18 
House & Garden 
THE FOUR CORNERS of THE GUEST ROOM 
Bed, Chaise Lo?igue, Desk and Dressing Table—These Create 
Complete Comfort and Convenience in the Lodging for the Night 
E. L. H. RENNIE 
“put up” over night. Conse¬ 
quently these conditions have 
tended to make one consider 
the guest room a vital feature 
of his house. 
Having all these considera¬ 
tions in view let us try to 
make an outline of the pri¬ 
mary things to be considered 
when planning a guest room. 
As it is a bedroom it will nec¬ 
essarily be more or less in¬ 
timate, but let it be intimate 
without being too personal, 
for we must remember that 
j the room is not for any par- 
ticular individual but for any 
: guest who chances to remain 
overnight and occupy the 
room. Once when playing 
the role of favored guest, it 
was my fate to be assigned to 
the best guest room. One of 
my vices is a habit of waking 
early in the morning. It was 
an occasion when I had to 
appear sane, so a walk before 
breakfast was out of the ques¬ 
tion. There was not a read¬ 
able book to be seen nor any 
writing material. I was forced to lie in bed 
and gaze upon a collection of photographs of 
various members of the family taken at various 
ages. Then and there I declared forever 
against photographs in a guest room. 
Furniture for Comfort 
Then there is the matter of comfort. Study 
well the position of each piece of 'furniture so 
that it may perform its function most efficiently 
—we are still slaves to efficiency. 
First, we must have a bed, or if the room is 
large enough, there may be twin beds. Above 
all the bed must be comfortable. Now-a-days 
there is no excuse for a hard or lumpy bed. 
Then there is a dressing table which must 
surely be placed where the guest may have a 
good light by night and by day. Sometimes 
we may eliminate the dressing table and have 
instead a chest of drawers, but be sure that it is 
not too high and that the hanging mirror on the 
wall is placed so as to obtain the best light. 
Next in importance is the day bed. When 
one comes in from tennis or golf, or whatever 
it may be, one has the desire to stretch out for 
a few moments and relax before dressing for 
dinner. Most probably the bed has an attrac¬ 
tive and dainty cover of chintz and it looks so 
smooth and trim one dare not lie upon it. This 
is the moment for the daybed—of course it has 
many other excuses for existing—and I think 
the vast army of guests will all agree it is a most 
valuable addition to their comfort. 
Then there would always be a writing table 
of some description well supplied with pens, 
ink, stamps and stationery; at least one com¬ 
fortable chair and a night table to be placed 
beside the bed. These articles make the ground 
work on which to build one’s room and on 
which depend one’s guest’s creature comforts 
and enjoyment. 
Guest Rooms Today 
How different is our guest 
room of today with its charm- Bedford stanton 
ing air of welcome, comfort 
and ease. The gay chintz curtains. The com¬ 
fortable arm chair placed so that from it one 
has a delightful view of the garden—if the 
house is in the country. The daybed—that 
indispensable article of modern furnishing— 
placed conveniently near a table with a few 
books and a lamp of some sort so that one may 
have the best light for reading both by night 
and by day. The writing table fully stocked 
with stationery, stamps, etc. The bed—and it 
is always a soft, luxurious one—with its bed¬ 
side table and night light, and, ten chances to 
one, a private telephone. And above all, har¬ 
mony of color and design from the carefully 
Almost the first essential the guest wishes 
for is a dressing table with commodious 
drawers and broad mirror. It should 
have adequate lighting facilities 
keyed floor, walls and hangings to the smallest 
detail of lamp shades and minor accessories. 
Long since has the corner washstand passed 
on to oblivion and in its place one has the per¬ 
fectly equipped bath adjoining his bedroom. 
Nothing that would add to one’s comfort has 
been forgotten. 
One enters the room with keen pleasure and 
leaves with profound regret, thanking the fates 
that he was born in time to enjoy 20th Century 
comfort. 
The picture just painted 
is true not only of wealthy 
homes but also of homes of 
men of moderate means. 
Solicitude for one’s guest is 
the custom, not the excep¬ 
tion. Motors and the ease 
of traveling by modern rail¬ 
roads have made the guest 
ever-present instead of oc¬ 
casional. One no longer 
thinks whether or not he 
will ask So-and-so to spend 
a day or two with him; it is 
rather a case of his being 
called to the telephone and 
hearing that So-and-so is in 
town or very near it and 
wants to know if he can be 
T HE guest room is a 
gauge of a host’s hospi¬ 
tality. Modern ideas of com¬ 
fort and convenience have 
killed forever the cold and 
forbidding “spare” room of a 
past generation. 
Each of us, at least such as 
is of New England origin, has 
recollection of a chilly north 
chamber whose shades were 
continually drawn, of a cor¬ 
ner washstand and of an old 
mahogany bed of huge di¬ 
mensions. In spite of a faint 
delightful smell of old laven¬ 
der from the linen and the 
prim crispness of muslin cur¬ 
tains, an atmosphere of re¬ 
straint and frigidity pervaded 
all. It was a room in which 
to pass the night, nothing 
more; there was no tempta¬ 
tion to linger longer than ab¬ 
solutely necessary. 
Privacy for correspondence 
is another requisite of hos¬ 
pitality. The guest room 
should have its writing ta¬ 
ble with every facility pro¬ 
vided 
