Page 7 Advertisements Column 3

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 581, 6 February 1929, Page 7

How to Make the Most of Your Space

NEEDLESS FURNITURE The overcrowded rooms of the Victorian era are happily giving place to a simple arrangement of good and useful pieces of furniture, which is wholly charming. This supposedly modern idea is really very old. In the Middle Ages furniture was sparingly used—the hundred and one useless nicknacks and ornaments we are familiar with were unknown. If we look back at contemporary illustrations in old manuscripts we find only the most necessary furniture in the rooms, but this is so beautiful, and the rooms. themselves of such excellent proportions and design, that the result is always a simple dignity which is most attractive. This spirit is with us again, although we carry out our ideas in a somewhat different way. The advantages are obvious. Such rooms are not only much easier to keep clean, but they are more healthy and comfortable to live in.

To attain this is not really a difficult task, if we take our courage in both hands and act boldly. The first thing is to sit down comfortably in the room we intend rearranging, with pencil and paper. We must then

Cut out non-essentials and do not let your rooms be crowded with useless furniture. For a diningroom the above contains the maximum. make a very careful list of every article in the room which is absolutely essential for our use and comfort. PICKING ESSENTIALS The next thing will be to arrange our scheme of decoration for walls and floor, and this must be very carefully j thought out. We must bear in mind j that our room has to stand on its own merits. The treatment of walls, ceiling and floor should be so arranged that a feeling of homeliness may be obtained as well as a suitable background for the few pieces of furniture we are going to retain. Spaciousness, a quiet dignity, the absence of fussy little things, light and air are all so desirable, but we must be careful not to bring in a cold bareness; we do not want bleak rooms. It is not the quantity of things in a room which make it appear homely and comfortable, it is the happy choice of the right things and the excellent placing of these pieces, combined with an attractive colour scheme. When this decorative scheme has been completed those pieces of furniture which we have decided to be necessary must be placed in the most suitable position for comfort and efficiency. Armchairs and sofas must be out of draughts, and where the light may come from behind their occupants, a matter which is not always sufficiently well remembered. Writing-tables and desks, too, must be placed with due consideration of light. Cupboards and chests of drawers must be arranged so that they can be got at and opened without moving other things first. A little careful thought makes such a difference to our comfort and the general efficiency of the home afterwards. The only way to do all this satisfactorily is to visualise mentally and go through all the actions of the day in the particular room being arranged and to see if it serves its various functions to our entire satisfaction. GENERAL EFFECT Now conies the all-important moment when we survey the general effect. So far we have the decoration of the room itself and the essential pieces of furniture only. There are no pictures or ornaments of any kind Is it a trifle too bare in places? Perhaps it is, but it is probably ! restful and pleasing. We must now i consider just what picture or orna- j ment we can bring in, and here it is j absolutely essential to use the great- j est restraint, or we shall be com- i pletely undone. It is not the least good bringing in an article because it is in itself beauti- j ful or valuable. It must also be suitable. In choosing these ornaments or pictures which we are going to retain we must bear in mind that a j very few* rather large pieces are often more pleasing than a lot of little things which are apt to be restless. That really fine mirror probably I looks well placed opposite the window, where it will reflect a charming gar , den scene. The sconces for lights ’ and, perhaps, one or two of our best pictures, will be ample. They will gain in dignity by this isolation. Then come the ornaments. This is j perhaps a still more difficult task, but | if we can really bring ourselves to dis- j, card all but one or two of our most cherished possessions, the result will j ! be w'orth the sacrifice. j I It is by no means necessary to have j | a large room to get this feeling of j j spaciousness. It may be easier, but |