ADAPT ANTIQUE FURNITURE TO MODERN NEEDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 919, 12 March 1930, Page 5

ADAPT ANTIQUE FURNITURE TO MODERN NEEDS

Women who collect specimens of antique furniture are often confronted by the difficulty of suiting old pieces to modem needs. A great deal may. however, be done by adaptation to surmount this. g Take the old oak chest —a most decorative bit of furniture, yet most inconvenient for storing purposes since in order to reach what is placed at the bottom, one must take out all that lies on top, or else put the entire contents into disorder. The best thing to do here is to disconnect the front from the sides and join it to the base by means of hinges that allow it to be sloped forward for the purpose of reaching the -interior. A couple of metal chins, attached by ring screws to .the inner top corners, will connect with hook screws fixed to the sides, and so keep the front in position when the chest is opened. Shelves . may be fixed inside, if desired, for the reception of smaller pieces of the household linen for which these chests are now largely used. Old farmhouse dough-trouglis standing on trestle stretchers are now in request for service as sideboards, for which purpose the lids, originally removable, are made stationary. In the way already suggested, the middle portion of the front may be cut free of the rest, hinged to give access to the inside, and fitted with a catch so that, when replaced, it is quite secure. An old set of bookshelves, preferably in the same wood, may be set on top of the dough-bin to form a combination dresser-sideboard.