DINNER DECORATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18963, 10 March 1925, Page 13

DINNER DECORATIONS.

The arrangement of the dinner table is always a matter for concern. Brightly coloured lamp and candle shades, and even the candles themselves—-which are now-a-days made in many charming colours—can bo summoned to our aid, but whatever colour is used for tho shades on the table should be repeated in the shades of the sconces on tho walls or elsewhere, and should not only harmonise or contrast with tho colours of tho room, but with those of the flowers they are to accompany. For instance, with rose-coloured petunias one might have saffron or maize-col-oured lamps and candle shades in a room where the furniture was of dark wood, or yellow and black shades used with the yellow coreopsis. Yellow and white, or the bluo and green of the belladonna delphinium, with yellow antirrhinium, make cool and restful combinations of colour during daytime. Simplicity must invariably be present. One of tho most charming dinner-table decorations may be formed with trails of Virginia creeper springing from a wellproportioned bowl of fresh moss. And that brings us to the all-important subject of receptacles, which must be in keeping with tho flowers they hold. Slight, fragile looking subjects, such as annual gvpsophila, maidenhair, or sweet sultans, require delicate-looking vases, like those made of crystal; subjects of heavier build, for example canna and Oriental poppy, look better in vases of metal or other opaque substance. Long-stemmed subjects must not be deprived of their elegance by concealing them in opaque jars that allow only their heads to be seen, or by cutting off part so that they fit into low, small-necked vessels. lall crystal jars are suitable for these, where a fewmay bo loosely grouped; or bowls of wet sand covered with moss in which they can be arranged with the taller ones toward the centre and the greater part of the individual stems exposed. _ Such flowers as scabious caucasica, interspersed with a few feathery brown grasses, sweet peas of one colour, or sunbeam poppies, will look lovely displayed in this fashion in large bowls of dull, black ware. If a crystal holder or other support is available it will servo the same purpose as the sand. For larger, heavier" flowers, deeper, heavier bowls or pots are required with some kind of support that will keep the central ones fairly upright. Baskets can often bo pressed usefully into service for long-stemmed things when there is a scarcity ol' vases proper. In these a jam jar can sometimes be most effectively concealed and show off our flowers to perfection.