Your Old Furniture

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21090, 16 July 1938, Page 22

Your Old Furniture

Muring The Most Of It

(By a Special Correspondent.) CUPPOSE you have one of those old “gondola” ihv.rs as they were called. These have a wooden frame and arms, low (often elegantly curved) legs, and arc usually upholstered in some sort of rather Victorian, now decidedly dingy plush. By the time they get to the stage 1 m thinking of. they’re usually decorated by assorted spider-webs and mouse-nests, too! But a pot of paint and three yards of inexpensive furnishing material can work wonders ! Strip off all that !-■ rrible plush; dust and clean the wood thoroughly, and paint it over in a white semi-lustre enamel I suggest this rather than ordinary enamel, for chairs of this sort which arc often lightly carved, as the semi-flat, satiny finish goes better with period furniture. Enamel is perfect for all absolutely modern pieces, and for turning old furniture into something quite modern, but this old gondola chair is going to remain true to its Regency type—with a dash of modern smartness Colour Schemes. So. with its white woodwork successfully accomplished. :over the upholstery with rich mulberry satin, and edge it with bushy white fringe. Fringe, placed in seams instead of the more usual piping. is very smart now, and so is the old-fashioned bail-fringe. Lots of other colour combinations could bo chosen For instance, the woodwork could be in orchid pink, with violet-blue upholstery and ice-blue fringe. A variation of this colour scheme would be particularly lovely on an old chest of drawers. I'm sure you have such' a one that could be turned into a thing of beauty . . . hut that at present merely annoys you. Clean it down thoroughly, give it a

1 dessertspoon butter, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 tablespoon finely-chopped parsley, cayenne, onion powder or juice. Lay the fillets of fish ... casserole. Mix milk and water, add the melted butter, cayenne and onion juice. Pour this over the fish. Cover with lid and cook in moderate oven 30 to 40 minutes. Add the blended flour to the liquid and return to oven till it boils. Sprinkle with parsley and garnish with lemon. Serve at once with creamel potatoes.

rub-over with sandpaper, and paint it in these delicate, modem shades. Violetblue for the top and the drawers, and dusty-pink for the sides and in between the drawers, id a violet-blue panel at either end. Star Trimming. Get some of those little silver paper stars that you can buy in a packet at the stationers, and paste one on each knob and a little starry group on each end panel. Finish this off with a coat of clear lacquer so that they can’t possibly peel off, and you’ll have a chest of drawers modern as to-morrow ! Bedroom Chair. Another bright i ’ea for making a charming bedroom chaii out of a very hum! ’e piece of furnit'i*< is one 1 saw in the bedroom of a smart London flat. It was nothing but an ordinary deck chair, with one of those pull-out attachments for the feet. Just the sort you see on the beach anywhere and more than likely you have one stored away in your own box-room or shed. If not you could pick one up in a lumber yard or second-hand shop for a few shillings. Why don’t you try your hand like this at making new treasures out of your old useless pieces of furniture?