228 HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE 



tress hammock swung in the sunlight. Closely allied in comfort, 

 though comfort of a different kind, were the outdoor bedrooms or 

 sleeping porches. Their entire fronts opened to the south, with the 

 additional protection of hinged glass windows as storm warders and 

 screens in summer. One window set low and over weighted was 

 raised by pressing a button and a timid sleeper could roll on to the 

 couch set against it in the main bedroom. On the protected sides 

 of these outdoor bedrooms each alternate window was high, leaving 

 space beneath for dressing table or chiffonier. We cut away a por- 

 tion of the floor of one sleeping porch to admit the trunk of a lofty 

 maple and trained its branches across the south front making a 

 veritable tree-top room. 



North light was selected for the bird's-eye maple room, as strong 

 sunlight fades its delicate silvery beauty to a dingy yellow. Floor, 

 trim, doors, settle, mantel and furniture are all of selected bird's-eye 

 maple. 



The Children's Play Room. 



The children's play room and the nursery were somewhat 

 isolated and floors deadened. They had indestructible cement walls, 

 wooden floors, and frieze, wall, and dado in pictured story which 

 could be varied from time to time. On the high vaulted ceiling was 

 outlined a chart of the star-studded winter sky. A door panel held 

 an explanatory key. Windows extended to ceiling line, were not 

 over low, and rail barred. 



At the east side of the second floor hall sitting room, stairs led 

 to the third floor, and on the fourth were rooms typifying Japan, 

 China, and Spain, while American Indian life was exhaustively por- 

 trayed. 



Cedar Closets and Window Seats. 



On this floor was built a real cedar closet the variety of cedar 

 that holds its odor, rarely found in the lumber yard, but cut for us 

 in the woods. Its next door neighbor was a shelved and drawered 

 napery containing an inner shelved closet with double Victorian 

 folding doors seven feet high. 



Invisible Doors and Secret Closets. 



Panels in several rooms served the purpose of doors, using invis- 

 ible hinge and lock, much less disfiguring to the room ; passageways 

 leading from others were paneled, the broad panels opening into 

 deep closets fitted with dress rods, hat fixtures, and partitioned shelves 

 and drawers. A ten inch wide shoe shelf set six inches from the floor 

 and extending on two sides of the closet is concealed in several 

 instances by a rolltop arrangement similar to that used on desks. 

 Sets of drawers were built into the sides of the chimney jog in some 

 of the bedrooms, also closets fitted for men's apparel, and after the 

 carpenters had left it was surprising how easily some secret closets 



