12 Capital Journal Building Section, Friday, Efarch 10, 1950
IJlake Yourself Comfortable
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TELEVISION FURNITURE is built on swivels so you can turn easily to watch the video turn
back for conversation. These smart upholstered chairs and divms were designed by Norman
Fox MacGregor, Jr., for rooms where T-V is the focal point.
By VIVIAN BROWN
Most of us use different yard'
sticks to measure our definition
of a home. Some of us admire
a Louis XV bedroom, crystal
chandeliers and walnut com
mode. But we do not have to
furnish to a king's taste to be
happy. If we put things into our
home that we like, we can give
it beauty, charm and individual
ity down to the last bibelot.
It used to be that all homes
looked alike. Mary Jones bought
a three-piece living room suite
because her best friend had one.
and even though Mary's house
expressed some of her personal
ity, it lacked individuality.
Young brides no longer walk
Into a local furniutre store like
little sheep, and say, "Bah, may
1 see a suite of furniture, please?"
Today they strive for individual
ity. The galaxy of interesting
woods, furniture designs and
unusual fabrics would make any
young bride think twice before
she skipped the fun of planning
every basic detail of her home.
There is so much to choose
from that it is difficult to say
that any one period, style, wood,
or color leads the rest. This new
urge to creativeness in the home
has pepped up production and
kept designers feverishly at
drawing boards. It has created
wider scope in everything.
One thing is certain, how
ever. There is a trend toward
"clean-shaven" furniture. Mod
ern is close on the heels of the
corner 18th century has held on
the American furniture market
The variety of modern style
furnishings makes it difficult at
this point to determine who will
be. the Mr. Chippendale of this
modern era Robsjohn-Gib-bings,
Wormley, Noguchi, Eames.
Probber, Fahlmann, MacGregor
each designer carving a niche
for himself in the hall of furni
ture fashion fame.
American taste is changing.
Though many still cling stead
fastly to traditional furnishings,
BUDGET ELEGANCE Prefabricated chairs with cotton
webbing available in five colors, form a settee Klaus Grabe
designed them and the coffee table easy to assemble. ,
modern style offers some com
promise and moves ahead.
Harvey Probber offers a dra
matic nuclear system of uphol
stered furniture with foam rub
ber construction based on com
ponents of squares, rectangles
and circles. It can deal with any
space requirement to create
"custom tailored" architectural
effects. Twenty basic seating
units range from eighth and
quarter circles to pie and wedge
shapes.
William Pahlmann has put
huge comfortable chairs, settees
and coffee tables on wheels for
beauty and practicability. He
takes advantage of every wall
space with tables and beds that
pop out of recesses.
Almost every line shows mov
able storage units, because there
never seems to be quite enough
space, so there are flexible func
tional cabinets, dresser bases.
commodes. One all-in-one unit
combines desk, love seat, bed.
table, easel and drafting board.
Television, in many instances.
replaces the fireplace as the fo
cal point in the home and Nor
man MacGregor has designed
unusually attractive swivel fur
niture for a better view of video.
There is modern and contem-
oorary furniture to fit any pock-
tbook. You can even build
your own. Prefabricated furni
ture, designed bv Klaus Grabe.
an be put together in a jiffv
even if you've never been handy
with hammer and shellac. There
is a wide selection of interesting
chairs, tables, desks. Chairs are
laced with webbing in various
colors. Several chairs can be
placed together to form a settee.
Add foam rubber cushions with
bright fabrics covers for more
comfort.
Experts predict a trend to
ward "ranch type" furniture
which might be a combination
of provincial styles American,
English, Spanish or French.
Nylon upholstered furniture
will make great inroads in vour
home, and it will be difficult to
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Haste Makes Waste
In Furnishing Home
One thing to remember in
furnishing a home is that you
do not have to do it over
night. It is better to buy a
few essential pieces for your
bedroom, and leave the liv
ing room bare than to buy
"for the meantime." Make up
your mind to live for the r3st
of your life with any piece
of furniture you purchase.
Perhaps you will not. But if
you have to. it will make it
all the easier if you select
it wisely.
resist. It is long wearing and
has extreme resistance to abra
sion. It is available in a variety
of weaves and shades.
Adaptations of traditional fur
niture are in better taste than
before. There is no trend toward
fragility, but pieces have lost
bulkiness. There is great stress
on woods.
Swedish craftsmen offer the
widest range of wood variations,
perhaps. They employ their own
birch, elm and oak. and more
exotic South American woods
such as Primavera (white ma
hogany) and avodire (yellow
mahogany). They use Russian
and French walnut and Hon
duras mahoganv.
Fruitwoods, which give a fine
rustic flavor, particularly to the
popular French Provincial de
signs, are popular. More old
favorites such as walnut, cherry
and bird's eye maple, are being
used in both traditional and
modern lines.
...
When planning there are a
few things to keep in mind' so
you can purchase wisely, and
make your home as attractive as
possible. Here are some pointers:
1. Look for the label identi
fying the wood in furniture. Ex
amine the finish and make sure
it has true smoothness. Check
THIS IS ULTRA Designed by the dean of American Modern, Robsjohn-Gibbinfs. Corner
settees are upholstered in brown, flame and yellow striped fabric. Butterfly cocktail table and
i-"n t- frames are of walnut. Perfect for contemporary home.
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NUCLEAR NOTE This dramatic serpentine grouping is
one of the combinations possible with Harvey Probbea's geo
metric components of squares, circles and rectangles.
drawers, joints, legs, and make
sure they are not wobbly. Light
woods are good for small rooms.
When you mix light and dark
woods, .be sure they are compat
ible. Don't choose one end table
of pine and another of mahoa
inv to go on opposite sides of a
sofa.
2. Furniture should be in
scale. It should fit vour room
Tall lamps should not be placed
on tiny tables. The frame should
balance the base. There should
be some relationshin tvtwpp-i
he lamp and other furnishings.
viace your sofa and large pieces
m tne room first. Then place
the smaller pieces around them
Large pieces should hug the
wall. To place them eater-corner
wastes space and is old-
fashioned. Put a small tahlp
near every chair.
3. Make a basic color scheme
and stick to it. Color must play
an important role in your home
decor. Once you play a bit with
color combinations you will
have no qualms about combin
ing hues. You will notice that a
firecracker red, Kelly green or
yellow lampshade, chair, settee
or drapery fabric must be just
the prescription for that drab
room.
If your room is small perhaps
it is thirsty for bright paint
tones. Try a lovely yellow or
blue or green in any of the vi
brant shades. Large rooms can
take darker paints but little
rooms need lighter tones. Be
fore you choose colors, one color
authority, Faber Birren, sug
gests deciding whether the rooms
will be used mostly in the day
light or at night.
Blue appears darker under
artificial illumination. Eose.
peach, mauve, apricot or pale
green are good wall colors for
evening rooms. Some decora
tors add a bit of green so yellow
will appear a clear yellow at
night. Strong reds, oranges.
browns, retain most of their day
light appearance under incan
descent lighting.
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Heating Plant
Fire Hazards
Menace Home
Fire hazards resulting from
unsafe installation and operation
of heating plants are major
causes of home fires These haz
ards cause more than 100,000
fires a year, according to the Na
tional Fire Protection associa
tion. One of the chief dangers is
that soot, which frequently ac
cumulates in chimneys and
smoke pipes, will be ignited. This
makes an exceptionally hot fire,
from which chimney sparks can
scatter profusely.
Regular cleaning of chimneys
is recommended as a safeguard.
Proper chimney construction also
is essential. A house should be
built so that no wood or other
combustible material touches
the chimney.
Because roofs are directly ex
posed to chimney sparks, as
phalt shingles and other fire-resistant
roofings are high on the
list of protectice building materi
als. Fire protection engineers
point out that fire-resistant roof
ing also lessens the danger of
sparks from brush fires and si
milar outdoor blazes.
Furnace smoke pipes leading
to chimneys must have adequate
clearance from ceilings and
walls. Smoke pipe sections
should be fitted together with
metal screws to withstand pos
sible "puffbacks."
Although the primary purpose
of automatic temperature con
trols for heating equipment is
to maintain a constant degree of
heat indoors, controls of this
kind also serve as efective pro
tection against excessively high
temperatures which might result
from prolonged combustion dur
ing severely cold weather.
Onion juice helps point up the
flavor of a casserole of macaroni
and cheese.