Floor Contrast With Upholstery: Co-relating upholstery textiles. In decoration, upholstery textiles must first be considered from the angle of their cost, suitability, and durability ? but their relationship to the ensemble of the room depends mainly on their pattern and color. Walls appear as backgrounds to chairs and sofas placed against them, and Floor Contrast with Upholstery coverings must be considered in their effect upon free-standing pieces. Contrast of upholstery materials with their backgrounds is usually advisable, and it may be obtained in any one or more of the usual methods, such as texture, tone, color intensity, hue, or the use or omission of pattern. As upholstery coverings are secondary color areas to walls and Floor Contrast with Upholsterys, the color brilliancy of the former may be increased. Care must be taken to avoid an excessive use of patterned upholstery in a room, and particularly if wallpaper or a patterned Floor Contrast with Upholstery covering is used. An excess of plain surfaces is less objectionable than an excess of patterned ones; the former is restful and may be given interest by variations in texture and color. Stripes and plaids produce a medium degree of animation and are less disturbing than elaborate patterns and harmonize well with both these and plain colors. Plain colored upholstery usually looks best and may be given greater interest if contrasting colored welting cords or chenille fringes are used with it.
Co-relating upholstery textiles. In decoration, upholstery textiles must first be considered from the angle of their cost, suitability, and durability ? but their relationship to the ensemble of the room depends mainly on their pattern and color. Walls appear as backgrounds to chairs and sofas placed against them, and Floor Contrast with Upholstery coverings must be considered in their effect upon free-standing pieces. Contrast of upholstery materials with their backgrounds is usually advisable, and it may be obtained in any one or more of the usual methods, such as texture, tone, color intensity, hue, or the use or omission of pattern. As upholstery coverings are secondary color areas to walls and Floor Contrast with Upholsterys, the color brilliancy of the former may be increased. Care must be taken to avoid an excessive use of patterned upholstery in a room, and particularly if wallpaper or a patterned Floor Contrast with Upholstery covering is used. An excess of plain surfaces is less objectionable than an excess of patterned ones; the former is restful and may be given interest by variations in texture and color. Stripes and plaids produce a medium degree of animation and are less disturbing than elaborate patterns and harmonize well with both these and plain colors. Plain colored upholstery usually looks best and may be given greater interest if contrasting colored welting cords or chenille fringes are used with it. Patterns and weaves should be in character with the style of the room and with the character and scale of period furniture. Large all-upholstered sofas and chairs may be used in rooms that are otherwise treated in a period style, and such pieces are not necessarily required to be covered in period patterned textiles. All the large upholstered pieces forming conversation groups do not have to be covered in the same materials, but some attempt at balance should be made. Where a sofa faces two chairs, the sofa may be in a different material from the chairs, but the chairs should be treated in a manner similar to each other, and unity is always increased if by the use of welting, fringes or patterns there is some repetition of colors in the facing units. The use of several different chintzes in a room is usually inadvisable. When draperies consist of a strongly patterned chintz, the same chintz may be used on some of the larger upholstered pieces but a
different patterned chintz is disturbing.* In wallpapered rooms, a better effect is attained by using plain, striped, or plaid upholstery coverings in colors that repeat some of those used in the wallpaper. It is better to attempt to distribute the patterned textiles used for furniture evenly, rather than to concentrate them at one point. |
