A GIRL'S SITTING-ROOM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7695, 2 May 1903, Page 3

A GIRL'S SITTING-ROOM.

Simple and Artistic

Nowadays private " dens " are the fashion, and everybody that possesses a room that she can call li6r very own t free to do with as she likes, proceeds forthwith to furnish and decorate according to some preconceived ideal that shall have a decided flavour of individuality, about it. Many of these dens are prepared with great care to last indefinitely, while more are but temporary nooks, copying the latest fad of the hour, following a popular theme or pastime of society with no thought of permanence, but passing oub with the craze when it has run its course after a season of two.

I know, of one young girl (says a writer in an American magazine), who appropriated one of the large rooms on the top floor > of her father's house, ordinarily termed an attic, but in this instance, a full-sized, per-fectly-shaped apartment, and transformed dt into a fancy Japanese tea room, -.vith all the little airy draperies in texture and design of these people, of the Far East, the bamboo furniture, screens, pictures, fans, parasols, and here and there on the walls a genuine Japanese tapestry of which she was very proud. Added to this, there were handsome Japanese urns standing, on the floor ab either side of the fireplace, and quaint vases and ornaments and jardinieres of palms occupying the various shelf • proj eefcions around the room Matting and light-coloured rugs covered- the floor, and to be in harmony with all this brightness the woodwork had been stained and varnished- a sorb of amber shade that was distinctly pretty. In an exquisite, bamboo-trimmed cabinet standing against the wall at one side deposed as dainty a Japanese tea service as ever delighted the feminine heart, and 1 pre in this secluded nook the owner 2 rigged out in a be-flowered kimona, dispensed woman's exhilarating beverage about twice a week to any of her friends who cared to drop in for an afternoon chat. . These little tea parties, as the girls aptly designate them, were "strictly informal, which, rendered them all the more enjoyable, and it is nob to be wondered at that that particular den, with its smiling hostess, its refreshing hospitality and myriads of lounging cushions, became quite a rendezvous for the members of her social set during the winter season.