NEW FURNITURE FOR OLD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 314, 27 March 1928, Page 5

NEW FURNITURE FOR OLD

SUGGESTED TRANSFORMATIONS We are no longer sentimental over our friends, but a good many of us continue to be sentimental about our furniture. We feel that old pieces should be “kept in the family” as far as possible, though sometimes we have difficulty in making use of them. The old-fashioned cottage piano may be brought into practical use, especially when its works are completely worn out, and can do good work as a diningroom fitment, if its silken front be removed and the whole of the wires taken out. The space thus cleared can be filled in with shelves, the notes will give place to small compartments for silver and cutlery, while the lowest portion of all will prove useful as a home for wine bottles. The old-fashioned brass-bound winebins of mahogany or rosewood make splendid receptacles for coal and logs, if fitted with zinc inner linings. When provided with a stand they also make excellent work-tables for busy housewives, who can hide therein all untidy odds and ends of sewing. Old hide travelling trunks, decorated with brass nails, make delightful chests; these, too, may be raised upon wooden stands, either painted or lightly carved. They look particularly effective when placed in a lounge or square entrance hall. Old tea chests, either of black lacquer or showing painted designs on a pale yellow ground, may be treated in similar fashion. They are useful as hidingplaces for the caps and gloves of the family.