TRYING ON ROOMS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 180, 1 August 1941, Page 9

TRYING ON ROOMS

"Magic Mirror" In Rockefeller Home Centre

In the Rockefeller Home Centre in the Rockefeller Building on Fifth Avenue, New York, there is a section devoted to miniature rooms, and in this section is a "magic mirror " If you look into the mirror you can see yourself, in miniature, standinc !" the middle of different rooms one after another, "trying on" rooms as you would try on gowns or ffi fn

The decorative schemes of different rooms are planned to provide the perfect background for various types of people's colouring. One can t help wondering, though, what is suggested for a living room when every member of a family has different coloured hair! Perhaps onlv bedrooms come under this scheme.

Nearly one thousand visitors daily, from all over the world stream through Rockefeller Home Centre searching for what's new in materials for building, furnishing and equipping a home, says the New iork correspondent of the "Sydney Morning Herald."

Those who cannot come in person write letters asking for suggestions and advice in the solution of their problems. Among the most interesting of these letters, recently received at the Rockefeller Home Centre were inquiries from England asking for information regarding the rebuilding and remodelling of wartorn homes.

This unique spot in New York, situated in the midst of fifty-storey skyscrapers, is a permanent exhibition of everything anyDody wants to know about a home, inside and "out, upstairs and down. You cannot buy anything here, because nothing is for sale. The rugs and draperies, furniture, lamps, and all other articles displayed here are for exhibition only.

In other words, Rockefeller Home Centre is maintained for the convenience of men and women visitoi-s who just want to "look around" and inspect the latest ideas in equipment and furnishings for every room in the house, without being followed around by salesmen trying to make sales.

There are people in attendance, however, to answer questions and to give information regarding the manufacturing establishments or shops where any of these articles or materials may be purchased.

Besides the smaller exhibit units. which show individual phases of home-making materials, such as wallpapers and paints, floor coverings, furniture and kitchen appliances, the exhibition includes a completely furnished and equipped two-storey house, built on an outside terrace of the building. It also has three other houses showing different styles and periods of furnishing decoration. One of the houses is modern in atmosphere; another harmoniously combines various periods; while the third is a "washable house" in which walls, floor coverings, upholstery and furnishings are all designed for easy laundering with soap and water.