April, 1 910 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



145 



Furnishing the Apartment 



By Lillian Hamilton French. 



IV. — The Bedroo 



m 



O HOUSE is so difficult to furnish as a flat, newest and best examples one never sees to-day anything 



the reason being that the stairway of a but cotton and linen stuffs, unless of course, the apartment 



house makes a natural division of floors, is constructed along sumptuous lines permitting taffetas and 



separating the various departments; while, satins at the windows. One other great improvement, too, 



unless a flat is duplex or constructed on is everywhere visible. The apologetic air of the ordinary 



the principles of a house, everything is on flat-dweller has given way to a frank acknowledgment of 



a level and therefore in evidence. It is conditions, a putting aside of difficulties and a going hon- 



this being in evidence which makes the difficulties, and forces estly to work to make each room all that it should be, or 



upon the furnisher 

 two problems of 

 primary import- 

 ance. The first of 

 these relates to col- 

 ors, and the blend- 

 ing of those that 

 run from one room 

 to another; the sec- 

 ond is such a scru- 

 pulous arrangement 

 of details that the 

 purpose of each 

 separate room is 

 kept intact, no ap- 

 pointments belong- 

 ing to a sleeping- 

 room, for instance, 

 being permitted to 

 appear in a parlor. 

 As the doors of 

 bedrooms are sup- 

 posed to be closed, 

 the color of their 

 walls needs bear no 

 relation to that of a 

 living-room. At the 

 same time, the 

 shock experienced 

 by coming from a 

 hall done in a flam- 

 ing red, to a bed- 

 room done in yel- 

 low or pink, must 

 necessarily be 

 avoided. The best 

 results are only ob- 

 tained when all the 

 tones throughout 

 the flat are kept in 

 harmony. Elappily the cry against woolen hangings in a into well-proportioned panels 



Fig. I — A dressing-table with shelves underneath for boots and enclosed with a 

 valance to match the curtains hung at the windows and the bedspread. 



would have been m 

 a house. Gloom 

 especially in bed- 

 rooms is avoided, 

 the ponderous is 

 shunned, and every 

 respect is paid to 

 the niceties. 



Perhaps the best 

 way of illustrating 

 these remarks may 

 be found in a de- 

 tailed description of 

 some new and 

 lovely bedrooms. 

 Thus there is a 

 small one, not more 

 than ten feet by 

 twelve, having but 

 one window and 

 door. Any wall 

 covering showing 

 large figures would 

 necessarily have 

 been too obtrusive. 

 Moreover, as the 

 room opens onto 

 the street, the ques- 

 tion of disfiguring 

 dust had to be con- 

 sidered. So this one 

 used by the master, 

 is treated in this 

 way. The walls, 

 ceilings and wood- 

 work are painted 

 white. To relieve 

 the possible bare- 

 ness, the wall sur- 

 faces are divided 

 This was done by using or- 



sleeping-room has been almost everywhere heeded. In the dinary picture molding, costing six cents a foot, tacking it 



