Color Value Part 2

-ROOM COMBINATIONS-

34. The harmony of a.n.a.logy is a subject that is little understood. It may be color sequence, progression, development or succession.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Showing Four-Color Combinations.

DIAGRAM IV and DIAGRAM V]

[Ill.u.s.tration: -SEQUENCE OF HARMONIES- DIAGRAM VI As these twenty-one sections are arranged, one has the layout for a suite of seven rooms; following the top line across in a light scale, the harmony is complete; following the center line across in a normal, the harmony is complete; so also with the bottom line in a lower scale.

Follow the colors diagonally and you find they are repeats, or very close to repeats--red, russet, red, for instance; violet, violet, violet; blue, slate, blue; green, green, green; yellow, citrine, yellow; orange, orange, orange. To the colorist the combinations here suggested are full of inspiration.]

Thus we may combine red, green and blue by starting with crimson and maintaining the following sequence: Crimson, red, scarlet, orange, yellow, greenish yellow, green, bluish green, blue, violet, and with added red get back to crimson.

A room or a series of rooms may run to all colors and be still a harmony of a.n.a.logy if the sequence or succession is gradual.

35. No more delightful harmonies can be imagined than those provided by nature. One may start with the brown of the earth and run into several shades of green, and from that touch upon yellow, and from yellow to orange, and from orange to red, and red to violet, and violet to the blue of the sky. Or one may follow the colorings and the proportion of colorings in flora and never go astray. (See -- 22.)

36. In the application of color to the home nothing is more pleasing than the harmony of sequence; the coloring of all rooms must be in sympathy with contiguous rooms. (Diagram VII.) (See -- 34.)

37. All rooms are subject to the influence of a north or a south light, or much or little light, and the colorings must be considered accordingly. The ceiling and the upper parts of a wall require more pale colors where more light is needed. On the floor, however, where the greatest light falls, a little black may be added to soften the tone.

38. Red and green are sharply contrasting colors; violet and yellow and blue and orange sharply contrast, and while their combinations may be used in adjoining rooms, it will be seen that in Diagram IV these contrasting tones are not in contact, but by their arrangement form a.n.a.logies of contrast combinations.

39. Yellow, orange, red, violet, blue and green are related; orange, russet, violet, slate, green and citrine are related; red, violet, blue, green, yellow and orange are related. Viewing the ceilings, the side-walls or the floor, there is the harmony of progression that we observe in the tinting of a flower. Viewed collectively the harmony is the same.

40. To ill.u.s.trate further our point we would take the ceiling line. We start with yellow, a primary color; orange possesses yellow; orange likewise possesses red, the adjoining color; violet possesses red, and it likewise possesses blue. On the side-wall, russet possesses orange, and it also possesses violet; it is the tertiary color made of these two secondaries. Slate is made of green and violet, and is thus also related to citrine.

We do not wish it understood that these colors are to be applied flat, but simply in the predominating expression. (See -- 27.)

41. The value of the diagram is obvious when one considers that in no particular is there a break in the sequence; but if we wish a harmony of a.n.a.logy in a room, or a harmony of related parts, and wish the adjoining room to be in absolute contrast, we simply adopt the red, violet and blue for one room, and the green, citrine and orange for another; or the orange, russet and violet for one room, and the blue, green and yellow for the other. If, however, the sequence of color is desirable where we move from one apartment to another, and the eye is pleased by a gradual changing color, we can adopt any of these combinations in the order as presented.

42. A vital point in the use of color, regarded usually with indifference or totally misunderstood, is the Unity of Composition to be preserved in the treatment of a series of _floors_ in a house; for on each floor of a house the conditions of light vary. As we ascend the stairs we find each floor requires an altered treatment, because of the added light given from the skylight. (See -- 37.) Moreover, in the arrangement of a floor the relation of one room to another is frequently so influential that no one room should be treated without due consideration to the adjacent apartment. (See Diagram VIII.)

Too frequently the whole question of color is dismissed when the matter of north or south exposure is discovered, but the north room on the lower floor of a house is by no means so well lighted as the north room of the fourth or fifth floor, and the scale of color which would lend warmth to such a room would be weak in a more exposed apartment.

(See -- 30.)

43. Where the artist has but one room to consider there is little scope for his application of color knowledge. He must frequently compromise to meet the conditions. But presuming that he must treat a floor through, he should adopt a Unity which will apply harmoniously to all the rooms and hallways.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DIAGRAM VII]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DIAGRAM VIII]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DIAGRAM IX For Key to Numbers see Diagram VII.]

-CONTIGUOUS HARMONIES-

44. For the lower floor he must arrange his colors so that while they moderate the direct glare of a sunny exposure or brighten the cheerlessness of a north light, they will also form a composition that pleases when seen from a point of common observation.

45. On the upper floors the scale of color should be gradually softened, for the yellow or ivory tints that are pleasing on the first floor would be harsh and glaring where there is greater light. Exterior conditions must be borne always in mind.

46. Recalling that the primary colors are yellow, red and blue, and that the secondary colors are orange, violet and green, and that the tertiary colors are russet, slate and citrine, all with many tints and shades, let us arrange a series of five rooms seriatim, so treating ceiling, side-wall and floor (See Diagram IX) that in pa.s.sing from one room to another they will be in sequence of color harmony--each complete from floor to ceiling and all in harmony along the ceiling lines, the wall lines and the floor lines.

Let us take the suite of rooms suggested in Diagram IX. We must consider desirable colorings in all of the rooms to be treated, and so far as possible adjust the sequence of treatments, as shown in Diagram VIII, so that the approach to each room will be in harmonious order as viewed from any room. We have five rooms to treat. The library happens to be on the north side, hence we wish to treat it in colorings that supply the deficiency of suns.h.i.+ne. The hallway is rather dark. The living-room has only one window, and requires more warmth of color than the billiard-room and dining-room, which being suns.h.i.+ny can be treated in more sombre tones. Therefore we select combination 6 for the hallway.

The one room on the right we treat in No. 1. The rooms on the left we treat in Nos. 5, 4 and 3. We have, therefore, as we stand in room No. 6, treated in green, citrine and orange, a view to the right of yellow, orange and red, which is in harmonious juxtaposition. To the left we have a glimpse of rooms, the floors of which adjoining the orange floor of the entrance hall, are yellow, green and blue. The wall s.p.a.ces adjoining the citrine wall s.p.a.ce of the hall treatment are green, slate and violet. The frieze lines adjoining the green of the hall treatment are blue, violet and red--all juxtaposed harmonies. The floors of all rooms are of one deep scale; the walls lighter scale; the friezes and ceiling still lighter. If viewed from room 4 the harmonies are equally effective.

47. Diagram VII is useful for many reasons. In its present shape it shows the harmonies of a.n.a.logy or related parts. To arrange harmonies of contrast, combine the colors of the first room with the fourth room, the colors of the second room with the fifth room, the colors of the third room with the sixth room. (See -- 37.)

-HARMONIES FOR THE ROOM-

48. The floor should usually enter into the color scheme as the low note in the scale. It is the background for the furniture, and should be deeper than the dado or wainscoting. The wood trims--baseboard, doors, plate-rails, and everything of that character, except the picture molding--should be like the woodwork of the furniture. This brings the woodwork into contrast with the wainscoting (unless the wainscoting be wood) and into harmony with the side-walls, although the degree of harmony is far removed. Thus, if the woodwork of the furniture is mahogany, the wainscoting green, the side-walls pink and gray, we would find the window trims of mahogany, or imitation mahogany, in harmony with the side-walls. (See -- 51 and -- 52.)

49. I would lay down the rule that the wood trims of a room should harmonize by a.n.a.logy with the side-walls where such walls are provided with a contrasting wainscoting; but if there is no wainscoting, or the wainscoting be also of wood, then the wood trims and furniture contrast with the side-wall.

Subst.i.tute green side-wall for the pink, -- 48.

White woodwork is always permissible. Study Diagram VI on page 22.

50. The picture molding may harmonize with the ceiling. Indeed, a white picture molding frequently is better than one matching the general woodwork (See -- 37); a dark upper molding, moreover, reduces the apparent size of a room.

51. Where black furniture is used, or gold furniture, it will of course be understood that the wood trims shall not be black or gold; but so long as they are in harmony, that will be sufficient. White wood trims are nearly always permissible as a subst.i.tute for colored wood.

52. Tones of gray with soft colorings (See -- 32), are always safe.

To summarize (Note -- 37):

53. In harmonies of contrast the side-walls, the furniture woodwork, wood tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, cove, ceiling and the curtains should be related.

54. The rugs, frieze, wainscoting or dado, furniture upholsterings and the curtain borders should be related. (See -- 49.)

55. If the curtains have no borders, then the curtains contrast with the wood trims.

56. Remember always cove and ceiling should be the palest tint of the side-wall color, and the rug should be of the deepest contrast to the side-wall, in harmony with the wainscoting, if there is a wainscoting.

Remember, also, that the colors here prescribed are never to be of the same scale. The rug or carpet is of the deepest, and the ceiling of the palest. While certain colors are to contrast, they are not to contrast in the same scale. (See -- 37 and -- 40.)

57. If we find that the tone of color of the wainscoting, for instance, is a bluish green, the side-wall should be of a reddish orange; for the reason that if green contrasts with red, and if blue contrasts with orange, a bluish green would contrast with a reddish orange.

58. Exception to -- 56. Only large or well-proportioned rooms can stand the diminis.h.i.+ng or reduction effects of contrast. In low ceiling rooms, leave out the contrasting frieze, and let border, cornice and ceiling be in receding colors. (See -- 89.)

59. We all know that a northern exposure gives a room a deficiency of sunlight, and the wall treatment should supply this. A southern room, on the other hand, gives so much sunlight that counteracting wall treatments in cold color are permissible.

60. In the color treatment of a room one has either to adopt a harmony of a.n.a.logy or a harmony of contrast, and this is a matter which depends upon so many conditions that it should be carefully considered.

(See -- 88 and -- 89.) Where a plate-rail is used one must remember that a great deal of color may be furnished by the bric-a-brac, and that the wall behind this plate-rail should be of a color in contrast to the contents of the plate-rail.

61. When we follow a scheme of _contrast_ the borders should be usually complements, and if the reader has studied our diagram he will very readily understand how to determine the exact complementary color.

-WALL PROPORTIONS-

62. The wainscoting or dado should be the same as the top border or frieze, but of a darker tone. The intermixture of white or black is always permissible; thus a paper as a side-wall might have as its frieze the complementary coloring with more white, while the wainscoting or dado should be the complementary with black added.