For those of you who are researching appropriate color schemes for your late nineteenth century home, the following advice comes from an editorial advice column published in Carpentry & Building, February 1881.

Enjoy! Jeff- PB-D

 

Color for Rooms

We hear a great deal at the present time in regard to the necessity for harmonizing colors upon the walls of rooms, and choosing those which are popular for furniture, hangings, etc. In this matter of colors for walls of rooms, Eastlake, Dr. Dresser and many other authorities have laid down the rule that walls should form a background for the people who are in them. Fashion, in attempting to carry out this, has gone mad over olive greens, “old gold”, and a variety of dark and broken tints, all of them dismal in tone. A wall must be something more than a background of dark neutral tints. Fashion is changing, and lighter and brighter colors will be used. The dark ones were well enough for those without taste, because with them they could make fewer mistakes than with brighter shades.

It has long been fashionable in this country to have everything in a room “match,” when this is possible, so that people have bought light carpets, light window curtains, put light paper on the walls, left the ceilings light, and so made their rooms as cold and colorless as possible. Black walnut furniture, which has been so fashionable, is the only departure from the prevailing tint. We do not think that the best results can be attained by making a room all light or all dark. Certainly, if the walls are dove color, it is best to have some bright tints to make a contrast and five a more cheerful and brilliant tone to a room.

It may be well to have the parlor, or the reception room, of a country house somewhat dark in its general tone. It is commonly used on special occasions only, and upon what might be called state occasions. For this and a variety of other reasons which a housekeeper will appreciate, it may be best to use dark rich papers and dark carpets, which, however, should not repeat the colors of the walls.

Sittings rooms, and especially those which are used by the family at night, should have light paper and ceilings. Yellows and buffs, which seem quite dark in the daytime, lighten up very much at night, and appear white, or nearly so, by artificial light. A gloomy sitting room in long winter evenings is a thing to be avoided, especially if it is desirable to have children at home and keep them there. The cost of lighting a dark-walled room is about double that required for one with light walls. The dark one will seem gloomy, no matter how much light is used. Blue tints are not usually so pleasant by artificial light as those of red or yellow cast.