It is in the nature of positive masses and strongly contrasting colours to produce this effect.
If one is unfortunate enough to occupy a room of which the walls are covered with one of these glaring designs, and circumstances prevent a radical change, the simplest expedient is to cover the whole surface with a kalsomine or chalk-wash, of some agreeable tint.

This will dry in an hour or two and present a nearly uniform surface, in which the printed design of the paper, if it appears at all, will be a mere suggestion.

Papers where the design is carried in colour only a few shades darker than the background, are also safe, and--if the design is a good one--often very desirable for halls and dining-rooms.

In skilfully printed papers of the sort the design often has the effect of a mere shadow-play of form.
Of course in the infinite varieties of use and the numberless variations of personal taste, there are, and should be, innumerable differences in application of both colour and materials to interiors.

There are differences in the use of rooms which may make a sense of perfect seclusion desirable, as, for instance, in libraries, or rooms used exclusively for evening gatherings of the family.