ALL ABOUT TABLES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume X, Issue 22, 3 June 1893, Page 526

ALL ABOUT TABLES.

As we are always willing to accept something new, especially in house-furnishing, I shall try to give ways in which tables may be constructed at a very small outlay. Procure a board, 18 x 24 is a very nice size, and nail four legs to it. Pad the top with cotton, and cover the top with plush to harmonize with the room in which it is to be used. The next step is to purchase twenty-five or thirty feet of clothes-line rope. Double a length which reaches from the table to the floor, cut and unravel. Take a small wisp, double it, and stitch it to a narrow strip of cloth, which is long enough to reach around the table. Take wisp after wisp until your strip is full, then tack around the table. For a heading take rope, tacking it on in diamond design with brass-headed tacks. Three rows will be quite sufficient, and the end of the rope can be concealed under the table. Trim the ravelled rope a few inches from the floor. The legs may be wound with rope or left in the plain wood. Another table, which will be a reminder of long strolls and leafy dells, and is a good imitation of inlaid work, is made as follows : Gather leaves, green, and at different stages in their autumnal glory, and press with a moderately hot iron upon which spermaceti has been rubbed. This preserves their tints and prevents their wrinkling, which they will do if placed between the leaves of a book. The table may be oblong or round, and as the writer prefers round, we will deal with it accordingly. Stain it black or cherry. Arrange your leaves in a wreath or two half-wreaths, sticking them tightly to the table with glue. Purchase a half-pint of white varnish. Varnish your table, letting it dry, and continue to varnish it until your leaves are varnished in and your table is quite smooth. A pretty one may be made by using pansies instead of leaves. The varnish brings out the colour, and if neatly done is quite effective. Another can be made by using a cheese-box lid and three broomsticks. Secure the sticks in the middle, crossing them ; wrap with wire and fasten with screw nails. Fasten the top on with screws; stain, and when draped with a dainty scarf, it is charming ; used for holding a card trsy or a blooming plant. Tie a bow of ribbon to hide the wire which fastens the legs together. Still another suggests itself to my mind, not so substan tial perhaps, but quite a novelty. Three broomsticks are used fastened together as just described, and for a top use three plain palmleaf fans, one for each rod. Secure in place with screws. Decorate with bows of ribbon. Old stands and tables that have subserved their usefulness or those bought at an auction very cheaply, can be made to out-rival the expensive ones in furniture stores, by sandpapering all roughness off and applying two coats of white paint, and touching up here and there with gilt, and then varnishing. B. Holland Wilson.