The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-27
ideas for uNnaneu

Give me a room as tiny as You please
and in it I can compactly and p~rettily ar
range very nearly all the comforts, con-
veniences and ornament that can be
found IN the most spacious chambers.
That is the proud boast OF the modern
house decorator, who has recently brought
almost to the point of perfection not only
his clever schemes for furnishing with re-
narlzable. cempaetness. but with a cheap
ness tina exeites praise ana wonder in
the sight of the woman who lives in a
small city HAT. and becomes the patron
saint of the ambitious young married
couples who have a bit of a country
house, says the -.Ameriean Queen"
Avisit to his shop proves this. for there
are found his new chairs for little rooms.
One and all. tufted and cane. they fold
up as deck chairs do; the newest lounge is
a wonderful detachable affair that can
break in half and so be metamorphased
into a pair of ~high-backed single-nook
chairs, else its back swings down, con-
verting it into an ample divan, or it turns
into a high-backed, high.armed, old-style
sofa. Then, with the acutest intelligence,
he has contrived a whole species of furni-
tdre made especially for families who
would like TO pack up everything and &c
to the country to occupy a small house
or set of rooms for the season, taking all
their household goods with them.
This furniture folds up on the principle
of the steamer chair; every part of it is
hinged, and collapses SO swiftly and neat
ly when desired and falls into such small
compass that the entire fittings of a we'll
equipped bedroom-bureau, washstand,
wardrobe. bed, chairs and bric-a-brac-
can all be packed into a chest of really
absurdly small size. The contents of par
ler and dining-room occupy chests a trifie
wider, but what then? Think of the boon
to the wives of our army officers, who at
a moments notice are often obliged to dis
mantle their homes and follow their hus-
bands across the continent to some new
military post. A few hours are only nee
essary to fold the contents of each room
in its respective chest, tie on baggage tags,
and at the journeys end the mistress has
only to decide to what uses every room
shall be devoted, and the chests full of
furnishings are deposited accordingly, the
contents uninjured and only waiting to be
lifted. piece by piece, and hinged into
shape and place.
Besides these things. the modern decora-
tor has studied all the possibilities of util-
ling wall space and introducing recesses
and closets in place of pieces of furniture
where it is practicable to do so. An ex-
emplification of this idea is given in the
sketch of a young lady,s bedroom up I'M
der a slanting roof. The owner Thereof
commanded only a limited floor space
fifteen feet square-and in this she wanted
her white iron bed and all the other com
forts. So the cunning decorator pushed
the bed pack against the wall under the
window in the recess, and adjusting a
skeleton framework of wood to the under
side of it fitted in a series of delightful
dress and storage drawers.
On the floor a jute rug woven in blue
and White was spread, a rug twelve feet
square, and the border of wood boards,
left showing, was painted white, while
above this the ~washbeard received a coat
of China-blue paint.s AS a furnace had
been already introduced in the house, the
mantelshelf was taken away and the
opening of the fireplace made both wide
and high. This gave q recess into which.
from the floor for three feet up, three
drawers were set. and above that the
chimney back was laid in blue and white
tiles to form a niche for a washstand.
On the inside walls of the washstand
small cupboards with glass doors found a
place. these to hold all the toilet belong
fngs that usually rest on the bureau. In
stead, however, of moving in a bureau
the decorator set a panel of mirror glass
into a super1uous door that had opened
into another room, right alongside the late
chimney, SO to speak. He cleverly turned
the recess of the door into a shallow clos
ct for hanging clothes. Where the jutt-
ing side of the chimney wall gave oppor-
tunity for another recess the decorator
filed in the space from washstand to the
end of the room with an array OF closets,
cupboards and drawers of all shapes and
sizes. He did this with pin wood, set on
doors with copper hinges, and painted the
wood everywhere with ivory white, reliev-
ing the moulding with lines of China blue.
To the wall of the bed recess he fixed
one small case, to hold only a Bible.
hynnna1 and other little books of devotion. /
and besides the bed, the only movable
pieces of furniture in the blue and white
bower were a folding chair and a divan at
the beds end, whit a bookcase attachment
and a mantelshelf top. Drawers drew
out beneath the divan to hold shoes. while
at the end OF the bookcase a desk flap
folded down. AS an ideal small room for
a woman's occupation this plan can
scarcely be excelled.
Across the hall in the same house, how
ever. a typical mans bedcharnber was
completed on a ground plan of eyer less
space, This was made a green room. with
a figured green and white mating on the
floor that measured SKIP feet, and as no
chances for recesses were given here a
wardrobe was moved in. A shelf beneath
it held hand bags, shoes, ETC.: hooks in
side supported clothing that must hang
out Of the dust, while hooks on the put
side caught hats, mackintoshes, dressing
gowns. etc. Over the washstand hung
the substitute for a mantefshelf-a gable
and bookshelf with a clock. Beneath the
small, white ename1led wood bed were
drawers to hold underclothing, and beside /
the mans dressing table, a shaxer's rack
hung on the wall, to be adjusted to any
light needed.
This is a square of wood fifteen inches
long by nine wide, with a shelf. To the
wood square an oval mirror is fixed ON a
folding arm by a hinge. and to either
side of. on the square. are hooks. holders
and sockets for brushes Soan ,axar