6 
climate, we bring our greys, and drabs, and 
browns, and settle down into the veriest 1 
Quakerism of art, forgetting that man thus is in 
contradiction to everything around him, and 
foregoing a delight which all else that he 
looks upon invites him to enjoy. 
It is not necessary to be gaudy in the appli- 
cation of colour, or otherwise a barber’s pole 
would be a choice object of art. But let us 
conceive what might be done with a verandahed 
wall of the kind I have mentioned. The brick 
— I take it for economy’s 9ake — would be the 
common dull red and grey, which might be in 
alternate layers. The hardwood framing would, 
to a certain extent, contrast with and lighten 
this. But if you want the perfection of 
obtainable effect you must have a green. Now, 
green as a mass in colour, is not always desira- 
ble, and therefore don’t employ a painter. 
Plant by your verandah-posts such creepers as, 
with broad green leaves, will give you flowers 
of a violet or purple hue, and you may get an 
effect of colour such as the best flower-painter 
might envy. There is no kind of surface colour 
c m give you that choice variety of tint which 
the light and shade playing on leaves afford. 
Then put a thin line of vermilion on the 
chamfered edges of your upright wall-posts — • 
not verandah-posts — and of the window and 
door frames, and the little common coi’ridor 
will glow’ with life. You need not put little 
moulded caps on the verandah-post. You 
need no architraves to your doors and windows. 
The mere supports and frames supply their 
place. Let everything be as plain and simple 
in form as the greatest utilitarian could wish, 
and still you may have a front that it will be a 
constant pleasure to live within. And to live 
pleasantly is not a mean object to set before 
ourselves. 
I am not unaware of the value of the floor 
in such an arrangement. For coolness as well 
as effect we may have recourse to the black and 
red tiles which are used so generally at home, 
and might be cheaply and easily made here. 
The variety of patterns which m ay be formed 
is almost infinite. Nor is it necessary to build 
thick walls or lay an expensive foundation. The 
simple constructive system employed by 
Messrs. Fox and Barrett in their fire-proof 
flooring — adopted indeed from the ordinary 
French plan— is fully adequate to all the 
requirements of such a pavement. It is 
scarcely necessary to point to the superior cool- 
ness and comfort of this kind of flooring over 
one of wood in verandahs, entrance halls, and 
similar situations. 
Not the least important matter in house 
building is the roof. In a climate like ours the 
material to be employed in the outer covering 
is a matter of little difficulty. The cost of slates 
renders their use expensive, and practically 
leaves us only a choice between tiles and 
shingles. I hardly think there has been the j: 
taste shown in the manufacture of the former 
that might have been. A flattish flanged-like 
tile has been employed at home which presents 
a very satisfactory effect, even when used in 
large masses, and might be readily made here. 
It would admit of some variety of colour, for a 
huge surface of dull or staring red is not 
desirable. On the contrary, the roof might be 
broken up by diagonal and interlaying lines of a 
darker colour, greatly to its advantage. The 
common tiles now in use exhibit great supe- 
riority over shingles in ensuring greater cool- 
ness and a sweeter and cleaner supply of water 
from the roof. 
We will come inside the house. Let ua sup- 
pose the floor to have been laid with grooved 
and tongued boards set vertically, and the 
ceilings of the same material. This is un- 
promising enough, but. still something may bo 
done. You must have a skirting — let that be 
of cedar. You must have a mantle-piece — let 
that be of cedar too. Run a small moulding 
of cedar at the junction of wall of ceiling. And 
now call in the painter to aid you — sparingly, 
however, — for our woods require no conceal- 
ment ; not even the common Moreton Bay 
pine. 
Of course you have had the ledges of your 
lining-boards not only grooved and tongued, 
but beaded, since a round form best conceals 
irregularity of junction. These beads are small. 
If you desire liveliness run a Vermillion or a 
full green line on them. They will give space 
to your room. If a graver tone be desired, a 
neat chocolate brown is well, and will connect 
the colour of the cedar and pine better. 
Enliven your cornice and your door architraves, 
in either case with the bright red, but most 
sparingly. If you can afford a thin line of gold 
on your cornices, do so. Then lay on three 
coats of good, pure, clear varnish, and your 
room, dressed in nature’s o .vn materials, will 
light up into life and reflect gladness from every 
wall. And mind, here you have only the com- 
monest material used in the most economical 
manner. 
I shall not weary your patience by detailing 
any more of the thousand and one modes in 
which our beautiful woods might be made with 
trifling aid and at moderate cost, either in 
themselves or in combination with plastering or 
even paper on strained canvass, to give life and 
light to the interior of our dwellings. Many 
such methods will occur to all of you. In this 
paper it is only attempted, however feebly, to 
point the way. And I may say the same as to 
external decoration, in which woodwork may be 
as effectively employed as internally. It would 
not, however, be well to close this paper with- 
out some reference to two very important mat- 
ters — the fireplaces and the interior court. 
I have said that the interior court need not be 
closed in its rear otherwise than by a continua- 
tion of the verandah running round the other 
