A NEW DIVAN

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 227, 14 December 1927, Page 7

A NEW DIVAN

AN INTERESTING REINCARNATION JT is interesting to note how many pieces of furniture that * w ! re J n usc hun d'reds of years ago are returning to use in the twentieth century. The refectory and tre«tle table, which are gaining more popularity every day, court cupboards, tallboys and and many other pieces were ev 0 | ve d in past centuries. One of the most interesting reincarnations is the divan.

THE divan was originally an Eastern piece of furniture and it has never really declined in popularity in Persia and Turkey, where it was first in use. Tt is described in the “Glossary of English Furniture” as “a long upholstered settee without back or arms, usually standing against the wall.” When the divan returned to popularity, about two or three years ago. there was a real reason for it. Small houses which had not sufficient rooms to reserve one for the occasional guest had had one room fitted with a bedpettee, which was easily convertible into a bed when required. At one time, however, these bed-settees were exceedingly ugly, and spoiled the effect of the rooms in which they were used. The divan returned to take its place to some extent, and in spite of the fact that bod-settees have greatly improved in style so that they cannot now be accused of ugliness, the divan has maintained its popularity. The first new divans were really box-spring mattresses placed on four wooden legs. The mattresses were covered with some attractive material to harmonise with any scheme of furnishing. and cushions were used upon it to give a more comfortable and luxurious appearance. Supplied with the divan was an overlay mattress, so that when the divan was used as a bed the clothes could be tucked under

This type of divan was very inexpensive, but somewhat crude, and there was a general demand for something more artistic. There followed the more comfortable and more attractive divan, with legs no more than

three inches high, and with sides bulging instead of the straight up-and-down box-spring mattress ty’pe. This divan is as popular to-day as when it was first produced, since it is both comfortable and in good taste, but the divan of which a photograph is reproduced shows how the furniture manufacturers have gone a step further and have produced a new type of divan which converts into a full-size double bed. In this model the whole is based on a strong wooden frame, with tastefully carved wooden ends. The mattress part is in two sections joined together, and by opening the mattress from the central line a full-sized bed opens out to view. Two iron legs appear from inside and let down to hold the one section of the mattress at the same level as the other. Two single-sized overlays are placed over the vertical spring mattress, and the bed is complete. When the bed is in use as a divan the overlays, as shown in the picture, are placed on the top to give additional resiliency and comfort. In addition to the artistic merits of the latest designs in divans they are exceedingly useful, and have certain advantages over the ordinary settee. They' lend themselves, moreover, to good decorative effect, since they are vastly improved by’ the use of several cushions of different modern shapes, the colourings of which can be chosen to harmonise with or to contrast with the rest of the furnishing scheme adopted.