SMALL ROOMS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19876, 18 February 1920, Page 9

SMALL ROOMS.

CREATING A SENSE OF SPACE. A “bachelor” girl I know makes quite a little income by renting flats and the upper and lower parts of houses and re-letting them. Her chief talent Ties in creating a sense of space in small rooms, and es« peoially in those, so cramped, of the one-turncd-into-two rooms of contorted houses. T ‘lt's an art,” she told ms, when I asked her to confide her methods, “into which camouflage enters pretty largely. Didn’t we learn at school that the light rays of certain colours travel more quickly than others? Red, for instance, is rapidly moving. A room done in red, then, appears smaller than one in blue. “ All neutralised colours are a good choice for the wallpapers and distempers. When we use intense shades we find that onr backgrounds leap out in front of our furniture, bric-a-brac, and pictures. COLOUR AND LINE. “That’s why, as you see, I choose papers of taupe or fawn and carpets of the same tones for small rooms. Soft greens are as good a choice as soft blues. And as for pale, mild yellows, wasn’t it Richard le Gallienne who said, ‘Paper your room with yellow and it opens like a flower ’ P “ But colour is by no means the only element that enters my scheme, There is line to take into account. The old rule holds good, that upright lines tend to increase height and horizontal lines to diminish it. So wherever I can I introduce upright-lines and avoid valances across the top of the windows and do away with lambrequins—and as chandeliers make a room look lower, I banish them too. “As to pictures. I choose them with a view to' creating vertical lines. Brilliantly coloured paintings jump to the eye so that the walls on whichj they are hung are brought to the foreground. Look at my pictures and you’l] see they are low in'colour and reticent in design. “ High and narrow furniture, rather than low and broad, is right in a small room; and anyhow, a few dignified pieces look better than a clutter of inferior furniture. THOUGHT-OUT EFFECTS. “ And you must see ray Adam diningroom! It’s tiny, really, but looks double its size, owing to. carefully thought-cut effects. The ’ rugs and curtains are black, with two shades of tan. “ Id a drawing-room with which I’ve had success there are but two large pieces of furniture, a grand piano and sofa. The rest of the things are so! small that a sense of space is given to the roopj. The panelled walls are of glazed ivory, the upholstery of striped mulberry and tan, and mirrors cunningly placed suggest vistas beyond. ‘ ‘ The only ornament is one of my beloved old Dutch flower paintings. “ Economy of size, again, is shown in the furniture of a litt’fj 'bedroom of mine in a flat, The curtains are dim rose, the bed has a lace spread, and the chaise lounge and chairs "are upholstered in a striped material of yellow with a little rose. “ To sum up. If one wants to create a. sense of space in small rooms one must choose soft colours, pieces of furniture that are inconspicuous, however charming, and vortical lines.” —C.8., in the “Daily Mail.”