HOMES & FURNISHINGS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 70, 15 December 1933, Page 4

HOMES & FURNISHINGS

THAT OLD-FASHIONED FIREPLACE

Ways of Modernising It: Now is the Time GOOD RESULTS WITH SMALL OUTLAY No feature of interior architecture has altered more in the last decade than the fireplace and surround. One a patent affair, haloed wi i an ornate mantel rather like an elaborate picture frame and now simple and efficient in construction, and the surround is chastely P if you plan to modernise a fireplace this year an undertaking that gives decorative results with minimum outlay—now is the time to do it. For the time being fires are unnecessary and the work may be carried out at leisure, besides which it has time to set and mellow a little before fir.s are again called for.

planning the schemes of deiwjwj coration for your rooms in the past you may have exSsjßfJ perlenced more trouble with B '« the fireplaces than any other ! TUmT architectural feature. Perijg haps you have wished the tiles.were, a different colour or that the wood was some other kind of wood. Both tiles and wood may be painted, and hQwever good they may be'as they are, do not hesitate to change their colour if they dash with the scheme you require. If the wood does not agree with the woodwork of the room or with the wood of the furniture paint it to match the woodwork or walls or in slightly darker shade. Tiles can be similarly painted, or the surround (wood or metal) may match the woodwork and the tiles he in the wall shade if this is different from the woodwork. Methods of Boxing-In. For the boxjng-in of old-fashioned fireplaces a plywood may be used with a veneer to agree with either woodwork .or furniture wood. Do not forget the- possibilities of metal-faced ply woods. • such as copper plymax, in this respect. A good treatment when boxing in is to continue the plywood in the form of a dado round the room or have builtin bookcases in wood to match flanking the fireplace. “One of the most interesting of fireplace treatments I have seen reminds me of the earliest method of planning this feature of the house, when the fire burned in the middle ,pf the floor,” remarks an English writer. “You could have got all round the fire in those days—and the whole room was more, thoroughly warmed. This modern treatment I refer to, however, did not send smoke up through a hole, in the roof, neither did it place the fire in the middle of the room, thus wasting much valuable space.”

Symonds, points out, the electric fire does not require a flue, and it is, therefore, illogical to place it in the traditional setting of a chimneypiece. He has, however, recognised its decorative and social values as a focal point and does not scorn the convenient shelf. “In many a modern entrance hall of quite modest dimensions one finds a fireplace often of tire wrong size or bulk, and looking as if it wanted to be in the sitting-room where people could gather round it. “Where such a hall requires a source of heat there could be nothing better to supply it than one of the flush-panel pas fires tha.t have practically no projection. Having no shelf, it does not

“An electric fire in what might be described as a glass column of a fireplace was set to one side of the room,

present the little problems of what to put on in when ornaments are not required in this part, of the house. . It has a glass frame which is sufficient decoration not oply because of its proportions and engraved lines but also by reason of the pattern of its reflections. There is to-day a very wide range of material of good decorative qualities available for Are surrounds, Tiles and mirror glass we have already mentioned. There are-also marbles and marble-like compositions. “This may remind you of the Victorian fireplaces in cold greys and white, but the most popular marble today seems to be the Swedish green. It is a good colour, and if the design that employs it is plain and simple but of good proportions it can be most effective. "There are peach-tinted marbles, polished slate, polished stone in biscuit shades and greens, plated metal surrounds and bricks. “Brick fireplaces do not look well with a lot of highly polished furniture in dark woods; natural and weathered oak are most suitable. Mantels and Mirrors. “Overmantels and mirrors were once considered essential to the fireplace. I can see no advantage in the former, and if you have one you should scrap it. A mirror may serve a good decora tive purpose if it is unframed or simply framed and flush to the wall and of the right proportions; and if it fills the wall from mantelpiece to ceiling as a plain panel it may help, by reflection, to make the rooms seem larger. Personally I prefer to be without the mirror. I like to be able to stand in front of my fire and gossip with a friend without the annoyance of seeing both of us repeated facing ourselves a few inches away. “The appearance of the fireplace is indeed worth a lot of careful consideration. Most of us spend at least 800 hours a year seated in front of it.’’

but not so close to tlio wall as to prevent people sitting all round if they wished to. The room in question had a glass column, conveniently fitted with shelves, reaching to the ceiling. The base of the column at the top of the fireplace proper was electrically lit. Reflected lighting also emanated, from the top of the column on to the plaster shield. “As the designer of this room, R. W.

NEW UPHOLSTERY

Copies of Old Tapestries

SOME CHARMING EFFECTS

Perhaps the most popular of upholstering fabrics for the new season are tapestries. They have achieved favour because they’combine perfect taste in design and colouring with good wealing qualities, and are generally more hvgienic than heavy pile fabrics. Tapestries are particularly good with period furnishings, and lend themselves happily with varying colour schemes. The newest designs in these fabrics look like reproductions of Hie old needlework tapestries, except that they use modern designs, instead ot the old-time motifs. Here again, as with drapings, 'pastel tones in silk are used on neutrai grounds, forming a colourful, yet subdued, whole. The most usual colours are henna, rust, nigger, and other warm tones, for both convertional floral motifs and modern designs. Many of the fabrics have a shadow-tissue appearance in colouring. , ' New designs in chenille velvet and linen frieze velvet are also in season for upholstering, while figured linens hold their own. An unusually striking linen is one with a beige ground, decorated with quaintly stiff bunches of spiked leaves and mimosa in bright colours of red, green, blue, and yellow, enclosed in brown-lined squares.