DRAWINGROOM AND SITTINGROOM

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 52, 25 November 1907, Page 3

DRAWINGROOM AND SITTINGROOM

It is a healthy sign that many young folk storting ,and many older folk continuing housekeeping arc,, metaphorically, setting their .faces against the drawing-room. Why the best room in the houso should be sacs rinced'-to the occasional caller—who would be infinitely more,- comfortable in a simple, artistic sitting-room—is a point that has long troubled intelligent women. "Unfortunately the ■ day is still far distant when we see the final rout of that carpeted apartment -.with its gim-crack furniture and unnecessary ornaments., It is a fetish worshipped by the commonplace who are always with, us, and'who regard tho possession of a "drawing-room" as a tangible claim to respectability. . The question in mollern fur- , Dishing is >not "What can I put in?" but 'What; can I leave out of a room?" It seems incredible that a very few years ago sensible women crowded their rooms with unlimited yards of art muslins, corners most inappropriately called cosy, pampas grass, gaudy carpets, and other varieties of rubbish. Those wonien\ to-day have realised tho,comfort of restful rooms—rooms in-which one colour dominates. So long as it is substantial and simple in outline, tho furnituro cannot bo" too plain. That anachronism tho fancy, cushion, and the "fancy" chair has been banished, together ..with everything elso of an impracticable nature. Hand 'in hand with this revolution has come an even moro important one. The possibilities of the kitchen are being quite seriously considered—more especially where tho house mistress or a lady, help docs the work. Ono such kitchen is tho most attractive room in ,an attractive house. A self-coloured lirio'leum m green'covers the floor. The shelves . and tables are covered with white linoleum The woodwork is painted blue, the walls being white: Round the walls runs a narrow blue shelf where plates and dishes are ranged the dresser being in the form of a massive cupboard built low. Short white' cheese cloth curtains, with a stencilled border in blue, hangs at tho windows, while a substantial woodon tablo is covered, out of working hours, with a cloth of plain blue serge. '■ '