rounded medallion, by a round flower bowl, a round tray or even the wheels of the tea table. In the dining room, as elsewhere, repetition in color establishes the color tone of the room. In the dining room, as elsewhere, every individual room presents an individual case, to be worked out decoratively in accordance with the principles already given. One more color hint regarding the dining room, drawn from a modern authority: “When we think of the ideal dinner—the soft lights, the hospitable warmth, the sparkle of crystal, the gleam of silver, the quick talk and gay laughter of the guests—we think of red, for that color is indissolubly bound in thought with the idea of richness, hospitality and excitement.” Yet red, as we will see later, is a color to be used with great caution.
WORKING ROOMS VERSUS LIVING ROOMS
Before passing to the other rooms of the house, we will pause to consider a more purely utilitarian group.
The Kitchen.—These rooms which are strictly utilitarian, more or less escape decorative control. The kitchen, aside from the elements of proportion in arrangement of its furnishings, is not properly a room for decoration. A cheerful color, plenty of light—a practical essential—and practical arrangement of its furniture and equipment are of more importance than the decorative element. Neatness, color harmony and a restful eye effect should be obtained. This applies as well to the butler’s pantry. Pantry and kitchen should always be shut off from the dining room, so that the latter’s decorative values are not affected by them.
The Bathroom.—Tiled or hardwood flooring, painted or glazed washable walls, sanitary plumbing, glass shelves, washable cotton rugs and bath mats, all the modern conveniences in keeping with the purposes of the room, thrust the decorative element into the background. The curtains must be simple and quite easily washed.
The Home Sewing Room.—The home sewing room, too, may be viewed decoratively as well as practically. A sunny room with western exposure, kalsomined in pale warm gray, the floor covered with cream-colored matting, windows fitted with white Holland shades—a combination restful to the eye—and furnished with hard-wood framed, cane-bottomed chairs.
CHAPTER IV: LIVING ROOM, DRAWING ROOM AND LIBRARY
We now return to the rooms where decoration is the rule. While always remembering that connecting rooms must harmonize with one another in color, individual colors may always be appropriately chosen for certain rooms, because they express the dominant mood and character of the room in question. Thus, for the living room or drawing room, the yellows, oranges and golden browns, which combine the cheer of yellow and the warmth of red, are excellent. If a restful instead of a cheerful quality is desired for the living room or drawing room, green may be made the dominant hue. Yellow is a joyous tint, also a good breakfast-room hue. It will harmonize in the living room with plain fumed oak, willow furniture and cretonne hangings as well as with painted and paneled ivory walls, old Chinese rugs, damask hangings and satinwood and lacquered furniture. But furniture, bric-a-brac and walls always must be good in line and color. For proper floor balance use a large rug in a large living room, and several small ones in a small one. Furniture, too, should be chosen in view of the emphasis each individual piece has; and its relations to the room in general. The effect of stiffness is not overcome by placing heavy pieces of furniture askew in a room. Yet this is often done. Scale and proportion should always dictate the choice of furniture, lamps and pictures. Each has its place in the general decorative scheme. Red is a hard color for the eyes. Many a red living room has been the cause of chronic headache. Not that red need be entirely tabooed. A living room for example, paneled in oak, with a soft red-toned Oriental rug, red draperies, a touch of red in a stained glass window panel, and red cushioned window seat will have far more warmth and charm than a room whose walls are completely covered with red.
The Hall and Library.—Red, however, makes a hall seem hospitable and full of welcome. It is also a good library color. In halls where walls are papered or paneled with stripes or draperies rich red may appear in the ground of an Oriental rug on the floor, and be matched in the hue of the portières or stair runner. With damask or tapestry, or large-figured duplex papered hall walls, a soft-toned red rug, with hangings and stair runner matching it, is best. The walls should show a neutral tint, and red will dominate with pleasing effect.