Simple Modern Furniture

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 267, 1 February 1928, Page 7

Simple Modern Furniture

SOME SPACE-SAVING DEVICES

A Delight to the Eye

WITH extreme simplicity as the watchword in the arrangement and furnishing of the home of to-day the cabinetmakers content themselves with adopting materials that are beautiful in colouring and in texture —exotic woods of fine grain, rich in knot's that give variety to tint, and yielding surface, smooth as satin, on which can be put a polish that is a delight to the eye.

For preference these skilled artists execute their severely plain models in the blackish-purple woods of the East Indies, giving a rounded surface to fronts of cabinets or chests, perhaps, but no ornament other than a bevelled edge or a reversal of the grain. Decoration obtained by tools—carvings and twists —is strictly tabooed, and is, in fact, regarded with disdain. The only note of fanciful invention is to be seen in the knobs or handles of door or drawer. These may be merely a cube of polished ivory or a tassel of brass or aluminium that catches the eye like a merry smile. Often two woods are used for the handsome piece of furniture that is to be conspicuous in hall or- corridor, in drawing-room or libary; a very knotty walnut, for instance, combined with rosewood, or rosewood in two tints, that of Madagascar united with that of Rio; or the rosewood may have coral wood, or Norwegian birch, let in for decoration. There is an extra touch of elegance about a room when the door is of the same wood as the furniture, treated in harmony with it. In designing furniture the artists cannot lose sight of the fact that many families nowadays live in homes just a size too small. Does anyone know a housewife who does not yearn for one more room? Compactness is therefore necessary, and pieces of furniture destined to stand against a wall must not project too far into the room. This has led to some amusing new variations on old themes. Out of the sideboard the cabinet-maker of to-day has evolved a private “bar,” which will no doubt be the joy of the up-to-date young couples who set up housekeep-

ing. The mahogany bar is all in angles, built up above a broad curved shelf at about the height of the usual bar-counter, and on it, as in the recesses and niches provided by the arrangement of the woodwork, may be set the bottles needed in manufacturing the cocktails, and the glasses. Glass, indeed (not only in bottles), plays an important role in a room filled with dark polished wood, seen against the background of bare and neutral wall. Just how important it may be you realise when you see one of the new lamps set on the polished violet-wood table. It is merely a large globe of clear glass, on which is engraved the graceful form of two or three fish. The electric bulb is fixed on top of this globe, and concealed beneath a shade of soft-toned parchment, and all sorts of charming lights play in the crystal surface. Cut-glass handles on all the doors are also a help in the modern room. Among devices for economising space is the broad shelf with wall recesses above it set on either side of a tall mirror, the whole taking the place of the dressing-table. The recesses with glass doors invite the most decorative of bottles, those for costly perfumes and lotions, while all other dainty arrangements needed for a woman’s toilette are disposed on the shelf. Little lights are hidden in the cupboard recesses and all round the mirror. There need be no lack of personality in the modern home, in spite of the disappearance of knicknacks and carved furniture.