CHAPTER NINE 



THE BEDROOMS 



HE position and size of the bedrooms if, as is usually the case, 

 they are placed on an upper floor, will depend largely on the 

 disposition of the ground floor. This, however, should not 

 result in a haphazard arrangement, but ground floor and first 

 floor should react on each other until an arrangement is arrived 

 at which fulfils the conditions of plan required by each. The bed should 

 be placed in such a position that it is free from draughts, and not 

 exposed when the door is opened. It is desirable where possible that the 

 bed should be placed in a recess, so that the room can, if required, be 

 adapted as a bed-sitting-room. It is also an advantage, especially in a 

 room where windows on two sides are possible, that the bedroom should 

 have two windows one of which, long and low, and provided with a window 

 seat, may be left unobstructed. The other may be placed in such a position 

 and at such a height that it will light the dressing-table which stands against it. 

 Or where the windows are in one wall only, the dressing-table may stand in the 

 space between two windows, neither of which is thus obstructed. 



The fireplace will not take the dominant place in the plan which it enjoys in 

 the sitting-room, and the bed instead will form the focus of the room. The 

 fire, too, will be of a type which can be kept in all night without attention, 

 and for this purpose the fire on the hearth is the best. For the average family 

 a minimum of three bedrooms will be required. In the absence of a special 

 dressing-room, a recess in the parents' bedroom may answer this purpose, or it 

 may be arranged that the master of the house should use the bathroom as a 

 dressing-room. In addition to the parents' room, there will also be a boy's 

 bedroom and girl's bedroom, neither of which need be very large, and besides 

 these a night nursery and a day nursery may be required, with one or more 

 spare bedrooms. If a single apartment, specially planned, is used for a night 

 and day nursery, and the spare bedroom not considered justifiable under 

 restricted conditions, the requirements of the family can be met by a house 

 containing four bedrooms. 



In addition there will also be the one or more bedrooms required for 

 servants. This it will generally be most convenient to place on the attic floor, 

 and where the other attic space is not used a servant's attic can be arranged by 

 dropping the kitchen floor a few steps below the general level, with a room 

 over it correspondingly lowered, and thus an attic may be gained without raising 

 the whole roof. It is generally desirable, however, to leave a certain amount 

 of space in the roof which can be developed as bedrooms if required, not only 

 to meet subsequent requirements of the family, but in the event of the house 

 changing hands to admit of its accommodation being readily capable of being 

 increased to a certain extent. This is the more desirable in special houses built 

 for small families, which might not otherwise be readily adapted for normal 

 requirements. 



Although it is usual and generally convenient to place the bedrooms on an 



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