16 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
My friends are dear: yet oft my need 
Is one small nook that’s all my own, 
Wherein to think, to work or read.— 
Just now I want to be alone! 
—Arthur Guiterman 
FURNISHINGS FOR THE MASCULINE MAN’S ROOM 
Color Schemes and Arrangements That Make a Room Fit for 
a Man—Midway Between the Boudoir and the Rathskeller 
ABBOT McCLURE and H. D. EBERLEIN. 
T HE man’s room, as a room of 
distinctively masculine charac¬ 
teristics, has hitherto met with scant 
measure of consideration. In the 
various household magazines that be¬ 
stow more or less extended consider¬ 
ation upon sundry phases of domestic 
arrangement and decorative furnish¬ 
ing, men’s rooms have either been dis¬ 
missed with scarcely more than a 
passing allusion or else ignored alto¬ 
gether. What space has not been de¬ 
voted to discussing the general rooms 
whose use is equally shared by all the 
members of the family—the drawing¬ 
room, the living-room, the dining¬ 
room, the breakfast-room or the 
library—has been claimed by bou¬ 
doirs, young girls’ rooms, children's 
bedrooms, nurseries, sewing-rooms or 
the like where a preponderantly femi¬ 
nine expression of personality is natu¬ 
rally to be expected. 
Now, all these aspects of house fur¬ 
nishing and decoration deserve ade¬ 
quate treatment, but at the same time 
notwithstanding the popular tide of 
feminism that is sweeping the coun¬ 
try, the self-effacing American man is 
The first requisite is a table big enough 
for a man to spread his papers on. In 
the corner is shown a practical filing case 
and cabinet 
surely entitled to have some thought 
directed to the appointment of a room 
that shall be distinctively his and un¬ 
mistakably reflect masculine qualities. 
He cannot in justice be expected to 
pass all his indoor hours, when not 
in the library, living-room or dining¬ 
room, in a boudoir atmosphere with¬ 
out becoming a bit restive. Neither 
can he be relegated, with any show 
of fair play, to the so-called “den,” a 
species of room that seems, happily, 
to be passing out of fashion. 
A Room with Genuine 
Personality 
Masculine personality in general 
and also the occupant’s peculiarly in¬ 
dividual characteristics ought to be re¬ 
flected by the furnishings and ar¬ 
rangement both in a man’s bedroom 
and in his study, book room, office or 
whatever he may choose to call the 
sanctum devoted to his especial per¬ 
sonal use. If he is a bookish person, 
books and bookcases will be much in 
evidence. If he is given to tinkering 
about and is a general handy man 
around the house, unmistakable traces 
If the room is to be the man’s own it should evidence his tastes and proclivities. Antlers 
are not to be despised any more than comfortable chairs 
