THE MODERN WOMAN'S HOME.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 138, 17 July 1914, Page 4

THE MODERN WOMAN'S HOME.

' ■ AN AETISTIC HABITATION. In days gone by the majority of wives found their home ready-made for them. Everything was arranged by their parents, but as a rule the woman of to-day delights dn making her own. She is not satisfied with being the queen of her little kingdom, but she wishes, as it were, to build her own nest, to organise, and decorate her realm. It has been said that the sense of the beautiful, the artistic spirit, is on the wane, because of the strennousness of modern life, but it is sufficient to visit the home of the modern woman to discover that, in one respect at least, this view is incorrect. The modern home is really moi;e beautiful because .its presiding genius has more taste than her prototype. She considers her dwelling place not merely | from a sentimental standpoint, but from j a practical and artistic one. j Who has not shuddered at some of the dear old-fashioned upholstery? The present-day housewife prefers the more substantial and hygienic furniture of wood, with leather seats, for example.! Then she is not to be drawn into covering the walls of her home with the ponderous engravings so dear to past gen*

, erations- She invariably knows a good and artistic print, and a pleasant etching. Moreover, she understands what frame wiH suit the picture, and what picture will harmonise with™ her furni--1 ture. She has learned what kind of - wall-paper to select, what friezes to choose, how to dress a tabley and how to adorn a mantelshelf. Her home has ; become artistic and inviting, because she has developed her sense of the beautiful, and because she uses intelligence in choosing things. Every year the taste in furnishing .is improving- and the result of advance . in any artistie matter is always to simplify. First of all, unnecessary hangings and bric-a-brac were eliminated. Now even the pictures on the walls are fewer, and the great idea is to. get as large an empty, space oi floor as possible in each apartment. * Little china is left out on tables, or seen climbing the walls nowadays; but if it must be in evidence it is encased in glass-fronted cabinets. In fact, there is quite a tendency at present to follow the Chinese fashion of having just a few good pieces out at a time, and then putting* these away, and having others to take their place. This increasing simplicity in the home whieh greatly simplifies , the domestic arrangements, is in keeping with William Morris 's dictum: " Have nothing j in your houses which you do not know 'to be useful, or believe to be beautifful." The cult of simplicity has led to the far more hygienic furnishing of bed-

rooms. There is less'furniture in them and always & margin- of polished, wood beyond the edge; of the carpet when carpets are used at all, to facilitate cleaning; and -washing materials arc generally used for the hangings. Even the colour schemes of the rooms ' are growing quieter and less crude, in spite of the Futurists' wild riot of colour: and the one-time mania for eccentricity and ugliness has almost disappeared. ' Another characteristic of the twentieth century house is the exquisitefloral decorafions, and if- there is less I furniture and bric-a-brae there are more : flowers. Even in the arrangement -o% ! these the greatest simplicity is aimed a. r and- instead of numberless > little rickety vase's that may placed by a puff of wind, there are a few large ones with massesof flowers and bowls of bulbs, or copper and brass- cauldrons filled' with pots of ' growing flowers.