Value

Where the walls of a room are finished in light tones, it is usually best to have white curtains, if only one pair of curtains is used. If, however, the walls are toned darker, and only one pair of curtains is wished, it is more pleasant to have tinted curtains. Contrast between a dark wall and a light window is to be avoided if possible. In color, window curtains should be a repetition of the general color scheme of the room, but in a lesser degree. White curtains, used albne, are out of place unless the woodwork and the wall paper are white or very light. Delicate, transparent colors blend more readily with the walls of the room, and tone with the colors of the view beyond the window glass, tempered and softened by distance. Cream and ecru scrim, and madras at forty cents a yard, are universally pleasing. Figured madras, at seventy-five cents a yard, having a white or cream background and a delicately colored conventional design, is sometimes desirable in a room where the walls are tinted in a plain color of a rather darker tone.

Texture And Design

In a dark-walled room, however, which has none too much light, it is often best to use thin curtains of net. Net curtains are so transparent that, though they protect the occupants of the room from the curious gaze of the passer-by, they still let in much of the colors of the outside world. Although this tends to blend the window with the walls, there should still also be side hangings used with the net curtains, which will complete a transition from the light window to the darker wall. If the wall finish is plain, it is often well to have a material with a background the color of the wall, bearing a design in tones of the window. A figured hanging should never be used, however, in a room with a decorated wall. There the hangings should be of a plain color, and of a shade intermediate between the dominant tone of the paper or stencil and the window tone. By this means the observer's eye is carried around the room in continuous progression. There is no distinct break in rhythm when each window is reached.

Repetition Of The Dominant Colors

In color, the outside draperies of a window should repeat the dominant color in the room, often that in the rug. In this way a feeling of unity is procured between the walls of a room and its furnishings. Where the carpets or rugs are plain, the dominant color may be found in them or in the upholstery of the furniture. Where figured or oriental rugs are used, some pronounced motif usually supplies the color key of the draperies, which should be of a solid tone. The material chosen for the overdraperies should generally be used again in couch or chair cushions. In bedrooms or in the living rooms of very simple homes figured denims used as draperies for the windows and for couch covers and cushions give an effect of cheerfulness which can hardly be equaled in any other way. In more formal rooms where greater richness is desired, and where portieres and upholstery are of the same material, a heavier fabric should be used, such as velvet, velour, aras, monks-cloth, or extra-weight denim.::