Dates for Tenders

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 723, 24 July 1929, Page 14

Dates for Tenders

July 22, at 2 p.m.—Erection of house in wood at Ellerslie. E. R. Morton, Ellison Chambers, Queen Street. July 25, at 12 noon.—Erection of Hunga Hunga School, near Vaharoa. Auckland Education Board. July 27, at 12 noon.—Erection of additions to AVaitemata Electric-Power Board offices, Albert Street. IT. Clinton Savage, Victoria Arcade. August 5, at 12 noon.—Additions to Rutland Street, building for St. John Air.bulance Association. Wade and Bartley, Brunswick Buildings, Queen Street.

PICTURED BEAUTY Nowadays pictures—ordinary pictures framed aud liung;—are out of fashion; or at most they are used very sparingly, for people realise that the beautiful wall treatments now available are a sufficient decoration in themselves. But the need for pictorial interest is still felt in most rooms, and there are many ways in which the desired effect may be obtained. You may even have a landscape wallpaper, or an herbaceous border pattern, but these have a great disadvantage in that one is liable to tire of them. The herbaceous border, however, if well done and used with restraint (perhaps in the lower corners only), can look charming in the bedroom. Then there are pictorial lampshades; and much may be done with choice pieces of pottery, antique or modern, decorated with conventional patterns, landscape or figure studies—-and there are many handsome pottery figures. There are also screens—in tapestry or painted—fire screens, pole screeus. and fourfold and eightfold draught screens. Many of the latter are of leather and painted in oil colours with scenes representing 18th century life, or in lacquer, with Oriental subjects. Painted or lacquered trays, too, can be decorative as well as useful, and there are wonderful possibilities in painted furniture. A satinwood coinmode, or the lower portion of a painted china cabinet, can have as much artistic merit as the conventional framed picture; they provide the necessary pictorial element without competing with one's mural decoration, and combine in a pleasing shape the artistic and the practical. HOW TO IMPROVE A PLAIN PIECE OF FURNITURE It is quite surprising to find how greatly contrasting lining can improve the appearance of a plain piece of furniture. The lining can either be painted in or, more effective still, it may be of patterned material. A shabby chest' of drawers, or a somewhat battered-looking tallboy, could be enamelled in a colour to suit the room, after -which the insides ot the cupboard and drawers might be lined with sprigged wallpaper to harmonise with the enamel. To complete the decorative scheme, posies to match the sprigs could be painted on the fronts of the cupboard doors aud on the drawers. All kinds of fascinating colour-schemes will suggest themselves, and the finished pieces of furniture will enchant you. Plain wooden boxes can be turned into very useful hat boxes if they are painted too match the furniture and lined with flower-sprayed cretonne. Wardrobes that are used for storing delicate dresses and wraps look more in keeping -with their fragile contents ,! when they are lined with casement | cloth or cretonne. It is a good idea to arrange a series of different-sized pockets in the lining, to hold veils, belts, ribbons, and the like. China-cupboards look delightful with coloured paper linings. If you have a special display of precious ware in a glass-fronted cupboard, try lining it with dull silver paper (the kind that is known as tea-box paper). The shining surface will show up the glowing porcelain to perfection, and will lend new beauty to the shape of the cups and vases.