My Home Decoration, Oriental Style

Two Chinese horseshoe wooden chairs at the entrance hall.

A blue and white china jug with flowers makes the corner look soft and lively.

The blackwood display cabinet with classic style accomodates home collectibles.

The Choice of Colours

Colour is extremely important in decoration. However, a very great number of people have a hard time developing the confidence to use it properly. Some rare individuals can carry a colour around in their heads and match it absolutely. They look at a room and know instantly what will suit it. Most of us, however, have to work at developing colour sense, and the way to do it is really to look at any pleasurable combinations we see and to analyze the make-up of colours within that image in a conscious way.

For a start, almost anything that pleases you visually can be converted into the basis of a decorative scheme if you keep the colours in just about the same propertions and translate them into carpet, walls, window treatments, and accessories. Most rural scenes, for example, contain innumerable shades of green, harmoniously blended with accents provided by bright splashes of colour from flowers, berries or crops. Similarly, an old fashioned rose gardencan show how to make successful blends of pinks, yellows and peaches, creating a scheme of equal tones against a green background.

From: The Mary Gilliatt Book of Color