CHAPTER IV

COLOUR IN HOUSES

_"Heaven gives us of its colour, for our joy,
Hues which have words and speak to ye of heaven."_


Although the very existence of a house is a matter of construction, its
general interior effect is almost entirely the result of colour
treatment and careful and cultivated selection of accessories.

Colour in the house includes much that means furniture, in the way of
carpets, draperies, and all the modern conveniences of civilization, but
as it precedes and dictates the variety of all these things from the
authoritative standpoint of wall treatment, it is well to study its laws
and try to reap the full benefit of its influence.

As far as effect is concerned, the colour of a room creates its
atmosphere. It may be cheerful or sad, cosy or repellent according to
its quality or force. Without colour it is only a bare canvas, which
might, but does not picture our lives.

We understand many of the properties of colour, and have unconsciously
learned some of its laws;--but what may be called the _science_ of
colour has never been formulated. So far as we understand it, its
principles correspond curiously to those of melodious sound. It is as
impossible to produce the best effect from one tone or colour, as to
make a melody upon one note of the harmonic scale; it is skilful
_variation_ of tone, the gradation or even judicious opposition of tint