STRAY NOTES.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19312, 17 May 1928, Page 4

STRAY NOTES.

A BEDROOM ACCESSORY. A dressing table gains vastly in attractiveness if accompanied by a really handsome stool. A lovely one can be made quite easily if one already has any kind of plain wooden stool on hand. One made recently was exquisite and smart looking, although it was only a discarded kitchen work stool with a 'round seat. It was cut down to the right height and the legs painted white to match the painted woodwork of the room. An oblong heavy board, a little wider than the seat, and considerably longer from side to side, about 32 inches, was nailed firmly over the seat to produce the proper oblong form. Several thicknesses of newspaper were then rolled into two solid rolls, 5 inches in thickness, and long enough to extend all the way across each end of the. seat, and were wound with cloth to keep their shape. One of these was laid above each end of the seat, close to the edge, and a piece of heatv canvas stretched over and tacked close to it on the seat side and also. along the outer edge, so that the roll would remain firmly in place. Then each roll was covered with a plain satiny material, turquoise in colour, which colour was repeated elsewhere in the room. This material came down over the edge of the board and was tacked underneath. The seat between the rolls was padded heavily and a remnant of old damask, having a delicate tan background, was used to cover its top and to extend down over the padded edges. The flowers in its design were coloured with oil paints, some in turquoise, some in rose, others in mauve. At each end of both rolls a good-sized tan-coloured tassel was attached, and a row of smaller tassels of the same shade covered the front and back edges of tli# seat, between the large tassels. Other _ fine materials could be used in a _ similar manner, with equally charming effect. Cretonne is less desirable, since the richer materials produce an effect that is decidedly handsomer and more unusual.

An Australian expert, who recently discussed methods of combating destructive agencies in timbers, said one method of minimising the predicted world famine in timber was to eliminate waste. As far as building timbers were concerned, the attacks of fungus an<J insects were the chief causes of waste. Decay of timber could be mini-, mised or prevented by the use .of suitable timbers in exposed positions, by the elimination of sapwood, by adequate ventilation in damp places by stopping leaky water fittings, and by using seasoned timber. Much of the damage could be eliminated if sapwood were not used unless treated, and if the use of New Zealand white pine was confined to butter-boxes, or some use where it could not act as a means of spreading the furniture borer throughout the country. Kiln drying of timber was a cure, but did not prevent _ reinfestation. Creosote was an effective deterrent. White ants, said Mr Welch, were a very serious menace, largely because there was usually little evidence of their work till the wood was destroyed. Runways and tunnels were constructed for considerable distances, and often subsidiary nests were established. Arsenical _ poison baits were frequently effective. Creosote was also effective as far as it penetrtated. but in areas known to contain white ants frequent inspection, especially of the foundations, was necessarv.