Friday Back When.

 What you should know about color.

Certain color names instantly and unmistakably express states of mind or emotion or health. When you say you feel blue, everyone knows you're not happy. An indigo mood is a deeply depressed one. "Blues" songs are sad.

When you're thinking deeply you're in a brown study. If you're in the pink, you're blooming with health. You can be green with envy; turn red with rage or white with fright. Events can be similarly "colored," as we speak of a rosy future or golden prospects.

Color in custom and history. Purple at one time was a rare dye and so the exclusive property of royalty. Yellow, in the Far East, is a sacred color. Red gladdens joyous occasions in China such as holiday celebrations and weddings. White signifies innocence and chastity in the Western world; in the Far East, bereavement, grief and mourning. Paradoxically, the color of death and sorrow in the West is black.

Friday Back When is a weekly feature highlighting images and text from vintage decorating books. Today’s exert is from The Complete Family Interior Decorating Book, 1972.