Editing Interior design (section)

===Arab materials===
"Majlis painting", also called [[nagash painting]], is the decoration of the [[majlis]], or front parlor of traditional Arabic homes, in the [[Asir]] province of [[Saudi Arabia]] and adjoining parts of [[Yemen]]. These wall paintings, an [[Arabesque (Islamic art)|arabesque]] form of [[mural]] or [[fresco]], show various geometric designs in bright colors: "Called 'nagash' in Arabic, the wall paintings were a mark of pride for a woman in her house."<ref name="Yunis, Alia, The Majlis Painters,">{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201304/the.majlis.painters.htm |last1=Yunis |first1=Alia |title=The Majlis Painters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830013234/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201304/the.majlis.painters.htm |archive-date=2013-08-30 |website=Saudi Aramco World Magazine |date=2013 }}</ref>

The geometric designs and heavy lines seem to be adapted from the area's textile and weaving patterns. "In contrast with the sobriety of architecture and decoration in the rest of Arabia, exuberant color and ornamentation characterize those of Asir. The painting extends into the house over the walls and doors, up the staircases, and onto the furniture itself. When a house is being painted, women from the community help each other finish the job. The building then displays their shared taste and knowledge. Mothers pass these on to their daughters. This artwork is based on a [[geometry]] of straight lines and suggests the patterns common to textile [[weaving]], with solid bands of different colors. Certain motifs reappear, such as the triangular [[mihrab]] or 'niche' and the [[palmette]]. In the past, paint was produced from mineral and vegetable [[pigment]]s. [[Clove]]s and [[alfalfa]] yielded green. Blue came from the [[indigo]] plant. Red came from [[pomegranate]]s and a certain mud. [[Paintbrush]]es were created from the tough hair found in a goat's tail. Today, however, women use modern manufactured paint to create new looks, which have become an indicator of social and economic change."<ref>Maha Al Faisal and Khalid Azzam. 1999. "Doors of the Kingdom" Saudi Aramco World. This article appeared on pages 68–77 of the January/February 1999 print edition of Saudi Aramco World# http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199901/doors.of.the.kingdom.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102191514/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199901/doors.of.the.kingdom.htm |date=2014-01-02 }}</ref>

Women in the Asir province often complete the decoration and painting of the house interior. "You could tell a family's wealth by the paintings," [[Um Abdullah]] says: "If they didn't have much money, the wife could only paint the motholath, the basic straight, simple lines, in patterns of three to six repetitions in red, green, yellow and brown." When women did not want to paint the walls themselves, they could [[barter]] with other women who would do the work. Several Saudi women have become famous as majlis painters, such as [[Fatima Abou Gahas]].<ref name="Yunis, Alia, The Majlis Painters,"/>

The interior walls of the home are brightly painted by the women, who work in defined patterns with lines, triangles, squares, diagonals and tree-like patterns. "Some of the large triangles represent mountains. Zigzag lines stand for water and also for lightning. Small triangles, especially when the widest area is at the top, are found in pre-Islamic representations of female figures. That the small triangles found in the wall paintings in 'Asir are called banat may be a cultural remnant of a long-forgotten past."<ref name="Yunis, Alia, The Majlis Painters,"/>

"[[Courtyard]]s and upper pillared [[porticoes]] are principal features of the best Nadjdi architecture, in addition to the fine incised plaster wood ([[jiss]]) and painted window shutters, which decorate the reception rooms. Good examples of plasterwork can often be seen in the gaping ruins of torn-down buildings- the effect is light, delicate and airy. It is usually around the [[majlis]], around the coffee hearth and along the walls above where guests sat on rugs, against cushions. Doughty wondered if this "[[parquet]]ting of jis", this "[[gypsum]] fretwork... all adorning and unenclosed" originated from [[India]]. However, the Najd fretwork seems very different from that seen in the Eastern Province and [[Oman]], which are linked to Indian traditions, and rather resembles the [[Motif (visual arts)|motif]]s and patterns found in ancient [[Mesopotamia]]. The rosette, the star, the triangle and the stepped pinnacle pattern of dadoes are all ancient patterns, and can be found all over the [[Middle East]] of antiquity. [[Al-Qassim Province]] seems to be the home of this art, and there it is normally worked in hard white [[plaster]] (though what you see is usually begrimed by the smoke of the coffee hearth). In [[Riyadh]], examples can be seen in unadorned [[clay]].<ref>Mostyn, Trevor. 1983. Saudi Arabia. London: Middle East Economic Digest. Pages 257–258.</ref>