For 1950s American interior color and design consultant Everett Austin Brown, golden, glowing yellows were the shades of choice for this midcentury home.
Brown found yellow-golds uniquely right for his high-ceilinged rooms because, as striking as they were, they also shared a mellowness that tends to soften any impression of angularity.
The yellow-white wallpaper that dominated his rooms had a similarly dual effect: The stripe accentuated the feeling of height, but Mr Brown chose a graceful design to soften the sharply vertical look.
Furnishings sustained the yellow-gold theme, and maintained a balance of rounded and vertical shapes. This older house, with all its charms and oddities, doubled the challenge of doing a room in intense yellow-golds.
Mr Brown’s solution: large-scale wallpaper pattern that takes the spotlight. It had white to dress up, yet play down the old woodwork, and striped window shades for added smartness.
Strong color sets the pace
Since the power and purity of the yellow-golds make them naturally dominant, it is best to let them hold sway, not confuse the effect with distracting contrasts.
Small rattan cane chairs, light in scale and color, were grouped slightly away from the wall so they were not overpowered by the rest of this golden yellow living room decor.
To avoid note of “busyness,” woodwork and huge paper lanterns used the white already introduced. Plain carpeting, appropriately in the color range and with just a hint of texture, flowed unobtrusively through both rooms and ties them together.
Simple striped shades at the windows, scrolls on the far wall, and a mirror on the right sustained the vertical, upward feeling of the room.
The only sharp color contrast is in the red, floor-length coverings on the table and desk that provided important color balance for both rooms.
