The Personality of Your Room Is Expressed in Its Color.

Color is the greatest asset in decorating. Painting the interior or exterior of your home is one of the chief means you will use in expressing your decorative purpose. Color can minimize the structural defects of an interior room or emphasize its fine proportions. It can wrap your walls around you or open them out generously. Color can add warmth to a cold room or coolness to a warm one. It can create a mood, an atmosphere, and make a room well worth remembering. First, you must be able to see each color as it is, and become acquainted with what it expresses, before you understand why certain colors go together.

Think of colors in two categories, warm and cool. Warm colors are yellow, red and orange. All other colors which contain these share in their warmth. Warm colors advance, and in consequence, decrease the apparent size of a room and increase the apparent size of objects. Light warm colors, like Camellia and Talisman do not make a room seem smaller because they are diluted colors and do not come forward like the more intense colors.

Yellow is the sunniest and brightest of colors, suggesting light and freedom. Use Canary to introduce a feeling of sunniness in a dark north room For large areas you may also use Sandalwood as well as pale yellows. Red is highly stimulating and should be used with restraint. It makes an excellent contrasting color. In the red family, the pastels arc very pleasing. Among the oranges, Amber lite and Terra Cotta recommend themselves for use in home decorating. Cool colors are the blues, greens and violets which give the effect of withdrawing. They are restful, soothing colors and produce an effect of with drawing. They are restful, soothing colors and produce an effect of aloofness and reserve. Through their power of withdrawal, cool colors give an effect of spaciousness.

Blue, the coolest of colors, suggests a feeling of dignity and tranquility. Blues, such as Dustblu and Porcelain Blue, are good background colors. Twilight and Turquoise also finds popular favor. Violet is a dignified color. Purple Iris and Plum find ready use in home decoration while Wild Lilac or Sweet Pea are feminine colors reserved for bedrooms. Green has a calm and restful effect. It is an invaluable bridge between colors, a perfect background for a 'restful' room. With increased blue, green is cool. With more yellow in it, green becomes lighter, gayer and warmer. Dew, Pine Frost and Olive Glow are widely used for walls and floor covering. Now that you are acquainted with what colors say, you will find a new pleasure in colors.

Your first question in arriving at a color scheme for yourself is the decision as to which colors you will use. This decision rests upon your individual color preferences and is tempered by the decorative purpose which you desire to achieve.