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April, 1906 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 259 
Principles of Home Decoration 
VI.—Modern Theory and the Bedroom 
By Joy Wheeler Dow 
=) 
RY HE latest and most advanced theory con- 
aN cerning the bedroom is not to have one. 
i) Sleep out of doors instead. In time of war 
&&) soldiers sleep out of doors, and frequently 
contract thereby serious ailments, which be- 
come chronic and incurable. But this is not 
the sleeping out of doors which is meant by modern theorists. 
Soldiers have to sleep upon the bare ground, and that is very 
bad. The modern idea is to sleep upon some kind of bed- 
stead or hammock, and if one is indifferent to possible rude 
awakenings by anything that prowls at midnight, and the 
latitude is that of Saranac Lake, or New Hampshire, to in- 
sure a cold and dry atmo- 
sphere, a cabin of some 
kind, conveniently located 
near one’s dwelling, and 
ventilated on all sides, 
might, with some advant- 
age, take the place of the 
conventional bedroom. Or, 
if one has the means, quite 
as airy a sleeping apart- 
ment may be constructed in 
the form of a balcony di- 
rectly accessible from one’s 
bedroom proper, and prac- 
tical enough where neigh- 
bors are not too close. 
Such a bed might prove un- 
comfortable, however, in 
extremely damp weather. 
But those of us who love 
the security of a second 
story chamber, and _ for 
whom it would not be wise, 
financially, to build a sun- 
parlor or what not to our 
cottage, this latest theory 
can not avail. 
Then, who has not waked 
in that dismal hour just pre- 
ceding daybreak with an 
oppressive sense of fear 
that, in the terrible shuffle 
of life, the sacred and 
second story bedroom might be taken away, and one be really 
compelled to camp out of doors? He and the sufferer from 
tuberculosis, indeed, might be enticed by the ‘‘fresh-air fiend” 
to part with a material blessing for which we should thank 
Providence every night of our lives, and invoke its mercy 
upon all those unfortunates who have neither bedrooms nor 
bedsteads. All the while we are convinced that the Lord 
can not extend the kind of mercy we ask to everybody from 
the very nature of the case He has set up, the chimerical 
dreams of those who write Utopia books to the contrary not- 
withstanding. 
Seeing, then, that a majority of the Americans whom I 
address in these articles are apt to want bedrooms, and upon 
the second story, if possible, it is perhaps worth while con- 
sidering the sort of furniture and decoration best suited to 
WeCE 
them, yet with all proper regard for modern theory and 
fresh air. For it is only within comparatively recent times 
that fresh air has been popular at all in sleeping-apartments 
during the winter season. Bedsteads completely enclosed 
by canopies, grilled doors and panels—very handsome and 
picturesque affairs by the way—have been in use for genera- 
tions, even by the peasantry, in certain parts of Europe, and 
may be still. Besides, the sense of suffocation they give us; 
what pictures of entomological horrors; what unholy thoughts 
of vermin they conjure up! 
There are not, however, and never have been more artistic 
bedsteads manufactured than were those archaic, enclosed 
Ny 
; 
i} 
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1—Modern Bedroom with Canopied Bedstead and Recessed Window 
structures. So it has come to pass that four-posted bedsteads 
with canopies after the manner of Queen Elizabeth and 
James I. (see Fig. 9) are the fashion at the present time. 
For drapery we compromise with modern cleanliness by 
using washable dimity or white muslin (see Fig. 1). Only 
here it is merely an unmistakably machine- made, stock bed- 
stead fitted with a canopy over the headboard. To the 
present day some of the best of the old-fashioned houses of 
Great Britain have canopied and curtained bedsteads, with 
feather mattresses to lie upon, and the curtains will be of 
some heavy stuff such as damask. I know that in my own 
home such material would soon become laden with excretions 
from the lungs that in damp weather would make it un- 
bearable; but I did not notice any odor from these hangings 
in England. There is no bedstead that has the dignity and 
