A FRENCH WINDOW.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIII, Issue XV, 13 October 1894, Page 358

A FRENCH WINDOW.

FTER the rains are over there W>V I usually comes a period of I cleaning up and general reno- !; vat * n F> which lasts more or ' ess unt 'l the inevitable fT\\l ’ ‘spring’ cleaning, to which a rjJ I a little later in the year the ? I ZnvXw/ housewife’s fancy ‘lightly \ / /(/\ V turns.’ Everythingisdingy, Zb looking glasses are cloudy, \\ / and, by the way, nothing is better for removing this - than common gin rubbed / over with a bit of linen, and afterwards polished with a / / / dry leather— not the one which has been used on the furniture after the application of polish. If you want to change the position of any pictures, breadcrumbs areexcellent for taking the marks off the paper, but theyrequire to be used carefully, as wall paper, except of the thickest descriptions, so easily wears into a hole. There is nothing so refreshing as to change the furniture round in a room ; it seems to break up a wearisome routine, and get our thoughts into a new groove, besides it is much fairer to the carpet. Most rooms have a winter and a summer fashion in the arrangement of their furniture, but small tables and chairs may often be changed about with great advantage. If one is going to furnish a modern house one finds that much has already been done by the modern architect —I do not mean of course in the thickness of walls and reliability of drains, these are ‘ other stories,’ hut in the matter of wall and window decoration, particularly the latter. An unfurnished

room with a pretty fireplace, a dormer window or a bay with easy possibilities of window seats, is so much more hopeful than a prosaic marble mantelpiece and windows solely created as means through which light and draughts can penetrate. I think that perhaps an ordinary French window in an English house is as incapable of artistic treatment as any I know. In the country the possibilities of beauty beyond distracts our attention from more immediate shortcomings, but in town it is often the boundary of our vision. To begin with, their extreme height is out of all proportion. I have planned many ways of dealing with them, but have come to the conclusion that after all nothing has been quite so successful as small archways of Moorish outlines in the upper division of the window, beneath which are little curtains of some pretty tinted silk, such as amber, pale green, blue, or terracotta, and these should be tied back with small cords, as indicated in my sketch. If coloured curtains are thought to be too smart looking, tussore of natural tint has a very good effect.