Novel Ideas in Colonial Home

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 735, 7 August 1929, Page 14

Novel Ideas in Colonial Home

I SYDNEY LEADS WAY MODEL DWELLING "An American-style home" generally conjures up visions of built-in cupboards and other labour-saving ideas. But American home-planners do not stop at cupboards —their attention is devoted just as much to improving the flower-vase or the milk-can. In an unusually attractive little j Sydney home, there is a host of novel S ideas seldom found in the Australian home. says an Australian paper. ! Throughout the house, panels hide cleverly built-in cupboards —at a touch. I‘even a writing desk slips out from the living room wall: but that is only the ; beginning. i Between dining-room and kitchen is a servery, saving untold time and labour. In the dining-room. its Jacobean-finished sideboard appearance blends perfectly with the dark panelling and furniture; in the kitchen, it appears as a white dresser. The cupboards open at both ends, and the drawer swings through from dining-room to kitchen, while two sliding doors between the drawer and the upper cabinet enable dishes to be quickly passed through. In the pantry are four little compartments, each door about a foot square, j They are marked “butcher,” “grocer” “baker,” and “milkman.” Each cupboard also opens at the other end, the doors being in the outside vail of the pantry. Lot into each door is a slab of slate, and above it the butcher-grocer-baker-milkman marks. “Two pints,” writes the housekeeper on the milkman’s slate, and “one loaf” on the baker’s. Then she shuts the door. Along come the milkman and baker. Each notes his order, opens the door, leaves the goods, then shuts the door again and departs. By a simple but ingenious catch, no one can open the outer door once he has shut it, except from the inside. Thus the housliold goods can be left by each tradesman quite safely in his own cupboard, away from dogs and cats and any uninvited visitors, and sheltered from, sun and dust.

Gone are the old-fashioned mantelpiece vases. Instead, a little bracket is fitted on to the side of a door here and there, with a trail of green or a glow of flowers bursting from it making a rich patch of colour against the tfark wood.

Even a Jacobean table in the hall has been improved. Instead of the bare four legs, a ledge has been fitted low down • between the legs and each narrow end, with cane work between the ledge and the table surface, to make a bookshelf and take the “bare” appearance from the table legs.

The hall itself is the most cheerful and welcoming room one could walk into from the street. Opposite the two glass main doors, is a wide inglenook, comfortable, cushioned seats built in on either side of the big open fire, with book shelves above. The walls of plain bluish-red bricks, unadorned, set off splendidly the rich dark oak beams, the beamed ceiling, the dark polished floor with its bright bluetoned rug. Beyond, a glimpse of the lovely living room, with sunshine streaming in through the lattice and French windows, makes one long to peep into the next room, and the next, and the next. And that’s how a home should be!

TO REPAIR PLASTER

HIDING DISFIGUREMENTS SOME COMMON MISTAKES At some time or other many homeowners are faced with the difficulty of repairing plaster Avails that may haA r e become damaged. Everybody knoAvs Avhat a disfigurement a hole in the plaster creates, but not everybody knows hoAv to repair it properly. When a pipe, Avire or electric cable is chased in a plastered Avail, or when hooks, nails or fixtures become loose, a certain amount of “making good” with plaster is inA r ol\ed. Many amateurs content themselA’es with filling the holes or channels, as the case may be, Avith plaster, Avithout previous preparation or subsequent treatment, and the result, to put it mildly, is an unsightly repair. As the new plaster becomes dry, a certain amount of contraction or shrinkage takes place, leaA r ing the surface of the repair somewhat depressed as compared Avith the surrounding surfaces. Now it should be borne in mind that, by adopting a feAv simple precautions, it is possible to repair a plastered Avail AA'ithout impairing the eA r enness or uniformity of its surface. In the first place, all loose or damaged plaster should be cut aAvay, and the cutting should extend somewhat beyond the damage into the good plaster, so as to obtain a key for the new plaster. All j loose dust and dirt should now be | brushed away, and the damaged part I made damp, if not AA*et. Sufficient ■ plaster of paris should be mixed with Avater and applied to the damaged wall, but instead of smoothing the neAV plaster leA r el Avith the old surface a crust of plaster or a certain amount of excess should be alloAved to remain. When the contraction or shrinkage, due to the drying of the plaster, takes place a slight excess of plaster should be present. This slight crust should then be removed by judicious rubbing with glass paper until both the old and new surfaces present an uniform appearance. A Avail Avhich is repaired in this manner will not appear wavy or in any way unsightly, and when the final decoration is completed it will be difficult, if not impossible, to detect the nature and extent of the repair.

MARK ON MAHOGANY Wilf you please tell me the best way to remove a mark from a new mahogany tea-table? It was made by a hot-water jug, although I put this on a rush mat and folded a tablecloth underneath the white one.—M.D. First of all get some spirits of camphor and dab this oA’er the stain. This will temporarily soften the polish, and must be left to dry off naturally. Finish off with any good furniture cream.