H - University of Illinois

THE (iJESTIONOF WALL PAPER
What to Buy and What to Leave in the Shop :
I^f'.VE.RY housekeeper will agree that
; t»j| - at ho time in the year are'her rooms
I j more discouraging to look at than
• rii the :first-bright; days in spring.
From one end to the other, upstairs and
down, cleaning and mending the old or replacing^
altogether by something new, is
the, great springtime occupation.
- ^^yearnearfy every Home ' will need
mofe-repaifs than usual. If, when values
werei.going up, three-or four years ago, we
decided not to build, paint or paper and
the work'has waited, today the property
begins to look run down and cannot be neglected
any longer. ¦
About nine-tenths of our joy in living
comes from a combinational good health
and the satisfaction we take in our surroundings,
and there is no better cure for
that tired, discontented feeling, " which
comes with the first spring days, than to
start something interesting in the way of
house improvement. ' . -/
For the amount of money invested,
nothing gives greater charm to a place
than well-selected-paints and wall colorings.
How to choose these with economy
and good taste is a problem in which we
are all interested.
Tfce New Wall Papers Are Lovely
THE new wall papers are very attractive
and even in the lowest priced qualities
there are artistic designs and colorings,
but in each grade the price per roll is
higher than usual, the paper-hanger's labor
costsmore.and-iftheroomlookswrongwhen
it is finished, one has worse than wasted
quite a lot of money.
In choosing new
wail papers, do not
start with the idea
that each room
should be quite different
from all the .
others; that you
want stunning colorings,
or would like
a large patterned
paper that will "just
furnish the room,"
or a paper which
your friends will exclaim
about as soon
as" they have crossed
your threshold. Instead
of either of
these startling effects,
plan to make
your walls simply
flat backgrounds in
pleasant tones of
neutral color,
against which your
more important
things, the pictures,
furniture, books
and small articles,
are to.be arranged.
In other words,
plan to say "hush!"
to every wall in your house and ' make
them all restfully good and quiet.
Until quite recently we were accustomed
to hear people speak of wanting a red room,
a green room; or a pink, or blue, or brown
room, always meaning that this particular
color had to be used on the room's walls.
And although artists are urging us to have
quiet, neutral colors back of our pictures
and furniture, persons who do not study
coloring very much are still clinging to the
idea of rooms decorated in this way. They
have not learned yet that when walls are
quiet in tone, careful combinations of pale
and brilliant color used in the small furnishings,
can make a room as delightfully
"green" or "blue" or "old rose" as one
could possibly wish; and that this is the
sane and artistic way to make use of clear
color.
When a man says that his favorite color
is red, he generally means the reddest kind
of red; moreover, most men think they
would like at least one room in the house
done with red walls, and many a house
interior has been spoiled by this experiment.
For while hotel dining rooms, or
public halls may be done in this color
(though it takes an artist to do this right)
red walls should not come into use at all
in the small-sized rooms.of,private homes,
for they are very irritating to .the nerves
and greatly reduce the apparent size of
the room. In this connection it may be
; A DELINE B. W HITFORD
well to add that red paint on woodwork-is
not desirable in room finishings.
Somewhere recently the experiment was
¦/ ' tried of taking two rooms Of the same size,
and coloring the walls of one , red, and
those of . 'the other; a ' clear, cool ' gray.
When both were finished, a committee of
men was asked to give an estimate, without'taKffgjany-rrtea'surements,
of the number:
of ¦: square fetet; in'^h room.' Their
exact .figures differed, but their'decision
was that - the'roOniMVith' gray walls was
nearly oneSthird' larger'than ' the :one with
recTwalls. Strong green or brown or blue
coloring would haye-had about the' same
effect as the red in making theroom look
small, but these would have gone further
' and made it depressing! / dark by day,
as well as difficult to light up at night.
This, too, is/one reason why experienced
decorators avoid-the popular deep tan '
color on walls. '"
Another reason for not making walls
string in tone, even in such tints as pink,
blue or green, is this: that four walls of a
definite color will ' overpower all other use
of this tone in the room. In other words,
the rugs, chair covers, sofa pillows,
^unless
pictures, and so forth, are very bright, they
are out of balance with the strength of the
wall tone, while if they are bright and
equal to the wall covering, the whole room
has of course been frightfully overdone.
An eastern writer, in urging the purchase
of plainer wall papers, especially
those having small patterns, makes this
statement: "A room with a very bad wall
color—red , green and gilt scroll paper—is
This Farm Home Living Room Is Excellently Decorated and Furnished. Moulding at Top
of Wall Would Be Good Even if Ceiling Were Not Beamed
beyond redemption; nothing can be done
to make it attractive; such a paper dominates
every other thing in the room and
the proportion is hopeless. In this case,
only two means can be employed, repaper,
or tint over the old paper, if its condition
permits."
Demand Good Designs from Dealers
DO not quote this to make us too discontented
with what we may happen to
I
have but in order that those of us who have
new papers to buy may help the move
which is being made today called "Better
homes in America." Indeed it would be a
strong influence towards improving the
art of wall paper designing in this country,
if each reader of THE FARMER' S WIFE
should let her local dealer know that today
and tomorrow and from now on, there is to
be an increasing demand for designs and
colorings which are right when placed
upon the walls and not simply attractive
in the shops.
For the great trouble has been that in
buying wall paper we have usually made
our choice from a sample only eighteen by
twenty-four inches in size, sometimes a
little more. In this small area the color
and pattern are as interesting as a new picture,
we liked them both, and thought we
had chosen rightly, and yet only a woman
who has had considerable experience can
see clearly in her mind's eye how this
colored and pictured paper will look when
its pattern is repeated ovetand over again
on four large walls.
It is no wonder that the amateur home
decorator is often keenly disappointed in
the finished room, and sometimes still
more distressed after the pictures and furniture
' are in place. Once on, of course,
the hew-paper lias to. stay and as the work
of selecting wall-coverings seldom has%be
done mOre .thahVpnee ' in several .years;; it is
difficult for the buyer to learn much from
experiences ' which are so far apart. One
can only avoid such disappointment by
learning how to study each problem when
it comes. .
How to Know What to Select
IN
ORDER to know what tone of paper
a room should have, we study the room's
light. Sunny rooms will call for some of
the tints of gray, while the north rooms or
those with little sunshine must have tones
which suggest the creamy yellows and
light tans. This may sound as though the
choice were small, but there are many
lovely tones of cool grays, some of which
show green or blue or purple tints or even
a brown and smoky suggestion of red, yet
in reality all are quiet gray. And there
are quite as many yellow and buff tones,
blended and multiplied into harmonies oi
other colorings.
Each year the shops show a larger number
of patterns to choose from. This
spring there are small and indistinct
leaves and flowers, which seem like shadows,
they are so softly colored; and other
designs printed in a
variety of clothlike
patterns. Papers
which look as
if they were made
of canvas, are
printed with dim
patterns in the
weaving, each done
with charmingly
soft colors. There
are refined, dignified
designs for
large rooms, patterns
having character
yet not pronounced
in color,
and there are quantities
of misty, indistinct
garden flowers
in harmonies
which combine pale
tones of pinks and
blues and straw
color and lavenders,
the ideal papers for
bedrooms and just
what every woman
loves to choose for
the best spare
chamber.
The large foliage
patterns (leaves and
ferns in smoky tones of gray and creamy
browns, or in yellows and white) are the
only examples of artistic large designs;
but these, too, are indistinct. They are
only used in halls and dining rooms, places
where no one stays long at a time and
where pictures are not needed—for of
course, those huge shadowy leaves are all
the decoration an average-sized room can
carry.
Stripes make a low room appear higher
but let the divisions be very indistinct.
If they are strong light and dark, or distinct
flower stripes, (and especially if there
is a small black line running up in the pattern)
decide against them; for in a twelveby-fourteen-foot
room you will have as
many as a hundred and twenty of those
up and down lines, and unless they are extremely
dim, your walls may look as if
they had been fenced instead of papered.
When ceilings are high they may be
made to look lower (and the room made to
appear more homelike also) by having the
light ceiling paper carried down on to the
side walls for from twelve to eighteen
inches. At this line, where wall coloring
meets the lowered ceiling, place the picture
rail.
Dividing walls into upper thirds and
having two kinds of wall paper, with
mouldings or plate-rails where these join,
becomes less and less popular as people
'CONTINUED ON PiOB 346>
How About August?
Just now seeds are only seeds—
but they hold, the measure of your
crop. a. & H. seeds meet your ex- '
pectationa at the end of the season.
Our friends return each year.
For 66 years farmers and gardeners
have looked to us for good seeds,
plants and trees. Ana they have
received them.
Over 1200 acres of land are devoted
here to careful trials and
propagating—we prove before we
sell
Your catalog is ready. Will you
write tonight f
•ThaStorrsandHarrUonCo.
nurserymen and Seedsmen
Bos lfrC P«inw»flle.OMo I
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{HHFSPECIAL OFFCR^P
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