Be sure that the sleeping-porch connects with a warm dressing-room 
Building a Sleeping-porch 
S LEEPING outdoors seems to have 
progressed well beyond the fad 
stage. The practice appears to require 
but a single trial to convince even the most skeptical that “night 
air,” that bete noir of our grandmothers, is in reality a pretty fine 
thing to get into one’s lungs in large quantities. Why is it that a 
camping trip has upon most of us the effect of setting us up on our 
feet again with a new joy in living? Is it the diet of soda-raised 
“sinkers,” poor coffee and half-fried bacon that works the mira¬ 
cle, or is it, perhaps, the sleeping outdoors in pure invigorating air? 
Outdoor sleeping has come to stay, so let us recognize the 
fact and build our houses accordingly. The thing has taken us 
unawares; we are forced to drag a cot out upon the fire-escape, 
or rig up a bed-annex so that we can sleep with our heads at least 
outdoors, shutting the window-sash down on our necks. These 
makeshifts are perfectly good, as such, but when we come to 
build our new house there is a chance to have a sleeping-porch 
that will be to the old makeshift what a cot and a wooden floor are 
to camping. 
In the first place the porch should open from a bedroom or 
dressing-room, so that the sleeper may have a conveniently 
near and warm place in which to dress and undress. A comfort¬ 
able adjacent dressing-room robs the 
sleeping-porch of its one sting. 
Most of those who sleep outdoors seem 
to feel the need at times for a shelter of some sort against the wind, 
and even the most enthusiastic advocate prefers to have the rain 
and snow and hail kept off his bed. A roof for the porch seems 
advisable, therefore, and a set of windows pivoted at top and 
bottom to revolve sideways. This form of window will obstruct 
little or all air as desired, provided some device is attached 
by which the sash may be clamped firmly in any position. An 
arrangement of pulleys and cords, the latter brought to the side 
of the bed, makes the operating of the sash a simple and easy 
matter without leaving the shelter of the warm covers. 
Insect screens may replace the sash in summer provided these 
are needed, and a canvas drop curtain will shut out the driving 
rain. 
Whether the sleeping-porch is to be built directly over the 
lower porch, or as a balcony, or as an open corner under the main 
roof depends entirely upon the conditions of each case — archi¬ 
tecture, prevailing winds, etc. The point is that when one is 
building, the sleeping-porch should not be overlooked, either for 
immediate use or as a desirable feature of the home in the future. 
by T. E. Whittlesey 
Photographs by Jessie Tarbox Beals and others 
Raising the canvas panels makes of thissum- 
mer home an outdoor sleeping-room 
The vertically pivoted sash screens the bed 
from the wind 
A whole corner of the second floor may be 
left open for outdoor sleeping 
(44) 
