Moving the Furniture 

 with a Plan 



By NELL FLATT GOODMAN 



C\ RS. HOME BURFAU looked 



^ -\,Y ■*' ''"■ ''^'"i^ room with a 

 C , ^^ y/ speculative eye. She contem- 

 plated the old chair by the window 

 What to do with the desk in the corner 

 behind it! Slie wondered about the 

 chair by the piano. 



A sure si_cn of' spring', housecleanint;. 

 refurbishing, and, Mr. I',irm Bureau, a 

 husband ot many seasons, found work to 

 do in the woodshed I Well he knew what 

 was coming I A request for a new daven- 

 port, or to take out the rugs, or to move 

 the piano, always had been the result 

 when Mama got that look in her eye. 



This time, however, Mr. I'arm Bureau 

 was mistaken. Not new furniture, hut 

 proper arrangement of the furniture on 

 hand was the idea of Mrs. Home Bureau. 

 After the lessons on furnishings, ilrap- 

 eries and what is new in furniture, pre- 



The first two pictures show the room 

 arrangement before Mrs. Home Bureau 

 listened to the lessons. Before looking 

 at the other pictures, liow would you 

 change it.-* Does each piece of furniture 

 have a definite place or use in the room' 

 Does the room seem to fill the needs of 

 a family of three for a pleasant living 

 room ? 



Accordmg to Miss Iwig, the needs of 

 the family should be the first considera- 

 tion. Groupings or units for the family 

 comfort and pleasure might be said to be 

 one of the newest developments in fur- 

 nishings. Always there are fads in furni- 

 ture, t>ut, always, are the same things 

 good as were good in Grandmother's 

 day. Walnut, mahogany, or any such 

 wooil, if good in design, will retain its 

 respectability through all fads and sea- 

 sons. It is of the arrangement tor practi 



Radio group, visiting group and part of the 

 resting unit. 



cability and usefulness that Mrs. Home 

 Bureau has been studying and is now 

 working. 



I'irst, the curtains were pushed back 

 leaving the windows free. Glass curtains 

 of course, soften the efi^ect in the room, 

 but they peedn't obstruct the view. Pri- 

 vacy is not an essential here in the 

 country and the passers-by are of inter- 

 est. Now, to the furniture. The rust 

 colored barrel-type chair she took away 

 from the piano. Two heavy pieces to- 

 gether threw the room out of balance. 



Continuing with the piano she took 

 away the mirror, vase and book. True, 

 the mirror had been won as some sort 

 ot prize, but there was no need for it 

 here, llie book w as a good enough book 

 but why have it on the piano? And. 

 since there were no flowers available 

 now for the vase she put it away too. 



In the end she took away even the 

 cover from the piano. Why have any- 

 thing to dress up this lovely piece? The 

 xylophone, across the room in a corner, 

 was more conveniently located near the 

 piano and lamp. This arrangement es- 

 tablished a definite music group. The 

 high school -iH-er now could turn from 

 one instrument to the other, using the 



Above: Man-of-the-house group, the big 

 chair and lamp couldn't be moved. Other 

 pieces went to form other groups. 



Right: The music group, attractive to 4-H'er. 

 Curtains drawn back for a lighter room. 



sented by Miss Dorothy Iwig, Home 

 Furnishing specialist, Mrs. Home Bureau 

 moves her furniture with a plan. She 

 had looked at attractive rooms in m,iga- 

 zines and new furniture in shop windows 

 and catalogues. These lessons had given 

 her reasons why rooms were restful, why 

 some were comfortable, and the requisites 

 for such rcxjms. 



28 



L A. A. RECORD 



