The Treatment of Walls and Ceilings regarding Color, Value, Subordination, - Choice and Arrangement of Wall Decorations.

When The House Is New

Fortunate indeed is he who has the privilege of building his home after individual plans suited to his own uses and tastes. Then, after the site and style have been determined, a general plan of the interior can be easily and pleasantly evolved. Often the architect is also an interior decorator of no little ability, and he can safely be allowed to suggest a harmonious scheme for walls, ceilings, and furniture.

Where The House Has Been Built By Another

However, the pleasure of planning and building is vouchsafed to a comparative few. The usual person must live in house or apartment originally designed for another, or, worse, designed for any possible renter. He must often adjust himself to an environment foreign to his nature and make his home within walls at variance with his ideals. This is no easy task and yet every home maker can control, to a certain extent, the finish of the walls and ceilings, and the furnishings of the rooms wherein he dwells, and make them speak of his personality and the personality of his family.

Changes Which Can Be Made

Much can be accomplished by refinishing the woodwork and doing over the walls and ceilings. If the problem is a rented house or apartment, the landlord may not be willing to make changes, but can usually be persuaded to allow the tenant to redecorate at his own expense. Such expense may be made very slight by using the proper materials, and there is nothing 80 necessary in good interior decorating as well-toned woodwork, walls, and ceiling. A well-furnished room makes a beautiful picture, and a beautiful picture must have a beautiful background.

Color

The dominant color used in a room, and the contrasting and combined effects of other shades employed, are of the greatest importance. Although physiologists have long known that colors affect the temperament in different ways, many people fair to profit by this when they select colors for their home. Rooms should be decorated in colors appropriate to their use, but also to the feelings and actions of the occupant. Where contrast is used, it should be agreeable and interesting. Where there is no contrast, one tone should melt softly into another, making a completed color scheme.

Contrasts

A dark woodwork with a light wall is not usually agreeable. A fairly light wall is often desirable, so, for this reason, the woodwork should be finished in a medium shade, or enameled white or ivory. Ivory is especially suited to the bedrooms and, in a colonial home, is admirable in the living and dining rooms. It is well to adhere to the plan of finishing the standing woodwork in adjoining rooms in the same color, or varying shades of the same color. The walls, too, of the different rooms should show . no crude contrast, but should harmonize well, and the ceiling color should show a tone slightly lighter than that of the side wall.