260 AMERICAN HOMES AND! GAR DEWN> 
2—A Modern Bedroom with Twin Bedsteads, Fireplace 
and a Table 
character of one with a canopy, whether :t be a full length 
canopy or a short one over the headboard, and with posts 
and washable curtains instead of the more closely confining 
panels, spindles, or damask, is a device eminently practical 
and sanitary. 
In Italy, which to-day is an exceedingly dirty, malodorous 
and rough looking country, and those who gush about it, as 
is the fashion, are simply romancing, they have one cardinal 
virtue which should be made the most of. ‘The time to have 
seen Italy, like the time to have heard Mme. Patti sing, was 
many years ago. But Italy has one sanitary, up-to-date in- 
stitution—it is the twin bedstead which the traveler meets 
in every albergo, even in those of the second class. And I 
deem it an encouraging sign of the time, the prowing popu- 
larity of the twin bedstead in America, as the accompanying 
illustrations of bedrooms will indicate. I know of but one 
objection to the twin bedsteads, and that is the prodigality 
of space they demand for their convenient arrangement, espe- 
cially if a table divide them, as is seen in Fig. 2, where no 
less than eight lineal feet of wall is absorbed. But a seemly 
pair of well designed twin bedsteads with canopies will give 
3—Bedroom Corner at Eastover 
April, 1906 
the keynote to a scheme of bedroom decoration as no other 
feature can. 
Recesses in bedrooms, such as we have in Fig. 1, are also 
effective and useful features, except that a stationary wash- 
stand is not to be recommended, especially one with the 
waste pipes inclosed by a cabinet. 
As to bedroom walls, and pretty as some of the patterns 
are, | can not recommend wallpaper. A particularly charm- 
ing wallpaper is shown in Fig. 4; but following out the ab- 
sorption theory, wallpaper must be constantly absorbing what- 
ever impurities there are in the air, and, in time, become satu- 
rated with them. For this reason walls painted a flat oil 
color would seem one method of sanitary treatment, and 
they can be washed with soap and water. Figs. 2 and 6 
both show walls without paper, treated in plain tints, and 
while they are not quite as effective as is the wallpaper shown 
in Fig. 4, they are a great improvement upon the ill chosen 
design we have in Fig. 7, or where there is a distracting 
amount of figured wallpaper, as we have in Fig. 5, covering 
both side walls and ceiling. 
Fig. 5 also shows us a carpeted bedroom. That, of course, 
is in opposition to all modern theory. The modern bedroom 
4—Bedroom with an Exceptionally Attractive Fireplace 
should have no carpet and not more than two or three small 
rugs, to be used as mats beside the bedstead or before the 
dressing-table, etc. Good parquet floors laid by experts in 
the business are scarcely more expensive nowadays than is a 
durable carpet, and the parquet floor will last as long as we 
do. Not that a bedroom should be so uncompromising a bed- 
room as a private patient’s bedroom in a hospital; the theory 
of microbes need not be carried quite down to the ground. 
A mantelpiece and picture mold or cornice and chair rail 
will not encourage a sufficient number of microbes to lodge 
to menace your life under ordinary circumstances and with 
ordinary cleanliness. Note the very attractive mantelpiece 
and extended shelf mold in Fig. 8. There should always be 
books to read in a bedroom—our favorite books—and per- 
haps a pathetic geranium or two upon the window ledge to 
encourage to grow in winter (see the bedroom corner at 
Eastover, Fig. 3). 
A bedroom fireplace is also a distinct advantage, provid- 
ing constant ventilation, and the cheer of a wood fire, if one 
is indisposed, is a very comfortable accessory, especially if a 
small table be drawn up to one side, from which the con- 
valescent may enjoy a dainty repast under the most charming 
of influences. The fireplaces shown in Figs. 2 and 8 
