HOME COLOURING.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19462, 8 November 1928, Page 4

HOME COLOURING.

WHITE BEING DISPLACED,

BATHROOM BEAUTIFICATION.

From time untold white has held sway as a background for treatment in the home decoration, as well as for office, hospital, factory, and almost every other establishment where human beings reside or operate. At last, this unaccountable reserve in the use, of colour has been broken down in every sphere of decoration, by, general consent of artists and scientists alike (says the "Commonwealth Home)*" White and cream are cheery enough, but white at least is trying to the eyes, and not more restful in large ' doses than a variety, of other colours; nor is it in itself pleasing to the senses. One hesitates to place it as a colour at all. It is pre-eminently colourless; a valuable foil to brighter tints, no less and no more.

This is not to discount the great hygienic value of white, which perhaps has no parallel, though in these days of skilful dyeing of manufactured products it has many competitors in the colour field. The charms of white porcelain and kitchen enamel are being thoroughly challenged by blue and green, and even bright red products: that match the revolutionary development of colour in the decoration of the culinary department. " ; Rich ruby saucepans with what look: like red glass, but are really composition handles and knobs, give new life to the old saucepan stand, enamelled to match, and make it something worth looking at, as do also the graduated ruby red rings hanging up on the kitchen dresser. Imagine a red and white check device invading the domain of dinner service design! Yet it is true, and, furthermore, the kitchen walls are now papered, or treated in some delicate pastel tint, because, the soot, black, and smoke of the fuel stove will no longer foul them. There are a couple of vivid framed flower or scenic prints, echoing the red scheme if

you like, with trees of russet, .vermilion and amber,, disporting /themselves on the kitchen walls, so that the cook- and pot-washer need not _ be divorced- from beauty jyiien ;ihe. stoops to homely tasks. ~'•'. ; | Every woman 'yearns for beauty BO the aluminium and .the. pot bTacfcvwill soon be a legend in hotaes of refine*nent. ' ,■ ''' 'V '■';. Kitchen furniture unadorned with paint or stain is no longer good enough, either. The mode at present is v to stain it black or brown and leave it unpolished, and as a variation from the coloured china and enamel, glass/'containers and spice drawers in the kitchen cabinet are cleanly, and serve to add; an air of elegance.. > The timber itself: is not the worst obtainable, but rather some of the best—oak, spruce, and ■ other varieties which will stand looking at without polish, . paint, or- .enamel Kitchen tables are filled with flaps, so that they can be enlarged for heavy service, and their flaps are stencilled,to match stencils on the chairs.,

From the humble regions of the brown closet you can unearth nowadays a green or a pink enamelled, slop 'pail that is mucn more interesting to wield than the old white enamel one, and the ; housemaid takes more pride in the wotkof an elegant coloured broom then she) takes in one of the tfull millet It is a pleasure, instead of a taskj. to whisk a cerulean blue or shrimp pink ostrich feather duster around the drawing room ornaments. It almost seemr a sacrilege to sink their beauty to.such purpose, but at least it is at no in;: creased cost oyer the uninspiring'kind that the Chinaman used to hawk to lis.

Having touched upon' the;service quarters, though'by no means exhausted them, let us proceed to the bathroom and lavatory, where eolour. was formerly taboo. "Here you will find not only softly-tinted tiles varying the w?dl scheme, and .. perhaps an interesting frieze, but coloured and floral 7 rubber: accessories; and. last, but not least, the bathroom furniture has definitely abandoned white as its insignia of purity and good taste. * '•■■ Plumbing fixtures in colour are the laßt word in bathroom beautification. The porcelain enamelled bath, pedestal wash basin, and other accessories, are definitely colourful—black, canary,; azure, sea green, orchid, pearl grey, and'

shall pink. ' ; ' i : : x"'' , -SI^^S^HBHIIH