STRAY NOTES

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 170, 18 April 1928, Page 17

STRAY NOTES

THE HOME IN WINTER When winter comes wc make a mental survey of our clothes in order to prepare ourselves for the onslaught of cold days ahead of us, but do wc take stock of our house and plan it perhaps a little differently so that we may obtain tile greater comfort during the dullest months of the year? asks an English writer. Personally, I am greatly in favour of rearranging Our rooms from time to time, especially one’s own sitting-room or bedroom, and it is quite a good idea to have a winter and a summer scheme. Some people when they take a house for the winter months live "u the rooms just as they find them. It shows much want of oSginality on their part to live meekly with furniture clumsily •arranged by someone entirely devoid of the knack of making a room livable. f agree that the nice adjustment of furniture is almost an art in itself, which one woman possesses and another is found to he completely without. A room arranged by the latter is never a livable one. Chairs find themselves isolated. Lights are ■ n the wrong place, and some of these looms have the appearance of store 'ooms and not sitting-rooms. /\ new scheme or rearrangement acts unconsciously -as a mental tonic, and it also enables us to see our possessions from a- different angle and suddenly to appreciate doubly their artistic value. Undoubtedly many people are affected hv their immediate surroundings. Without realising it, colour plays an important part in their lives, and these are the people who find their grey or white walls depressing in the winter though delightfully restful during the summer mouths. Those rooms make <i charming setting for spring , and summer flowers, but in winter they are apt to chill and depress the spirits of their owners, and incidentally make a bad background for heavy winter clothes. Put colour into then- by the addition of gayer cushions and brighter lampshades, and, when it can be afforded, warmer-toned covets on sofas and chairs. A room should always give out a • welcome, should “come forward” to cheer you instead of repelling you by ili cold, austere appearance. ■ If utility has to govern the situation, it is better always to choose plain, unpstterned materials for your carpets and Cryers. They may be original!}' of a lovely shade of rose or yellow, and then when they eventually • become ■ too shabby and devoid of colour they can always be dyed ar a small cost and returned to j-ou a deeper , rose red o> a cheerful orange.