Smyrna Times

BUILDING OF MODERN HOMES
More Families Are Finding It Necessary to Make Every Inch Count.

COMBINATION ROOMS
The room that serves only one purpose just doesn't belong in today's modern homes, says an interior design expert. "With high building costs and housing shortages," writes Harriet Burket in the Woman's Home Companion, "more and more families find it necessary to make every inch of space count. For instance, a dining room used only once a day, three times at best is not a very efficient room." But to know how to plan a room for the many purposes it must serve she continued, takes careful calculation. Turnabout rooms just don't happen—they are made after much thought. You can create the feeling of two rooms, writes Miss Burket either through architectural devices or more easily through furniture arrangement. A living-dining room feeling can be achieved in a medium sized room by dividing the space with a long low table loaded with green plants. On one side is the dining area, the other side, with couches, chairs and coffee table, makes the living room. A tall folding screen, hinged in sections, can be used to divide a room into a library, living-room combination. Or on other occasions it makes two living rooms, one for grownups, one for children. A careful coordination of color plus unfussy accessories are important in arranging these turnabout rooms.