THE HOME BEAUTIFUL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 729, 31 July 1929, Page 14

THE HOME BEAUTIFUL

(By

ASK AN ARCHITECT

WELL-DESIGNED HOUSES ARE BEST PROTECT OWNER’S PURSE The prospective home-owner will do ■well to consult a competent architect even before the land has been purchased, to be sure that what the owner has in mind will have the proper setting. Take the architect into your confidence immediately (a(dvises an American writer), and, two heads being better than one, especially in the case of one head being trained for the job, there will be fewer regrets. i do not advocate the client saying to the architect:—“There are my requirements as to the number of rooms, baths, etc., do whatever you think best as to type of house; I am too busy to bother with it, and I do not want to see the house until it is ready for me to move into.’ I advocate that the clinet should describe the number of rooms required, the type of house that seems to appeal to him, the manner in which he and his family live, what amount of money he honestly has available, and whether he is fond of a garden, and would like to set aside a portion of his budget toward this purpose—in other words, that the client lay his whole problem before the architect. The architect in every case will find his client’s ideas of great assistance, and will be able to combine them in a result fitting to the site and to the owner's furniture and manner of living. To be a satisfactory one, the relationship between the owner and the architect must be one of confidence. My advice is to establish it at the start. It. is necessary for the architect to be absolutely sure that the owner understands his drawings and specifications, so that there will be no urprises. It is the owner's duty to say lugs it he does not, and the architect’s that he doe not understand the drawto see that they are made clear. Do not try to hang all your ideas on one tree, hut think of fitness and simplicity, both of which combine to make the result beautiful and economical. You will find the architect a syin pathetic personality, eager to please, and capable of directing the expenditure of funds wisely. A well-designed house costs less than a badly designed one, and an architect's fee is easily saved through his professional services.

CURTAIN HINTS

Traps for an Amateur Seamstress LONGEST WAY BEST The small casement curtain seems such a simple thing to make that an article on the subject may appear superfluous. YeYt there are various gadgets which help very greatly in securing the perfect “hang" without which the curtain cuts a very poor figure. It is seldom that the professional dreams of making even the shortest of casement curtains without fixing leaden weights at the bottom corners. Equally seldom does the amateur dream of doing so! But this simple ruse prevents the curtains from blowout out of doors with every breeze, and give a certain firmness to the thinnest of cottons. Again, the amateur congratulates herself whetn she buys material with a good selvedge woven on either side, imagining that this makes the stitching of a hem unnecessary. Nothing is more erroneous. Without a side hem of at least one inch, the curtains will drag unevenly, and, when washed, will iron out of perfect shape. Also, It is important for good style that the hem at the base should be wider than liiose at the sides. Double the width is not too much. The amateur is inclined to save trouble by merely stitching a channel at the top of the curtain and running the rod through it, instead of gathering the fullness on to a band and adding curtain rings. This is a grievous error, for curtains will not slide in this way, and soon the threads will be damaged by the consequent pull of the fabric. Worth consideration are the combined hoks and rings, which do away with the necessity for sewing, since the hook pins into the material, and can be lifted out when the curtain has to be washed. A loop-edge trimming is a great improvement to the appearance of the little hangings. Such trimmings can now be had in cotton aud in a variety of tints. INGENIOUS LIGHTING There are several practical advantages in combination lighting fitments such as a combined table standard and book-rest. A fitting of this kind guarantees that, with ordinary tidiness, books, and the means for reading them, shall always be conveniently near together. An ingenious combination is a floor standard and smoker’s companion, which includes several pull-out shelves in addition to a cupboard and drawer for smoker’s requisites. The lighting fitment itself is in opalescent glass. The standard is in hand-carved walnut. ■ It is intended for the smoking-room or study, and its great advantage is that, with smoker’s requisites always at hand, it ensures that the light will fall from the correct direction for reading.

Glass is often difficult to repair satisfactorily, but good results may be obtained by the careful use of sodium silicate, or water glass. A small tin of this, in syrup form, will suffice for many repairs. Clean the broken edges of the article, dry them thoughly, and smear the waterglass on one side. Tress the two parts together, and leave the superfluous waterglass to harden. It can then be carefully scraped away with a knifht. Such repairs improve with time, and will even stand a certain amount of heat. For removing rust from steel, rub the rusty part with an onion, and leave the juice on for 21 hours, then polish with batlibrick and turpentine. Bust of long standing on a knife blade may be entirely removed by plunging the e into a oio ad keepig itwbotoao.retblade int oanonion and leaving it for a short time. For keeping steel in god condition when the rust is remved, nothing is better than emery powder and sweet oil.

Modernise your present home ! Bring your house up-to-date ! Domestic science has made great strides in recent years enjoy the advantages—increase the value of your property and m ake yours the Home Beautiful.

“PENATES”)

SIMPLE COMPOUNDS

STAINS FOR FLOORS AND STEPS This is the time of year when the condition of stairs, doorsteps and floors forces itself upon the attention of the housewife, who either calls in the aid of the professional or sees to their furbishnient herself. For the wooden-floor surround she can, of course, buy a made-up stain and lay it on with the brush, though this method brings a risk of ugly whitish patches appearing where the varnish has been trodden off. Better far to compound a mixture in the following proxiortlons: A pint of turpentine to a pound of Brunswick black and sixpeunyworth of size. Mix the size and the black together, and add the turpentine very gradually so that you produce a preparation which can be applied in the form of a tliick cream to ensure a smooth and even surfaced Some doorsteps refuse to look well under hearthstone treatment. The best thing for them is a mixture of red ochre and water, mixed thinlj in a pot and brushed cn. If made unduly thick the powder will probably be brought indoors on the shoes. Nothing looks nicer on a staircase than treads of the natural wood with a carpet down the centre. For the sides of the treads a good stain may be made by dissolving xiermanganate of potash in warm water. The proportions will depend on the depth of the colour desired. It is best to begin with a -weak solution, and proceed to a darker and stronger one if this is not satisfactory. Polish with a home-made mixture of beeswax and turpentine.

GROUP DWELLINGS

FLATS MORE IN DEMAND “The present trend of metropolitan ' living, away from the old ‘town house* j and toward the higher type of group j dwelling, has considerably increased the interest in developing the plan- j ning of apartment houses and apart- j ment hotels to a highly-specialised i architectural accomplishment/’ writes I S. Fullerton Weaver in “The Architectural Forum.” “From present indications/* he con- ; tinues, “ it seems very likely that the next 20 or 30 years will see an almost complete abandoning of the individual city house, due to the uneconomical aspect of the cost of maintenance, repairs, taxes and other items on premises which are occupied for only a small part of each year, and due also to the increasing difficulty of securing and keeping the satisfactory servants | necessary for proper service in the individual city house.” This opens up a very interesting field for speculation. Conditions are different in New Zealand, of course; in this country city houses, as a general rule, are not “occupied for oul3 T a small part of each year,” but, nevertheless, the same trend is apparent here. The demand for flats becomes greater every year. Christchurch has hitherto lagged behind somewhat in this respect, but a new* block of dential flats is to be built in Cashel Street West, and a huge seven-story block will shortly be started on the St. Elmo site in Hereford Street. We begin to move! American “apartment houses” usually have a restaurant, where tenants can have their meals if they wish — it is not compulsory. The same thing is bouud to come in New Zealand Tenants could then cook their own meals in their flats, have them in the restaurant, or go out for them, just as they chose. Many of them would undoubtedly choose to have them in the restaurant, as being more convenient. Communal houses of this nature were prophesied long ago by that great imaginative writer, H. G. W'ells, in his novel, “The Return of the Comet.” In this age of transition fiction is not long in becoming fact.