HOUSES AND GARDENS 



upper floor, where the conditions of planning suggest the desirability of one or 

 more bedrooms on the ground floor, it will be wise not to let custom stand in 

 the way of convenience. Bedrooms on the ground floor are specially adapted 

 for partial use as sitting-rooms, and where the bed is placed in an alcove or 

 recess, and screened during the day by a curtain, the room itself may open 

 with folding-doors on to the hall and add to the general floor space. The fur- 

 niture of the bedroom in this case would be of a special type the dressing- 

 table and washstand being enclosed with doors on the recessed portion, for the 

 bed may be made large enough to include the appointments of the toilet. 



CHAPTER TEN 



THE BATHROOM 



1 



HE old country-houses of England can generally be adapted, 

 without doing violence to their structure, to the require- 

 ments of modern life ; and, with a few slight sacrifices of 

 material comfort, it would be possible for a modern family 



to live in comparative ease in an old-world manor-house. 



In only one respect would it be wanting. It would contain no bathroom, 

 and none of those sanitary appliances which the smallest modern villa can 

 boast. It has been said that cleanliness is next to godliness, but historic 

 evidence would seem to show that cleanliness has hitherto been the mark of 

 the ungodly, and that it is only when man has ceased to concern himself 

 with the things of the soul that he turns his attention to the care of 

 the body. 



In the development of the modern bathroom there is therefore no pre- 

 cedent in the tradition of the house, and in the average modern dwelling it 

 will be well that the suggestion of spotless cleanliness and practical efficiency 

 should be its salient characteristics. The floor and lower part of the walls 

 of tiles, the bath and basin of white enamel with no pipes enclosed, with no 

 dark corners to harbour dust and dirt, and the art of the bathroom as 

 expressed in useless and dirt-concealing patterns rigorously excluded such a 

 scheme will, perhaps, represent the best that is possible for the average 

 household. Under stricter economic conditions the floor will perhaps be 

 covered with a plain linoleum, a cork carpet, and whitewash take the place 

 of the tiled surface of the wall. The bathroom should be so placed that 

 the plumbing is reduced to a minimum, and the whole system is as simple 

 and compact as possible, free from possible damage by frost, and capable of 

 repair in all its parts without interference with the structure of the house. 

 The quality of mystery has its artistic value in the house, but in the matter 

 of plumbing it will probably only be appreciated by the plumber. In 

 connection with the bathroom in the small house it is generally possible to 

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