HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 47, 22 November 1890, Page 14

HOUSEHOLD HINTS.

WHAT TO DO WITH OUR FIREPLACES IN SUMMER. Have you seen those new * notions ’ for grate decorations during the summer ? They are of wicker work, forming a sort of screen and fender in one, with little shelves up each side for small pots with plants, or jars, china, etc. Inside the wicker fender a large palm or fern is placed. They are delightful and completely till up and hide the dreary vacancy of au empty grate. A fire should always be ready laid, though, even in summer, as in this very uncertain weather a fire is often a welcome and needful thing, and would prevent many a troublesome cold or neuralgia. Decorations for fireplaces in summer months give considerable scope for individual taste and fancy. In modern built houses, even the most unpretentious, we now all boast tiled hearths and "rates, which are so much more artistic and sightly in themselves that the decorating is an easy matter, the little that is required being so aided that it is almost sure to look well; but the intermediate grates, in houses neither antique nor modern, are generally uncompromising structures of ugliness, which require considerable tact and taste to make look anything approaching well. The days of the fearful and wonderful constructions known as ‘ ornaments for your fire stoves ’ are long past, luckily ! and we must confess to no enthusiasm either on the subject of bundles of shavings spread all over the fireplace which are neither ornamental nor useful. We do not like the idea of putting flowers in the grate, though ferns do not appear quite so incongruous, especially if the sourcefrom which they come is seen, such as baskets or jars, as the idea of supposing them to be growing in the grate is of course absurd ; a collection of fans also appears an incongruous notion to us; and many other arrangements based simply on the one idea of filling up the space with something, whether appropriate and artistic, or not, are equally mistaken. We suggest the few ideas following, that we have seen practically carried out with success, where the grates, boasting neithe.j- antique picturesqueness, nor ‘ modern improvements,’ were a source of disquietude in otherwise pretty and tasteful rooms. One was the appearance of a tiled hearth, achieved as follows—the innocent deception being rarelydetected. and making the hearth look much cleaner and brighter than the genuine tiles themselves do. The exact shape of the hearth, both before and under the grate, was carefully taken by bending and folding a large sheet of paper into all the curves, cracks and turns ; this pattern was then cut out with the nicest precision in a stout sheet of cardboard. The cardboard hearth again being strongly and neatly pasted over with a very good ‘ tile ’ paper (such as used for dairy walls instead of tiling them, and which can be washed when necessary without injury ), and made to fit in to a nicety the stone and iron hearth' This being settled, the femjer was solemnly discussed, and found to be quite accommodating, the screws at either end removing the flat tray part, and leaving the border or walls of the fender, well burnished, surrounding the magnificence of the tiled hearth, till winter should return. In front of the grate itself was placed a large’Japanese sunshade, in black, with a long spray of Daffodils painted across one side by one of the home decoiators; and the general effect was really excellent, the cost amounting to about two shillings. Another idea was one of the old-fashioned banner screens (such as one sees with impossible scenes in wool work, or equally unearthly flowers worked on the bahner) stood as elose in front of the grate as possible, the cross rod being lowered to a suitable distance (from the mantel-piece), from which hung a good art muslin curtain, artistically draped to the hearth. The muslin was of Indian red and cream pattern, and on either side, to close in the vacancies, stood an Indian red ait pot containing a palm plant. Another scheme is to entirely remove the fender for the-, season, cover the mantel-board with a good patterned art muslin, festooning it about twelve inches deep, edged with self-coloured ball fringe, from under which hang very full curtains, all round to the floor, of the muslin. In front of which stands a tripod with gipsy’s kettle like bowl, or fancy, basket hanging, to be filled with flowers, ferns, or foliage. ’ An unused gold-fish glass does very well for a kettle, or the large-coloured china broken egg-slrell ornaments, to be purchased at any fancy china shop for a shilling or two, suspended by its chains, looks very well filled with cut flowers or ferns. *