TABLE DECORATION

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 95, 16 January 1935, Page 5

TABLE DECORATION

Ideas From London Elaborate as is the civilisation ue have built up, it seldom is far from certain first principles, writes H. Pearl Adam in the "Observer.” The loveliest palace in Venice sinks its foundations through water and mud direct to Alother Earth; even so do our manners. however artificial or.however exquisite, maintain straight communication with the underlying needs of existence. A dinner part is a case in point. Although we do not kill or catch our food, and few of us even cook it ourselves, we still invite our friends !c our cave, shut the door against gatecrashers and dinosaur! alike, and proceed to enjoy what the prowess of our spear and flint (or our knowledge of the stock market) has procured us. But we disguise the nature of the feast by witty conversation (we hope), and by using other implements than fingers, and, above all. by decorating the table. Years ago elaborate candelabra were considered very smart, each candle topped with a small shade, and each shade further complicated by a beaded or fringed piece of silk which hung limply over it. This sometimes centred the table, with stalwart bunches of flowers on either side; or the flower formed the centre decoration, and two candelabra were added. Whichever way it went.it was a bit thick; the guests often arose from the table having had but brief glimpses, through the foliage, of the other guests. The Modern Style. Nowadays candelabra are seldom used as table decoration, the funny little silk shades have disappeared entirely, and even candlesticks are not particularly popular—their usefulness having gone, since most dining-rooms are lighted with subdued effect. The tall vases of flowers have shrunk, Becoming lower and lower—like Alice after eating the mushrooms—until now the closer the flowers are to the table the smarter the decoration is considered. This season, in honour of Princess Marina’s first winter in London, many dinner tables will be decorated in the colours of Greece —white and Hint shade of rich, deep blue that can best be described as Oxford blue. One suggestion is that a wide blue r'bbon be laid down the centre of the dining table (on the white linen cloth), and that a low white crystal or silver bowl be placed in the centre of the table, filled with white and deep blue jarnations. There being no such thing as a. blue carnation, these must be dyed; but your florist will attend to that. Red, white, and blue ribbon is used in the same way, if the desire is to carry out England’s colour scheme, and the bowl can then contain red as well as white and blue flowers. The Rose Bowl. On tlie polished table there Is nothing lovelier than a bowl so low that it cau hardly be seen, filled with pure white roses. For the best effect, a well-known florist advises dispensing with any d’oyley or centre-piece of lace or linen, and placing the rose-bowl decoration ou tlie table itself, where the roses, drooping gracefully over the bowl, are reflected in the rich polish of the wood, or in the depths of the black glass surface. Carnations are popular for table decoration because they will iast well through dinner—which roses sometimes fail to do —and can be obtained in more colours than other flowers. A low bowl simply packed with all kinds of flowers in every possible shade makes a rich decoration —roses, violets, anemones, carnations, mimosa, all lending their colour and sweetness to making the dinner-party a success. One London hostess, when she wauts an elaborate setting for a special affair, uses small bouquets of mixed flowers, dotted here and there on a centre panel of silver lame. ’ Alirrors add glamour to the table, reflecting light, happy faces, and sparkling raiment. A fairly large oval mir- I ror can be treated in a slightly different way by placing at either end instead of the centre, as is usual —low bowls of pink roses. A wire looped up across the mirror from one bowl to the other, covered with matching pink, or very dark red, carnations makes a ravishing handle which reflects well. As a finishing touch, a small Dresden China figure can be placed in the centre. Pampas Grass. The ultra-modern room still demands rather high table decoration, and for this all sorts of interesting things, such as pampas grass, bullrushes, and South African fireberries are used. They are tall, but are so slim that the face opposite is visible, for enjoyment or chagrin as the case may be. A few branches of honesty add a softening effect to this modern decoration. Attractive Hower decorations can be made at home by using a long narrow board padded with roses (obtainable from any florist). This makes a splendid bed for bunches of freezia, mixed anemones, or big sweet Cornish violets struck right in the moss, so that they appear to be growing in a little flowerbed. A very pretty effect. Again, a miniature garden may be made for a centre-piece, using moss placed round a flat bowl of mixed flowers, and any little china or bronze figures one may have In the bouse, dotted here and there beside tiny clumps of

violets, or under small breezy trees made of fern or painpus grass. Small china figures on a mirror are sometimes used without any flowers, although most hostesses feel something is lacking if flowers are uot utilised in some way. Crystal balls, especially silver ones, are sometimes used, with a ring of blossoms—such as gardenias—placed round them on the rich wood of the table. A collection of small, iridescent witch-balls is enchanting when arranged on a pane of thick glass raised sufficiently above the table to have an electric light below them. The space between glass and table is filled in with flowers or berries to hide the light from the eyes of the diners.