2. If the furniture is of a single colour, or of many tones, either of the same colour or of approximating scales, we can, without disadvantage, employ a carpet of brilliant colours, and thus establish a harmony of contrast between them and the dominant tint of the furniture. 482. But if the furniture is of mahogany, and we wish to bring out its colour, then we must not have either red, scarlet, or orange as a dominant colour in the carpet. In short, to get the best effect of the colours of the furniture, in the first case, the colours of the carpet, more or less sombre, must enter into the harmonies of analogy; while in the second, where harmony of contrast of colour does not exist in the furniture, we can, if we choose, have recourse to this harmony in the carpet without ill effect. _Pictures_ (See 453). 483. Whenever pictures are placed on hangings, the latter must be of a single colour, or of two very similar colours or tones of the same scale. The pattern of these hangings must be as simple as possible. Whenever a picture is placed on coloured hangings, we must always take care that the dominant colour of the hangings be complementary to the dominant colour of the picture. Engravings and plain lithographs must never be placed beside oil paintings, or even coloured drawings. Pearl grey, or rather deep normal grey, is a good tint to receive engravings and plain lithographs in gilt or yellow wood frames. 484. Yellow hangings can receive with advantage landscapes, in which green grass, and leaves, and a blue sky predominate. The most suitable frames in this case are those of violet ebony, or wood painted grey or black. Gilt frames have not a bad effect on the picture; but the gold of the frame and the yellow of the hangings do not contrast sufficiently to most eyes. 485. Oil-paintings in gilt frames have a good effect on hangings of olive-grey more or less deep, according to the tone of the picture. Carnations and the gold assort well on a similar ground. Papers of a deep green, and even of a deep blue, may also be advantageously employed in many cases. ON THE ASSORTMENT OF COLOURS IN INTERIORS, THE WALLS OF WHICH ARE PANELLED OR COVERED WITH MARBLE, STUCCO, OR PAINTED WOOD. _Panelled Interiors._ 486. Notwithstanding the present taste for decorations, which it is so easy to satisfy by means of paper-hangings, woven fabrics, and other accessories, I think there are in large suites of apartments two rooms for which a paneling more or less finished is very suitable; these are the dining and the billiard rooms; the scene being, as it were, concentrated on the dining or billiard tables, there is no reason to distract the attention by clothing the walls with ornaments. Where an interior is paneled, the floor should be in parquetry; a pavement of tiles, stones, or marbles would be out of keeping.