Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 13 May 1930, page 5


IDEAL HOME.

London Exhibition.

(BY OUR BPEOIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

The Ideal Home Exhibition, opened recently by the Lord Mayor of London and the Lady Mayoress, was bigger than ever this year. The new Empire Hall has been added on to Olympia, and after walking for three hours I found I still had not seen all there was to be seen.

All the permanent features of the exhibition are shown again, with up-to-date Improve-ments added from last year, the gardens, the Empire Marketing Board display-with a very good exhibition of Australian foodstulls-^the Village of Ideal Homes, the labour-saving flection, the lighting and heating section, and

the furniture exhibits. Two new features are the series of attics called The Room In the Roof and the Nurseries oí the Nations.

Tho Room In the Roof series show what can be done with the despised attic If you give a little thought to the matter. We are shown first of all a typical attic-lumber room, filled with the useless rubbish which we will never use again, but which we stow away at the top of the house, really to save ourselves the bother of disposing of It properly. And then the following rooms show what can be done with the attic, without any structural altera-tions at all, but simply by furnishing it artistically and working out a decorative colouf scheme. I noticed that the celling and Walls were in all cases treated In exactly the same way. When there Is a low, sloping roof It Is much better to let- It merge into the walls Instead of sharply differentiating It, for in this way an Illusion of space is given.

One attic had been turned into a bedroom for a young girl. This had a greyish green wallpaper and green furniture, while the floor

MISS H. MIDDLETON,

joint hon. secretary of the newly-formed Tresillian set, which will woik for the funds of Tresillian. The set will hold its first dance at the Palais Royal on

May 23.

was covered with a mauve carpet. The bed was iutei listing, since It haa a bed head of silveled wood, with a cupboard hi the centre for holding scents and other odds and ends. On either side of the cupboaid was a light, concealed behind a glass panel, and those served as a bed lamp Anotner featuie ol the room was the desk, which had been specially made by Mr. Rowley, tne iamous furniture designer, for a small room whsie space was Important This desk looks like the «attest cupboard, It only stnnds out a few inches from the wall But it Is In two sections 'I he bottom section pulls out to show a slanting rack foi holding papers and magazines, the top half lets down lo form a writing table, and behind it and against the wall aie compartments for taking paper and cards and envelopes

The nurseries Were also Interesting. Per-haps there was too much colout in the Turk-ish one, I should think Turkish babies must always have headaches, there aro so many vivid hangings In their nurseries, all coloured In the biighlest reds and purples and greens, and Instead of doorways there are arches con-cealed by heavy curtains, so that little air can pass through

I thought the prettiest nursery was the Japanese one Here there was plenty of light and air and the minimum amount of furniture The baby lay on the flooi, comfortably tucked Into a "sleeping bag" made with cushions and mattress and silken coverlet It shaied the

floor with two of its toys, a wooden rabbit, and elephant on wheels, gally painted

Most stilklng of all waa the nursery of the futuie, striking, but hardly attractive If modernity brings us to such a state of ugly hygiene, then I pity the baby of the futuie Its nuise Is to bo dressed hi a white-trouseiod Bult, with a sliver helmet and deep silver cuffs reaching up to the elbows The roof of the nursery slides back to admit fresh air; the silvered cot, made rather like a basket on a high stand, has a canopy which can be moved to shield the baby from the effects of strong light or from draughts, The baby Itself wears special undergarments, which ad-mit the sun's ravsi Its food H brought to it on a trollev, Which registers Its vitamin needs, and keeps all Its food at an evert tempera-ture And the whnlo nursery Is really con-trolled from the "administrative chMr," where, by pressing pwltches, the warmth and lighting of the room, the nth tamp in the corner, and other needs of the child are managed with thft qreatcst simplicity

This lost Invention certainly has much to recommend It but as a whole the nursery though replete with up-to-dnte notions falls, I think, to possess nnv charm or personality