OCR Text |
Show WOMAN'S WORLD Bring Rooms Up-to-Dare by Discarding Some Furniture Combined Periods " -s ,t S to - "a L "' ' 1 By Ertta Haley MANY a room which was the height of good decoration a decade dec-ade ago today has a cluttered look which Is neither in good taste nor good design. The majority of people have acquired possessions, as most j people have an aquisitive instinct, I and they simply cannot bear to part I with them, be they bad or indiffer- ent. If you can bring yourself to part-'i part-'i lng with unnecessary pieces, or by j substituting sleek, well-designed j pieces for some you have, a new i clean look is possible for your i rooms. ; 1 Consider the advantages of an un cluttered room: a sense of luxury and freedom which comes when some space is released. You'll be ' able to breathe again! Another freedom which every homemaker can appreciate is the ease of cleaning that comes when a room is freed of some of its trappings. trap-pings. In the first place, there is 1 actually less furniture to clean, and good pieces are more readily done than those which are worn and battered bat-tered by the years, i Once a room has been stripped to l Its essentials, it's easy to pick up ! and put in order. It looks clean, even without a thoroughgoing clean-; clean-; lng every day, say homemakers , who have tried it. An important thing In clearing a room of clutter is to hava a place for everything. Some old pieces of furniture do not have the capacity floors bright and shining with a minimum of effort. A well-worn rug can be removed from the floor if you're renovating a room. Before waxing, however, remove stains, blemishes and dirt which have accumulated on the floor with soap and water. Use only a little water at a time and wipe it as you progress over the floor, so it is not left to swell the wood. Stubborn Stub-born spots can be removed usually with steel wool. Make certain the floor is dry before be-fore waxing. Apply wax sparingly and evenly with a cloth or a long handled applier, working with the grain of the wood. Thin coats of wax" will produce a perfect finish after a short time while thick applications applica-tions of wax cannot be brought to a hard, dry polish and are apt to be smeary. When wax has been applied, allow at least 30 minutes for the solvent to evaporate. The wax is ready to polish when it no longer feels damp. Run a polisher back and forth along the grain of the wood until the floor takes on a soft, satiny shine and the finish is smooth and glossy. If no electric polisher is available a weighted brush may be your solution. solu-tion. Another is a brick wrapped in soft, clean rags. With heavy traffic, surface dirt should be removed with liquid wax every six weeks or two months and the floor re-polished. On other areas less frequently used, two or three waxlngs a year should be sufficient. Several waxings will give the floor a beautiful finish. If properly kept up, it will remain beautiful. Wooden floors, properly tended, grow more beautiful with age. Decide Color Scheme Before Buying Rug Choose a serviceable color when you're buying a rug for the room. Another tip to remember before buying is to select a rug which can be readily cleaned. Certain types of looped rugs, though handsome, may give difficulty when you attempt at-tempt to run a sweeper or vacuum cleaner over them, while a shorter napped rug cleans much more readily. The trend today is away from elaborate patterns in rugs, as they crowd the room and give it a cluttered clut-tered look which you are attempting to banish. It's only reasonable that a pattern seems busier, and thus seems to take up more room than a plain color. It's best to choose the colors in your room, before rug choice is settled. Then you can choose exactly exact-ly the right background for your desired draperies and upholstery, in cotton, wool, rayon or combinations combina-tions of these. Keep Furniture In Condition For Pleasing Appearance All furniture does not have to be placed against the walls to give an uncluttered look, but it should be kept in an orderly arrangement that is determined in advance. Tenderly cared-for furniture is an asset in any room and aids in giving the impression of pleasantness. pleasant-ness. Wooden pieces should be kept polished so they are smooth and satiny. If neglected they are harsh and dry, and hard to dust. Small scratches, scars and scuff marks can be hidden with colored wax, which should be applied as1 soon as damage appears. Here is an excellent example of how traditional and modern furniture can be combined. First wall-to-wall carpet was removed in favor of good wooden wood-en floors well polished and easily easi-ly kept, and a single scatter rug. The traditional sofa was covered cov-ered in modern fabric and the modern occasional chair and lamp are harmonious with an old pine table. the same room with knotty pine chests. In dining rooms you'll see a good dark mahogany table and it may be teamed with light, modern chairs which are more comfortable than the ones which went with the table. Secretaries of the dark wood with their many wonderful drawers for storage are part of many, well furnished furn-ished ' living rooms though chairs and sofas may be strictly modern. If you're doing some reorganizing about the furnishings in your home, plan to discard those pieces which are no longer serviceable and replace re-place them with pieces which are useful as well as attractive. Those things which need expensive reup-holstering reup-holstering or refinishing may often be replaced with new at a saving. It may be that you need no other pieces, if you will simply discard those pieces which add nothing attractive at-tractive or useful to the room. It may be a wrench to part with some of the things but the comfort and beauty which comes from eliminating eliminat-ing them will be well worth the effort. 1 Polish furniture thoroughly ... for storage that new ones have, and consequently things which should ! be out of sight never have a place. This, naturally, clutters a room. You may be very fond of a certain cer-tain old chest, let's say, because ; it's an heirloom, but does it "pay i for the space it takes" in the amount you can store in it in the way of magazines, sewing, snapshots, etc. which need a place? Combine Traditional With Modern Furniture Those who have traditional furniture furni-ture need no longer worry about combining it with modern. Decorators Decora-tors realize that those with cherished cher-ished pieces will never want to, or should they, discard them all. Now the contemporary furniture is so made that it can live happily with older pieces and their darker woods. 1 In fact, today's most liveable i rooms are departing happily from the strictly period atmosphere which ! was the mark of the well decorated Iroom for many decades. You'll be seeing traditional sofas ! covered with fabrics in bold modern design, modern desk and chair in use mitts for dusting quickly. Inexpensive Scatter Rugs May Replace Carpeting Well polished floors with attractive attrac-tive scatter rugs are in many homes replacing overall carpeting which is expensive to replace. With waxing devices and waxes, it's easy to keep |