Another writer puts it this way:
In deciding on a color scheme for a whole room, fix on some foundation color, and then introduce relief and contrast.[16]
PLANNED PROCEDURE FOR THE SALESPERSON
With this information well in mind the home furnishings salesman will do well to leave learned and scientific discussion of color management to the scientists and concentrate on a few principal facts which will be dominant throughout the sales procedure.
He may be assured that his customer's decisions to buy furnishings for a complete room, a few pieces only, or none at all, will be conditioned by her likes, by the family budget, by the size and use to be made of the room, and by the necessity to use "left-overs."
He certainly will profit by having a rather definite knowledge of chromatic scales, complementary colors, adjacent colors, nuances, and concentric circles as devices which he may use to show how we get the many varied colors. It is the opinion of leading experts that the average salesman will find it far easier and more satisfactory to talk convincingly of color management for any given room or combination of rooms by using a simple color story which starts with the six basic colors, and which may be understood easily by the customer. If a simple color chart is close at hand and ready for use at any time, the sales talk will deal with facts, not generalities.
He must be able to take an inventory, by personal inspection or through questions, of the color possibilities in the decoration problem presented by the customer. Such facts as room exposure, size and type, wall color, floor covering, furniture already in the room; use to be made of the room, number, sex, and characteristic traits of those who will live, eat, work, or sleep in the room; and approximate price ranges must be known if real help is to be given.
He must know the stock so thoroughly that within the given price range, the designation of the proper color schemes will be comparatively easy. He must use his knowledge of color through the furnishings, to interpret, as needed, two different sets of ideas:
1. One in which the color scheme is daring, with unusual combinations, startling, gay, and sophisticated.
2. The other, with a color scheme recognized as gentle, restful, and never monotonous.