LET YOUR HOUSE BE INDIVIDUAL...

Radio Record, 29 July 1938, Page 34

LET YOUR HOUSE

BE INDIVIDUAL...

by

Janet

Dorsey

CWT Oo " VERY house is capable of expressing the personality of its mistress if slic ‘gives it enough constructive thought. The size and type of the house has nothing, or very little te do with it. The charm of an intelligent woman's personality will give a delightful atmosphere equally to a tiny bush cottage, country homestead, dignified tuwn house or suburban bungalow irrespective of the wealth or position of the owner. No two people haye precisely the same pevsonality and so no two people will express thei selves in their home in exactly the same way. The main thing is that the mode of expressici. shall be your way and not an exact copy of some one else’s way. Nothing ts more distressing thai to see a woman whose personality suggest» hydrangea coloured chintges against cool. cream walls trying to adjust herself to a flat decorated und designed like a Hollywood rendering of ai Arabian Nights entertainment, and nothing morc lovely than to see a pleasant woman in her owl setting. Improving The Home OWEVER, all that is not to say that the practical advice of experts in home designing aul decoration need be totally disregarded. There are certain general rules it is wise to follow and there are certain suggestions which should make your task of creating an attractive and beautiful home much easier. The following lines may prove interesting and stimulating to women who really wish to improve their home.

TOUR house, like yourself, should . give a good first impression and your hall more than anything ¢lse is going to help you do that. -When the door opens and your guests step into the hall they should feel that it is giving them a smiling welcome. If it is filled with warmth, light and colour and the fragrance of flowers. they will thaw at once and feel that here is a house they know they will enjoy themselves. For a small hall, a light colour scheme giving the effect of space is hest. Deep cream or light buff walls of roughish paper with a canvas or plaster finish is a good choice, A rough-surfaced paper can always be distempered when it is soiled. A hall done in deep cream is always a success. Pale apricot walls, woodwork and ceiling with a mushroom brown carpet was .a charming choice Il saw the other day. Beware of wood and rich panelled effects in wall papers-they are apt to be depressing in a small space.

Woodwork to match the light walls will make your hall look larger and does not show dust or scratches like dark paint or varnish. For a "family" hall, apt to receive rough treatment, a stippled paper and paint to match is perhaps a better choice. Pale Brown over cream looks light and effective and so does a clear green over dove grey. A fitted carpet is a help in making the small hall look spacious. Plain or mottled haircord is inexpen~ sive and would look well in a warm tobacco brown or natural beige. The stair carpet should match and carry the eye harmoniously upwards. If you dislike plain carpets or think them unpractical, why not be modern with a spotted carpet? You can get the most delightful spotted Wilton carpets and I am told that a spotted haircord is soon to be put on the market. In The Hall HALL needs very little furnishing. A hanging cupboard with a solid door, if there is no hanging accommodation elsewhere; a small chest or low table with a deep drawer for those last-minute necessities like motoring guides and goloshes, is all that is necessary. A large mirror placed at one side or the end of the hall is a splendid idea for creating the illusion of space. Let your ornaments or pictures be very few and striking. A piece of shining copper or pottery holding a spray of. flowers or a branch makes a glad sight. Have a cheerful light in the hall and a small one on the staircase if you can manage it. Lastly, please don’t forget the front door. Let it be gaily painted and interesting. . It tells people a lot about you-whether you’re gay or gloomy, careful about details or careless and indifferent. I went to visit a new acquaintance the other day and was surprised to be met by a bright red door, which exactly matched two tree tubs at either side of the step. It was a stimulating greeting and dispelled any thoughts I may have harboured about a dull host and hostess. I was perfectly certain it would be a good evening-and it was! A bright, spick-and-span front door need not cost a lot of money-paint is quite cheap and you can do the work yourself. Emerald green, buttercup yellow, turquoise blue are all lovely shades that will make your door "different" and gain for you a high reputation among your friends for being house-proud.

ON’T have a black door unless your house igs white or cream and you are prepared to polish it very often. A black door should always shine like a new shoe. Be very sure that the door fittings and brasses really do sparkle and the step is perfectly immacue Jate. Small things like this will make your hall ery weleome from the door and all the way upstairs. Ask to see new door fittings when next you visit your local stores. Iron, wood and glass all make interesting modern door furniture, and they are labouresaving. Have an unusual foot scraper and a very smart mat inside the door.

These days we have become space conscious. Architects of vision, looking toward the future, are designing small houses with large rooms. The demand for one small compartment in which to dine and another in which to sit has waned. The young men who earn their livings as house agents no longer ply us with the attractions of drawing room, breakfast room and living room. ‘They refer grandly to a "large living-room." One room in which to live spaciously and graciously -surely a better thing than to be cooped miserably in two or three, "Living-room" has a comfortable, family sound... It would be possible to give a real party in such a room and to dispose of one’s possessions to advantage. Two-Faced Room A SINGLE living-room, however, requires a new outlook on furnishing. To meet its owner’s requirements with success it must be a two-faced room. Not, let us hasten to explain, one of those horrid, deceitful Jekyll-and-Hyde rooms where every pouffe conceals coal or the reserve china, Consider a living-room which runs the whole depth of the house in the space once devoted to a dining, and a sitting-room. With windows at either end, it is filled with sunlight and charming possibilities. Colour scheme assumes a new importance. You may have a passion for lime-green or mulberry-pink but they are apt to pall if you look at them every day. While it need not be drab or indefinite, a soft restful background is essential in a room where long hours must be spent each day. Deep cream or a warm mellow buff are both good and if your room faces due north or north-east there is much to be said for a cool french grey. A contrasting paint can be used with advantage. Pale green skirting and door panels give a spring freshness to cream walls. Stippled brown skirtings and doors are charming with all the buff and pale honey shades. It is sound wisdom to choose a stippled finish if the ehildren are still at the sticky-finger stage. It keeps its looks longer. (CURTAIN all the windows in your two-faced.room with. the same material. ‘This, more than any other single factor, makes for harmony. There are innumerable curtain fabries to choose from, but it is well to remember that the

simpler designs are the most successful when planning curtains on a dual scale. With a "through" draught.such a room is apt to be cool in winter so lined curtains are a distinct advantage and hang very much better. As with curtains so with carpets, if possible. A floor can look exceedingly good with harmonious "odd " earpets, but it does look infinitely better with two that match, In many of. the new living -. rooms there are parquet _ floors which _ make matters simplér and much, less expensive. Small rugs grouped at either end are effective and on this type of floor more practical than larger carpets. (Contd. on page 49.)

The Individual House ome reo o HINTS. ON LIVING-ROOM’ FURNISHING SSD (Continued from page 35.)

A two-faced room can be changed round to a much greater extent thin one devoted io a single purpose. In winter the hearth is naturally the chief point of interest... the chairs drawn up and the dining table brough: close to the blaze. In spring and ‘summer the grouping drifts toward the windows, Table looking out on a green garden, perhaps and big cosy chairs under the front windows to ‘catch the ‘south-west sun. Although your living-room is large and there is no need to create illusions about its space, there is stili every reason to make intelligent use of Its dimensions. An overcrowded big roon: can look eren more "cluttered" than a sniall one, Tr is not necessary nor even desir able that pieces should match in sien nf oroom, Ireneh-polished mahogany and oak might not be a friendly contrast, but several shades of the sane svvood can meet to their mutual advay tage. Concentrate on furniture which is well planned and compact, leaving that kind labelled "eeeasional" to other ang iesser rooms. A corner bookcase with cupboards. ora desk ...a table with flaps folding deep on either side of baize-lined dra ers... dining chairs upholstered in the same material as the loose covers .,. these are admirable suggestions 9! rooms in which two faces smile, HOWEVE % you may have a lars house or a house in which it is impossible to have a large living-room. Or, frankly, you may just dislike the idea of living and eating in the same room. Let us consider the dining room... [IX all the homes that I help to plan L advise particular attention to the furnishing of the dining-room. A fresh and fragrant room, q shining table, gay dishes, bright touches of flowers---these are the perfect setting in which io receive compliment, on your achievements in the kitchen. Although not many of us either wish or can afford to refurnish the dining room, there are improvements we Cah make. Here are some of my pet ideas for good dining-rooms. Perhaps some of them will help you to cheer up yours. YJ think that rough-surfaced "canyassy" papers are the best choice for din-jng-room walls. They are dignified and durable, and can be revived with a single coat of distemper when time makes a discoloured pattern on their surface. With what should we adorn onr walls? At the risk of seeming very nngrateful to previous generations T suggest not with portraits of our estimable ancestors. L love family portraits, but 1 feei the proper place for them is in a mors intimate room of the house than the dining-room. Here we want somethinz unobtrusive and purely decorative. Perhaps a print which you can buy for a couple of shillings or a decorative flower panel in applique work done by yourself or a simple colour: poster af harmonious tones.

What is: your dining-room carpet like? Tf it hag rather an old-fashioned and obtrustive design, have you ever thought of having it dyed? Take ihe: adviee of a good firm of dyers on this matter, then if the report is fayourahle vonsider new curtains to tone. Material for dining-room curtains ix astonishingly cheap. Just the other day a friend of mine took me. into her dining-room to admire her new folkweare curtains in a strong, warm-ton-ed hessian! "I made them myself, and they only cost 10/-" she exclaim: ed proudly. Nothing makes a dining-room look so overerowded as gs heavy, ornate sidehoard. If you have begun to look with animosity aft yours-sell ik Bry 2? trolley table fitted with flaps, or one af those engaging little cupboards w hich are Sideboards in disguise. Do you know ahont bentwood stools? They cost only a few shillings each and are splendid as extra seats for the din-ing-room and ean be used for occasional coffee and cigarette tables, Just as important as the furniture for your dining-room are your table appointments. Breakfast, in spite of the thought of the eight-thirty tram or train, ean be a cheerful affair if you use a gay linen cloth with matching napkins---they ean be bought as reasonably as six or seven shillings for a se! for six persons. Flowers are rather highly — priced now, but that need not mean that we must haye unadorned meals. IL have several little pottery troughs, both cireular and oblong. which J bought for two or three shillings each. The heads of three or four flowers arranged with greenery from the garden make a love: jy decoration.