The Bedroom

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 203, 16 November 1927, Page 7

The Bedroom

TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY Modern Privacy and Comfort NO room in the house reveals so intimately the character of the housewife as does her bedroom. In it her idiosyncrasies assert themselves and all her little personal touches are displayed. It is her sanctum where no other may intrude. The privacy of the modern bedroom is in marked contrast with the familiarity of those earlier times. In mediaeval days the bed-chamber was a room of great importance, for the kings and queens of Europe frequently received their courtiers in their sleeping apartments, and these semi-public rooms were richly furnished and elaborately hung with costly embroideries.

As late as the seventeenth century, a building of such note as the Palace of Versailles was planned, having the rooms opening into each other, so that little privacy was to be had even in the bed-chambers. This has now been changed; the bedroom of the smallest cottage is invariably, cut off by a passage from the other rooms, and can be given a privacy that was never enjoyed in the great houses of the past, writes J. L. Berry in “The Home.” In many of the better homes of today this segregation is carried a step farther. An adjoining bathroom, opening directly off the bedroom, allows the occupant to perform the whole of his or her toilet and dressing without leaving the apartment at all. This has become the common practice in modern American domestic planning, where almost every bedroom in a house of any pretensions is given its own private lavatory and luxuriously equipped bathroom. Further, many of the double bedrooms in these houses have a small dressing-room off them as well, affording yet more privacy within the apartment. Besides the question of convenience, these accessories have had at least one salutary effect upon the furnishing of the bedroom. They have rendered unnecessary the washhandstand, that article of furniture so obtrusive in the sleeping-chambers of a generation and more ago. On account of the primitive state of sanitation in those times, the washhandstand was an evil necessity, and it is curious how the Victorian designers were at siich pains to make it so conspicuous a feature in the room. This piece of furniture. usually in mahogany, in the hands of the eighteenth century craftsman, was really a thing of beauty; small, shapely and

simple in line, it supported little else than a wash basin and ewer, generally in blue and white china, and of dainty design*. The whole fitting assisted the furnishing of the room without unduly obtruding itself. The washhandstands of the later period were huge, ill-con-ceived things with white marble tops and backs cut to fantastic shapes, and upon the latter were stuck small marble brackets to hold soap-dishes and toothbrush containers. Great toilet sets of innumerable pieces went to complete the whole ugly seemed to pervade the bedroom with its unseemly presence. But notwithstanding the assertiveness of these Victorian washhandstands, the bed is, and always has been, the principal piece of furniture of the sleeping chambers. Beds from time immemorial have appeared as important items in the household inventory of the wealthy, and the great fourposters of the early times was a thing of beauty, as well as of luxury. The frame-work was usually richly , carved, while the bedding was of softest i down and sheets of finest linen; the outer covering of samite, damask, or other costly material, frequently richly embroidered with appropriate heraldic ! ' devices. On the headboard of the framel • work shelves were often fixed for carry- ? j ing various articles: and these are al- . 1 luded to by Chaucer in "The Clerk's ■ : Tale.” when he speaks of “A twenty i ; bokes clothed in black or red” which ; j adorned the shelf, "at his beddes bed.” The central panel of the headboard was t at times fitted with a secret spring, so ■ that it could be used as a means of l 1 escape to an adjoining room or secret l j passage; and frequently cupboards were

artfully concealed within the bases of the footposts, which were sometimes as much as 12 to 14 inches square. Until the time of the Georges, the heavy fourposters continued in vogue. The delicate taste of the late eighteenth century reduced their clumsy appearance and added dainty and refined detail, without materially changing the shape. Last century witnessed the appearance of the iron and brass bedstead —a most depressing innovation, that has largely superseded the double-bed and made popular two single beds standing side by side, generally referred to as twin beds. The other pieces of bedroom furniture—the chest of drawers, the high or the low boy and the dressing-table—-followed through much the same stages of design as does the bed: though the dresisng-table was not much in use as a separate entity before the seventeenth century. Bedrooms are furinshed to-day with a lightness and daintiness that is in strong contrast with the cumbersome character of the Victorian manner. The tendency generally is to furnish in suites, which generally give a completeness to the room; and when the suites are well made and designed, an admirable effect is to be had. But so often do we see these ill-conceived, hastily put together, and lacking all pleasant form. The modern bed has generally some open slat treatment, or, for the more costly class, low panelled head and footboards, which rely upon simple lines and the grain of the timber for their effectiveness. The other pieces of furniture in the suite are treated in the same way, the design only being adapted to the peculiar requirements of each piece. The four-poster bed with valance is now, rarely made, though in some instances the old Victorian ones have again been requisitioned and made use of. A deal can be done to make the bedroom attractive by the careful use of well-selected chintzes, or even coloured prints, for coverings and curtains. These, with simple, dainty wallpaper, make a background for the furniture and pictures, and should harmonise or be in pleasant contrast one with the other. Finally, care should be taken not to overcrowd the room with either furniture or photographs, but rather to treat it simply, and endeavour to impart to it an air of cheerful seclusion. Paint is often accidentally upset on the operator’s clothes. If this becomes dry it is a difficult rhatter to remove it, and turpentine rubbed in with a flannel is practically the only way to do so. If the paint is noticed immediately after it is spilt, it should be carefully wiped off as far as possible, and the remaining mark taken out by repeated applications of a flannel moistened with spirits of wine.