THE HUMAN ELEMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 29, 4 February 1937, Page 19

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

BUILT-IN FURNITURE

CHARM NOT EVERYTHING

I "A friend and I were examining, at a recent exhibition, some photographs of modern settings of furniture," states a writer in tho "Manchester Guardian." "We had agreed in admiring the appearance of various kinds of built-in pieces and had made envious comments on 'ideal' kitchens, i'id bathrooms. But when we turned up a photograph of a charming corner of a sitting-room we realised simultaneously | that charm was not everything in a I room. This particular corner was filled with a fitment that consisted of bookshelves along one wall, from average head-height down almost to the level of a wide upholstered seat that served as a divan above six drawers. "As a composition this collective corner was certainly pleasing to the eye. But my companion remarked at once, 'Anyone who wanted to dust those bookshelves, or even to take out or insert a book, would have to kneel on the divan.' Only because she was a breath ahead of me did I withhold until she had spoken my criticism that anyone using the divan would have to lie on it in order to avoid catching or rubbing limbs or garments against the six protruding handles, in two tiers, of the drawers. "We then decided that a piece of furniture with several functions, .though at first sight it might seem economical, was often extravagant of , human energy if not of space. In this case the bookshelves could not be comfortably reached except by anyone on the divan, which, though its upholstered top was long enough and broad enough to serve as a sofa for three or four' people, could only accommodate comfortably one lounger. And the drawers, of course, could be pulled out only when no one was. sitting over them. Thus the three purposes could be served at once only by people who would get in each other's way. A DINING RECESS. "We noticed, too, that there were' several delightful 'occasional' tables that were the less tables for aspiring to be bookshelves also. When a housewife ignores aesthetic values for a moment, it may well appear to her that modern designers of fitted furniture often forget the human element of any domestic setting. And it may strike her suddenly that photographs of model rooms invariably show rooms furnished but unoccupied; so that even while she examines and rraises the lines of, perhaps, an unusual chair, she wonders how they will outline those of the human figure. She v/onders, belatedly; if the designers of attractive furniture and attractive arrangements do not in their enthusiasm for their material, :ln ■ their determinea severity o£ style and their obligation to save space, often design entirely for vacant premises and confuse instead of combining several purposes in any fixed piece. ■ "Another exhibition card we discussed encouraged us to uphold this view. The photograph showed a dining recess in a flat, and at first we liked the idea and the: arrangement. A plain rectangular table was cut off from the. living,part of-^the.joorn^by a. long piece of furniture serving ras" sideboard, backboard to a seat, and shelves (at its ends). A short end of'the; table was against the back' of this, so that the table was at right angles to it, and screened by it in a corner^

"After a moment it occurred to me that this was surely uneconomical <of space, as only three sides of the table could be used; there was; no room to pull it away from the long screen, as between the far end of it and the wall there was only just enough space for a chair. When I pointed this out my companion said, ,'Yes, and people who are to sit at the further long side of the table would have to move that end chair before they could get round!'

"Thei-e Is no doubt that housewives who have no reasonable expectation of ever being able to scrap their toofamiliar, old-fashioned pieces, look wistfully at pictures of spick-and-span rooms fitted with the 'latest things'; but their criticisms are not necessarily the result of a 'sour grapes' altitude. They would, however, most respectfully suggest that designers should see that people as well as pieces can be fitted into model domestic premises; and they are capable of uttering the heresy that a composite piece of furniture may fulfil two or three purposes more clumsily and less conveniently than two or three pieces designed with only one respective end in view.'-'

or five square bone buttons and a similar number of long-shaped [or round metal or glass ones, these may possibly be combined to form the ornamental fastening of a little dress. SMART ON A WOOLLEN FROCK. Silver or chromium buttons alternating with glass ones can look smart on a woollen frock, and on a silk one containing several colours in its patterns it is effective to have every second button of the prevailing colour while the ones in between repeat one of the less dominant tones. Antique or specially pretty buttons, so long as there are four alike, can be made into cuff-links by the simple expedient of joining them in couples, back to back, by means of a strong shank of silk thread, this being about half an inch in length to allow freedom, while the silk is strengthened by being overcast in buttonhole stitch from one buttonback to the other.

If there are only two such buttons they may form the neck fastening to a dress or blouse, two button-holes being made to receive them. The device, ejther for cuffs or for necks, is a practical as well as a pretty one for washing garments, as the buttons, of course, are easily removed when the dress or blouse goes to the wash and as easily restored afterwards, there being thus no danger of either breaking' them or marking the material during the processes of laundry.