IN THE HOME AFTER HOLIDAYS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19036, 3 April 1930, Page 11

IN THE HOME AFTER HOLIDAYS.

“We have and we haven’t” been glad to return home after holidays are mixed sentiments echoed by a mixture of people. City folk who have visited the country and have exchanged the formality of their manners and environments for the casual simplicity of country life say they invariably have that “let down” feeling, that Mondayitis, on returning to their homes. But country folk, whose lives are more free and natural, breathe deeply and say they are glad to be at home again. Why is this, we wonder? The answer has so much to do with our environment. Now that the dweller in town houses has seen simplicity —the casual comfort of the camp and farm—he is irked and fretted by the set formality of his rooms at home. This does not applv to the person who has lodged at a boarding-house, for there he has found creature comforts such as innumerable small mats, photographs on the pianola, jardinieres and ornaments that are put there to make a “home away from home.” Then with our new vitality—a strengthened consciousness of our own individuality—how we long to keep up that holiday feeling and make it last as long as we can! By all means let us continue. Now is the opportunity to experiment with a change of room environment. While the family are feeling casual we can safelv unsettle the conventional setting of every room; we can change the colour scheme; we can have a great day of dyeing, another energetic day with the paint brush; and, finally, our impoverished “after the holiday* finances can be gambled away on one or two odd bits of furniture or furnishing drapery that will make all the difference in our house, and give +he decisive dash of something different. All these feelings and ideas are still in the air: but the difficulty with the individual is to bring them down to earth and to know where to start.

What was probably the first thing you did on holiday and kept on doing? You looked at the view, I should say. Therefore at home stride into your room, cast your eye round, and you will find it stays at the window. Being a conventional town dweller, the window is covered with short net curtains and dark over-curtains: thus your eye is baffled in the attempt to get a refreshing glimpse of the great outdoors. Pull down all the short curtains to start with: they are unnecessary to a free life. The darker curtains now look too heavy: so puli these down, and you will be ready to think out a softening frame of curtaining.