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Archive Dive: 15 Ways to Work Wonders With Color
Welcome to Archive Dive—my new excuse to obsess over the absolute treasures hiding in House Beautiful’s 130-year-old archives. Every month, we’ll dig up a favorite story from the past (epic room makeovers, wildly bold design swings, and style moments that were way ahead of their time) and talk about why they still resonate today. It’s part history lesson, part design deep-dive, and 100 percent a love letter to the iconic taste that’s defined HB for over a century.
—Jo Saltz, House Beautiful Editor in Chief
It might come as a surprise that peel-and-stick floor tile isn’t anything new. It was mentioned, as a tip, in this wonderful 1969 package about creative and impactful ways to add color to your decor scheme. (The suggestion was actually to use vinyl or carpet floor tiles to create a checkered pattern!) It’s just one of the many creative, considered, and timeless ideas in this package. Turns out, they all really hold up. Scroll through to see how some of our go-to design moves were implemented in 1969. You’ll find patterned curtains, color-massed bedding, punchy accessories, tonal vignettes, and of course a checkerboard floor that you can easily stick-on yourself.
By the Editors of 1969 House Beautiful
Color, the prime catalyst of a decorative scheme, runs the risk of being used too timidly by most beginners rather than too strongly. As the message of our color portfolio clearly states: the bolder the color, the better the scheme.
Lay It on the Floor
One marvelous color, spread thickly on the floor as a luxurious carpet, repeated in solids and prints on pillows and upholstery, can be all a room needs to be colorfully unique. Deeply saturated rugs, like this blue one, hide dirt and grime better than muted tones. Other good choices for rugs are russet, moss green, and raspberry.
Hang It at the Windows
An oversized print, used for draperies and throw pillows, adds dimension to a room by giving the eye a focal point for the vibrant pattern. One-color-plus-white schemes are successful because of their uncomplicated nature—whatever color is introduced is defined by wide areas of white. Painting walls and furniture the same tone brings attention to the bright print.
Add in Lamp Shades and Pillows
Repetition of the major color in other areas of a room is a decorating “rule of thumb” for all successful color schemes. In this flower-covered bedroom, bold printed drapes add visual interest. The flower motif is repeated on a bed pillow and fabric-covered lampshades over the bedside table.
Bring in Pops of Accessories
All white rooms—like bathrooms in modern apartment buildings—make effective backgrounds for color-saturated accessories, much in the same way that white gallery walls concentrate attention on the artwork displayed. The miniature chest and oversized Mexican candlestand (its base repeats the blue of the floor tiles) give this basin area its pizzazz.
Scatter It in Tiny Feasts for the Eye
In one sense, your rooms are really a series of vignettes, or close-up views as seen through the camera’s eye. Every item you own is a color accent, contributing its share to the brightness and delight of your home, from copper pots hanging in the kitchen or a pottery bowl of autumn gourds to the elements of a tabletop, and even the way you present your meal. Important, then, are the color, the pattern, the shape, and the design of the humblest objects—a hot pad or oven mitt, the form of an oil-and-vinegar set.
Choose simple things that you love and leave them out for all to enjoy. Surround yourself with nothing less than things that delight each time your eye lights on them, and yours will be a truly unique, personal, and individual home.
Vary the Tone and Intensity
Variety, the spice of life, is the spice of a color scheme as well. Collect objects in a room that will emphasize and enhance the colors of your basic scheme. They punctuate the room like well-placed exclamation points do a paragraph.
Concentrate It on a Table
Tabletops can hold a high concentration of colorful objects. Amber glasses, wood bowls, woven palm mats paired with bright napkins and a centerpiece supply all the color needed on this porch.
Frame It in a Folding Screen
Try painting a folding screen in brilliant colors to arouse decorative interest. This screen features a design medley of tropical flowers and exotic birds, each framed in a panel of the screen.
Unify It With Furniture
Widely different styles become unified in spirit when painted the same hue. Here, a turn-of-the-century wicker chair teams up with a stark modern Parsons table for a harmonious mix.
Mass It on the Bed
A boldly colored bedspread introduces an important color mass to a bedroom that needs only minimal color accents. These are provided by carved chests, framed prints, and assorted bibelots.
Contrast It on a Wall
Rare objects grouped with common items provide an arresting study in contrast. In this bedroom, an Indian tapestry shares company with a crab shell, paper lamp shade, kite tails, and a basket-weave headboard.
Group It in Prints
Pictures are important to the decorative scheme. When grouping art, vary the frame sizes and subject matter—mix watercolors with sketches, oils, collages—for striking arrangements.
Tone it Down with Natural Materials
The quiet, earthy beauty of natural materials—chairs and chests of wicker or rattan, mats and rugs of sisal or hemp, baskets of straw—is an excellent toner for vivid color. Their other big plus is their economy. The decor of this patio, for instance, could adapt to the living room of your first apartment, with wicker furniture standing in for more permanent furnishings.
Remove It for Drama
Black, defined in theory as the absence of all light, and white, the absence of all color—are an unbeatable combination in practice and so simple to implement. You could start with hand-me-downs or junk shop finds and spray paint everything white. The rest is equally simple. Hang a shelf and set it with black and white objects. Then, try your hand at DIY art: On a rectangle of hardboard, compose the effect you want using black rubber balls on string and nails.
Neutralize It to Highlight Texture
The interplay of contrasting textures—hard, smooth, or shiny against soft and cushiony—gives rooms a sense of character that they so often lack. Neutral colors tend to highlight texture and form. The nubbiness of a fabric, for instance, is more pronounced in a neutral than it would be in a darker color.
