ORIGINALITY IN FURNISHING

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 391, 27 June 1928, Page 4

ORIGINALITY IN FURNISHING

BY MRS. ABBIE HARGRAVE This is a time of year when the thoughts of many women turn to fur* I nishing. New homes are constantly being founded in new houses, cottages and bungalows, and because it has been the fashion for some while past to collect antiques or to buy new furniture of antique type, that is still the kind of furniture that is being bought for a great many of those homes in the making. This is a pity, for it is not encouraging to the makers of the excellent furniture being turned out now, well executed and well-designed, much of it in beautiful wood; all labour-sav-ing in that there is no unnecessary ornamentation to accumulate dust. The fact, too. that the new style, hand-made furniture is as a rule only hand-polished, adds to the ease with which it can be kept in order. We all know how unkind French polish, for instance, marks with hot plates and how unforgiving it is toward such lapses. The new* way of leaving the wood unstained, accord exactly with the new bright-hued materials, rugs, pottery, and so on. They are all true to “period.” and that our own, and there is practically no difficulty in making them tone in with each other. In Country Cottages Of course, for a really old country cottage, all oak beams, low ceilings and uneven floors, I should advise a hunt through the second-hand shops, buying the oldest pieces one can afford that are at all suitable for modern use. There, only time-seasoned furniture w-ould look at home, and that is the inner secret of right furnishing. It must all harmonise. For the new house, hand-made furniture is best. The one disadvantag® of the best hand-made furniture is the obvious one of expense. My substitute w-here means are very smalt would be to get a local carpenter to make, from the straightest, simplest designs, just as many pieces as are actually required for use, and to patoj them oneself. This is not a difficult matter, and there are many excellent enamel paints on the market. Anyone having a gift for design, or who can copy accurately, may introj duce small decorations, and nothing suits a light, airy bungalow type 01 dwelling better than this painted furniture. One thing should be remein* bered, however, if the furniture « painted the hangings should be P Jal to give relief. Yellow and Grey In a sun-drenched room, yellow walls and grey furniture, sparingly dec® ated in Indian red, dull purple an green, with a few touches of P® yellow, and with a very delicate ou line of black, w ould be most likea • The chair coverings should be P ur P ’ but not bright. Let the curtains of Indian red. Then two or tnrr° modern colour-prints on the framed narrow-ly in black, inset shelves and a few- pieces of pottery would complete the sc . If there are cushions they = be plain, repeating the three co of purple, red and green, with J u - ~o r of a good fawn —that has no *« a h#»d in it. The floor might be P°h with boiled linseed oil, if the ,* o *ber good enough, the doors ana woodwork look well of P'y°L.j stained oak. Against this backgr be too severe; the alternative mats to match the chair J* o>e f * perThis is just the example ° fectlv modern scheme lor * ■ €^ room in a modern house, and inexpensive!