NEW LAMPS FOR OLD

Radio Record, 29 July 1938, Page 41

NEW LAMPS FOR OLD

LANNED lighting is possible in ali new houses where you can have a say jn the fixtures, but even in houses that have been "well livedin" a great deal can be done at comparatively small cost. The first essential is fitness for purpose. In the kitchen and bathroom, lights should be clear and "honest to goodness." In the kitchen have a centre light. for general illumination but try fo arrange one over the stove as well. Unless the ceiling is very low, 4 hanging fixture is best with a shade which casts the light downwards, A ceiling light, unless it is specially strong, is not practical for kitchen use. Choose a washable shade as grease fumes collect in a very short time. Yellow, lined with white, ig a good colour scheme for a kitchen shade, and china, opaque glass or one of the modern compositions are the best materials. Think of your husband shaving oD dark mornings when you light the pathroom! Even if it means draping a length of flex, see that the light falls directly on the mirror, You can buy silvery flex which is nearly invisible against a ceiling. Or buy a bulb lamp which fixes above the mirror. For sheer luxury there are special shaving mirrors fitted with a bulb whics floodlights the face and really does avoid bad tempers at breakfast, OU ean make experiments in the hall and on the staircase which roigh: be impractical and tiresome elsewhere. The old lantern swinging from its iron chain looks charming in @ hall. Here is the place for the "odd" shade made from an old map or piece of embroidery. Keep down electricity bills by having fow-powered lamps in halls and landings. Have a tiny light outside your front door as a welcome. Consider strip lighting on the staircase. Clever houses have it built-in to floodlight the banisters. A length fitted on the innes side of the newel post will shed a soft, myster-

ious radiance and cast long shadows. A strip in the angle of the wall where the stairs turn ig very effective, For the older house, sconces and candlestick lights are charming in the hall and on the staircase. Wor these shades of pierced metal are newer than parchment or buckram., Most important of all are the living room lights, Homework, reading, needlework and a host of leisure time tasks depend upon them. Comfort and decorative effect must both have consideration. The general light can be softly tinted to give a feeling of warmth and cosiness, but the "working" lights should be clear,

Put lights inside large cupboards and end irritating groping in the dark. Floodlight a display cabinet with 4 tiny bulb fitted inside the door panel. Make your own concealed lighting by hiding a bulb in q lovely bowl high on a shelf or behind a water gardem-made from an ordinary witch bowl. i SAW an enchanting idea the other , day for the centre-of your table when you’re giving an exira special party. A flat green glass bowl." had beautiful large red-gold| chrysanthemum heads floating on the water, The bowl stood on a square frame of wood which protected a powerful eleciric bulb, and the flex was hidden by (Continued on page 54.)

| Planned Lighting {Continued from page 41.)

the table cloth. The floodlit flowers were the only illumination in the room and cast a friendly, intimate light around the table. — Family vases are comming down from their pedestals in ihe .antique’ corner cupboard, and being turned to moderna use as table lamps. _ All you.need to transform them-is a special fitting you can buy from any electrical shop, ¢consisting of a bulb holder to fit the top of the yase, a length of flex, a frame and a. shade, When choosing a shade, remember that shiny silks are apt to look "cheap" by day. Parchment and bukram make inexpensive and excellent shades. Wrought iron is newer than wood for standards, but of course, a little more ° expensive, If you have an old brass standard, paint it. to match. your shade, -, For colours, deep eream and most of the buffs and yellows are good, Rose ix apt to absorb light unless it is lined with white. Any bluish sbade, will have a depressing: effect. Some of the loveliest shades are _made of glass, tinted and patterned. A shining North star or a big Man in the Moon in the children’s room will be a real Aladdin’s Lamp.: