It will be understood from this that Morris and Company do not print distinctive frieze-patterns. One or other of the simplest yellow and white, or white-ground, wallpapers, is sometimes used for the frieze, when tone requires some faint patterning on the ceiling; but in this case the pattern is altogether subordinate to the tone, and its color is the chief value. Ceiling-papers we seldom use; but for the occasions noted above, numbers 101, 18, 107,11, 144, or the green tints of the sample patterns, are suitable. Those we should use for friezes in connection with them, are numbers 2,5, 46, 120, 98, 99, 30, 63, 64, and such like. We now come to the wall proper - the space which our wall-papers, cotton-prints, and damasks are designed to cover. In choosing the pattern for this, there are some dangers to be avoided, to which all who are unaccustomed to the selection of decorative details are liable. In the first place it is difficult, when a pattern is presented on narrow strips, to know whether the shapes it will make on the wall are only those that appear, or if entirely new lines and shapes may not be developed by combination; it is also difficult to know whether the scale of the pattern is suitable. In the narrow breadth the pattern is apt to look much larger than it will on the wall; and from this cause, patterns miserably inadequate for the decorations of the space they are intended to fill are too often chosen. You cannot entirely guard against either danger by having two or three rolls displayed together; experience will still be wanting. Patterns which take the fancy when seen in the show-room will be disappointing on the wall, and you will almost certainly err on the side of smallness or feebleness in size and tone. This brings us to the great difficulty, the more serious because quite unsuspected; the risk there always is in choosing a pattern from simple liking, without consideration of the place the pattern has to fill. Pattern-choosing, like pattern-making, is an Architectural Art. A pattern is but a part of any scheme of decoration, and its value will be derived in great part from its surroundings. Personal liking, therefore, is not an infallible guide in the choice of wall-papers.
There are conditions that must be respected if the liking is to last; and these depend entirely on the character of the room to be decorated, on the extent of wall-space to be covered, on the amount and kind of light in the room, on the color of the timber if so-called "natural woods" are used, and on many details which practiced eyes only can properly estimate. We recommend, therefore, that the advice of some one accustomed to the work ought always to be had; but for ordinary cases the following simple rules may be laid down, which will perhaps answer most questions. If there is reason for keeping the wall very quiet, choose a pattern that works all over without pronounced lines, such as the Diapers, Mallows, Venetians, Poppy, Scroll, Jasmine, &c., &c.
If you may venture on more decided patterning, and you ought always to go for positive patterns when they may be had, choose the Daisy, Trellis, Vine, Chrysanthemum, Lily, Honeysuckle, Larkspur, Rose, Acanthus, or such. In deciding between those whose direction or set is horizontal, and those which have more obviously vertical or oblique lines, you must be guided entirely by the look of the room. Put very succinctly, architectural effect depends upon a nice balance of horizontal, vertical, and oblique. No rules can say how much of each; so nothing can really take the place of feeling and good judgment. If you have no professional aid, you must decide for yourself whether the room most wants stability and repose, or if it is too stiff and formal. If repose be wanted, choose the pattern, other things also being duly considered, which has horizontal arrangement of its parts. If too great rigidity be the fault, choose a pattern with soft, easy lines, either boldly circular or oblique-wavy, - say Scroll, Vine Pimpernel, Fruit, &c. If the fault lie in the too great predominance of horizontal lines, without any marked stiffness in the parts, as when the walls are very low and long, choose one of the columnar patterns, as Larkspur, Spray, or Indian; or, better still, hang the walls with chintz, or other cloth, in folds. If the room has no marked defect, and you have the pleasure of choosing from a wider range of patterns, do not be afraid of choosing a large one, provided the tone of it be what you want. if the light in the room be bright and plentiful, choose from the fainter colorings. If the light be weak, choose patterns of strong relief.
As regards color, you will be guided in the first place by the color of the wood-work, if this be unpainted. The usual pitch-pine, ash, and hard woods, as they are varnished and finished for interior fittings, are so undecorative as to make the task of fitting wall-papers to them very difficult. If the wood be walnut or dark-stained oak, the papers with metallic grounds will be best, or the darkest many-colored papers, like dark trellis. If the color of the timber be lighter and yellowish, you must choose from the olive or sage-green papers, and prefer the fullest and richest in pattern to the plainer ones. If the timber be nicely designed and finished, one of the stuffs already mentioned would be more suitable than wall-papers, unless the gold grounds be excepted; but these cases do not come under the ordinary class, and need special treatment.
Keeping then to rooms that may be described generally, we will notice next those which have painted doors, windows, and other fittings. In these rooms it is often allowable to determine the color at pleasure; still, some things cannot be disregarded. Should the character of the wood-work be what is called bold, - that is, coarsely, moulded, and neither nice in proportion nor style, you would do better to paint it of a dark shade than a light one; and that will influence the choice of wall-paper. Some patterns called light will go very well with paint decidedly dark, - as for instance Daisy 75, or Venetian 74, with dark-green paint. Usually, if the paint be dark, the paper is chosen of nearly the same tone. There is no great reason for this. Rooms with wood-work and walls of equal tone are sometimes very tame, and even dull. It is better to make the wood-work either darker or lighter than the walls.
In the choice of color there is scarcely any help to be given except with the paint and brush. the best thing to say is that, when all is done, the result must be color, not colors. If there are curtains or carpet or other finishings to be worked up to, you must consider which of them, if any, shall be the predominating color, and the carpet the secondary. The curtains will then either blend with the walls, and help to surround the carpet with a frame of color contrasting with it generally, but not necessarily with a strong contrast, or the curtains, or the curtains may be used to harmonize the carpet with the walls. The choice must depend upon the kind of room and the point of departure. Should you be quite untrammelled, you may prefer to select the carpet first, and then the wall-paper and color of the wood-work; but having determined the predominant color, the subservient colors must be so balanced as to soften it by variations or brighten it by contrast. Contrasting color, if strong, must be kept within small quantities; if pale or gray, it may be more freely used. Chairs and sofas give great opportunitites for introducing points of bright contrasting color, and for those high lights and darkest shades which are essential in a complete scheme. Covers need not be uniform. They may be of two or three or four kinds, according to the size of the room and number of pieces.
If the chief color be red, it will be desireable to have a large area of white for rest to the eye. Blues, gray, green, and lighter tints of red should be the variants. Contrast with it should be generally avoided; it wants rather quiet than excitement. Whenever white paint may be used for the wood-work, choose it in preference to any other. The use of positive color is very difficult, and house-painters are peculiarly ignorant of it. Their incapacity may have led to the use of the dull, gray, even dirty shades, which have become so general since house-decoration has begun to interest educated people. The revolt against crude, inharmonious coloring has pushed things to the opposite extreme, and instead of over-bright colors, we have now dirty no-colors. The aim was to get sobriety and tenderness, but the inherent difficulty was not less great than before. It is not more easy to paint grays that shall have color, than to paint color that shall be gray; and whichever it be, color is still the essential. in this difficulty the use of white paint is the only way of safety. White is perfectly neutral; it is a perfect foil to most colors, and by judicious toning may be assimilated with any. it is, therefore, manageable without real art. When used in its highest tone, direct the painter to put no mixture of black or blue to the natural pigment, whether lead or zinc. If a little degradation be needed, use orange-chrome and green, either alone or together. Do not use black, and very rarely raw-umber.
Very few questions remain. If you ask whether the color of the wood-work ought as a rule to be lighter or darker than that of the paper, the answer is, There is no rule. White or light-tones paints may be used if the wood-work is well designed and nicely finished, - that is, if the shapes are agreeable and the surface pleasant. If the shapes be not bad, but the moulding be heavy and coarse, it is better to make the wood-work darker than the wall. If the shapes be bad, - too many and too irregular, - the ugliness will be reduced by painting pretty closely to the tone of the paper; and when this is necessary, choose for the wall the richest and most interesting design the room will bear, - to avoid the fault of dullness, which might otherwise attend the use of a non-contrasting paint. When your room is already well designed and has nice detail, you can use much more liberty in the choice of wall-paper and paint.
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