Good design is always fashionable

Press, 30 January 1986, Page 16

Good design is always fashionable

Now we are well into the New Year, I wonder how many New Year resolutions have been made and broken. So far I have kept mine — to write down all my hassles and worries.

While my working diary is methodically kept, it is the build-up of everyday things that become a worry. Hospitality owed, shoes to be repaired, letters to write, the everyday shopping... The mind starts to boggle at so much to do, in so little time. Once it is written down, and a list compiled the worry is almost over.

Peace of mind is so important. My wish for readers for the New Year is peace of mind, health, and happiness. A reader is trying in vain to find a small piece of shag pile carpet to repair a hole. Shag, I am afraid, was a fashion carpet.

I did my best to limit its use. It was almost out of fashion in the United States before it become so popular here. The difficulty of caring for it becomes a homemaker’s problem.

Fashion in interior design, as with clothing fashion can change very quickly. In fact, it is questionable which leads the other. The difference between them is that a high fashion garment, if outdated, can be readily discarded where as most of us must live with the more carpet and furnishings. Unless it is possible to refurbish every five years, my advice is to keep fashion to the accessories of your home. In this way, a whole new look can be obtained more often, and inexpensively.

by

PRUDENCE ROTHENBERG

Good design and good taste will never go out of fashion. After all, your home must suit you and

your family, and the way you wish to live.

Q A hole In the bathroom’s wool shag pile carpet is the beginning of my carpet problem. I had hoped to find a small off-cut, and have it bound in the fashion of a rug and thus cover the eyesore. However, all carpet firms say that this particular carpet in deep, yellowy-green is no longer available. Do you know of any carpet in a matching green, preferably in the off-cut size, or ( can you suggest an alternative? The least expensive solution is needed. R. 8., Christchurch.

A I am sorry that I have not a magic wand to wave to obtain your carpet Although I’ve not been very complimentary about shags, they do look luxurious in a bathroom. The green matches the' leaves in- your wallpaper perfectly. There is no easy solution as rugs do not lie easily on a shag. If the hole is by the bath you could have a piece cut out and buy a rubber mat inset

It does seem as if you may hate to replace the carpet. -j. would certainly.

suggest a synthetic bathroom carpet. These carpets are cut to size and loose-laid, so it is possible to take them up and wash them. Some carpet layers use double-sided tape on the edges. The white is luxurious, but there is -a large choice of colours — apricot, chocolate brown, salmon-brown, and light beige.

Q We have leased a 50-year-old farmhouse, and I would like suggestions for our 17-year-old son’s bedroom. The room is 17ft x lift with tongue and groove walls, a midbrown, stained, polished floor, and a 9ft stud. It has sft high sliding windows along the whole of the north-west, and the sun is well filtered by a large fir tree. The only furniture is our son’s bed, with a dark stain, colonial headboard. He requires a chest of drawers, and there is a built-in wardrobe. I had thought a 2 seater sofa that converts into a bed would be a useful item. We would not mind putting carpet down. My son prefers greys and reds. B.P m RD Leeston.

A Your 17-year-old son has sophisticated taste in colours. I note from your very good plan that his room opens from the sitting room. There is also a

door to the hall and outside. If the room requires warmth, I would carpet. A neutral berber to tie up with the sitting room and hall would be advisable. If your decision is to leave the polished floor, your son might enjoy a red rug. Paint the walls and ceiling in Dulux super satin, Nebula. This is a soft grey

with a litt|e warmth. If the are to be painted do not feature them, rather paint architraves and; doors as the walls. For! the curtains and bedspreads use G. H. Landers, Satie Grey. This 100 per cent cotton cloth has a subtle pattern in warm greys and white. It is an excellent idea of

yours to Include a sofa sleeper among your son’s furnishings. There is quite a choice, it will be ideal for seating, and for having friends to stay. A good, hard-wearing cloth is G. H. Landers’ 100 per cent wool, called Aspiring in the colour red, Number 32.1 hope your son enjoys his new furnishings.