NOVELTIES IN FURNITURE.
Most persona who are conversant with art-manufactures are aware that, in the matter of chintzes for bedrooms, the aesthetic superiority of large or small, geometric or flower, patterns, has for some years been a subject of keen controversy. It has been practically, if not theoretically, settled at last, the balance of public favour preponderating immensely on the side of the small flowers. So much is this the case that the want of a sufficient supply of new designs in the approved style is constantly, nay increasingly felt by the best houses. Franeegives us no help in this respect, for French designers almost always affect large patterns, as affording more scope for the display of their peculiar merits. English designers have therefore a monopoly in this field, and it is one which will repay skilful cultivation to an unlimited extent. Excellent designs of the kind required have been produced by native artists, but they are rare in comparison with the demand for them, the chief difficulty being how to make a small flower pattern sufficiently distinct, so that at a certain distance it shall not present the appearance of blurred spots.
In the royal palace at Potsdam there is a suite of apartments, the whole woodwork of which, as well as the standing furniture, consists of yellow deal, not painted, but polished, and exhibiting the natural colour and grain of the wood. We are glad to learn that in this country some pro- gress has been made towards the introduction of this system in lieu of the coarse imitative efforts of the painter and grainer. Messrs. Heal and Co. of Tottenham Court goad, manufacture bedroom furniture in yellow pine, French polished, for which they find a ready sale, the preference it receives being due to its beauty only, and net its cheapness ; for the ne- cessity of nsing in it only the choicest timber, free from knots and blemishes of all kind, makes the price nearly as high as that of mahogany.
A very pleasing novelty which we have seen at the same establish- ment, is a suite of bedroom furniture of painted deal, the colour being a rich white, relieved round the panels and on the mouldings with thin lines of deep blue. The effect is extremely pleasing, combining breadth, cheerfulness, and repose. The cost exceeds only by a few shillings that of similar articles in imitation maple.
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