WHITE HOUSES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1234, 16 September 1911, Page 11

WHITE HOUSES.

Popular taste in furnishing has undergone a complete revolution, even within tho past few years (says a writer in tho. "Age"). Only a generation ago heavy a)id expensive pieces of furniture, against rich wall papers that were rarely renewed, were considered the necessaiy background to English homo life. It is interesting to note the furnishing of today. White enamelled wood has crept so gradually into favour that few people realise how largely light cupboards, chests of drawers, and fitments have taken the place of the handsome mahogany articles of a day that is past. Xahirally where outlay need not bo taken into account rich and costly furniture is still first in favour. 1 Wis to tho modest homo one must look to see 'the alteration in the average ideas of expenditure. A whole flat can bo fitted now for the cost of a room in tho old days. Small dwellings with rooms so tiny that it is impossible to put more than 0110 or twe articles into them aro done in white enamel, and there are large cupboards with inset panels of glass, which do uot detract from the sizo of even a small apartment.Whitewashed walls grew in favour through Japaneso influence. It was from tho Orient, too, that .the Englishwoman got her notions of arranging flowers so that their shadows might be thrown, in graceful and refreshing fashion, against walls of snowy white. The last addition to these simple furnishings is white floorcloth.. It. is made'in either Trench white or in a creamy- texture so thick that it gives the' impression of walking on a velvet pile carpet. On this rugs are sometimes laid, but even more cool for summer use are rugs simulated in bambco matting. Theso are copied from old Persian designs, and are in soft colours, so that the white floor, whether for a flat or a bungalow, with the delicately printed designs of theso rugs, is entirely cool and pleasing to the eye. Old beliefs that in order to secure cleanliness it was necessary to have dark and dingy carpets and hangings have entirely passed away. Dust is kept out of houses by many devices, and at last housekeepers have learned to realise that it is better to see dust and clear it off than to conceal it under cover of darkness. From five of the ancient City Companies tho Queen recently received as gifts a fan of Honiton lace, a pack of cards,, six pairs of gloves, a bouquet, and a selection of needles.