October, 1917 
19 
There is something else to be considered, 
however, beside comfort, and that is color. 
Harmony of color is essentially important. A 
room containing every imaginable comfort, con¬ 
venience and luxury may be so inharmonious 
in color as to prevent any human being from 
resting one second within its four walls. No 
excuse may be offered today for not having an 
attractive color scheme. One may obtain the 
widest range of color in any variety of fabrics 
and at almost any price one’s purse will permit. 
If the room has a southern exposure cool 
colors such as blues, greens, mauves, etc., may 
be used effectively; a northern exposure de¬ 
mands warm, luminous colors, such as orange, 
yellow or red. Exposure is an all-important 
factor in deciding the room’s color and should 
be studied most carefully. 
Fortunately, people can exist now without 
mahogany and the guest room is one place 
where the attractive painted furniture so easily 
obtained during the last few years may be used 
to very great advantage. It is well, however, 
when considering painted furniture to bear in 
mind that brilliant colors are difficult to handle 
and unless one is employing an expert to assist 
her it is advisable to keep the ground work 
fairly neutral. By that I do not mean the so 
called “putty” shades, but neutral tones of 
blues, greens, yellows. Bright color may be 
introduced in the decorations and in the hang¬ 
ings. The room with painted furniture is espe¬ 
cially adapted to the use of the many interesting 
and attractive linens and chintzes obtainable 
today in the shops. 
Floors and Walls 
Of equal importance with furniture and 
hangings is the treatment of floor and walls. 
There will always be a division of opinion as 
to whether or not it is best to cover the floor 
entirely or to use a rug showing a margin. This 
is to be decided solely by personal preference. 
In these days a room may be carpeted 
entire, the carpet seamed and fitted exactly or 
made to order without seams, and laid with 
pins and sockets making it as readily remov¬ 
able as a rug; and there is certainly something 
exceedingly restful about a bedroom whose 
floor is completely covered. Carpet may be 
obtained in almost any colors desired, and 
seamless rugs made to order to match every 
shade and color of the spectrum. Soft, more or 
less neutral shades 
for floor, walls and 
ceiling are usually 
the most successful. 
The walls may be 
painted and paneled 
attractively or else 
papered. The wall- 
paper houses are 
producing some 
charming and de¬ 
lightful papers in an 
unlimited range of 
color, and papered 
walls, of course, per¬ 
mit a more informal 
arrangement than 
walls which are pan¬ 
eled, as the place¬ 
ment of the furniture 
must necessarily be 
governed to a large 
extent by the panel¬ 
ing. The ceiling 
should be kept in 
tone with the side 
walls. 
A comfortable bed with a bedside 
table and light and a set of trays and 
drawers comprise the third requisite 
— Typical Plan / Arrangement ft FuRNmjRg - 
■—rr^-jN .. • 
The grouping of the furniture has 
much to do with comfort. This 
shows the plan of the room illustrated 
There is a small touch frequently overlooked 
in this country and that is the use of flowers. 
A few flowers add greatly to the human atmos¬ 
phere of any room, and there is nothing which 
creates more of an impression of solicitude on 
the part of a host than some flowers carefully 
chosen and tastefully arranged in the guest’s 
chamber. English people understand this well 
and always have plenty of flowers in every 
room. This doubtless plays a large part in 
the livableness of their homes. 
In a previous paragraph I took occasion to 
register my objections to personal photographs 
in a bedroom. But if photographs are not the 
things to use, what sort of pictures should be 
on the walls? There is nothing daintier or 
more pleasing than a French print for this 
purpose. One or two well chosen subjects 
properly framed will enliven the guest room 
wall—and doubtless enliven the guest. 
Books and Magazines 
Although it may seem in poor taste to 
acknowledge it, I believe that each of us, when 
we have closed the door of the guest room be¬ 
hind us for the first time, assumes a critical 
air. We are left alone with things more or less 
personal to the host. And because that is so 
the host should exercise the utmost care in the 
selection of small details. I am thinking 
especially of the books and magazines in a 
guest room. 
Now no guest room is complete without some 
reading matter, and the sort of bedside literary 
hospitality we offer a guest will be indicative 
of the sort of hosts we are. I know of nothing 
more appalling than to find on the guest room 
bedside table a pile of pious works. Often 
enough they are devout books that a previous 
generation found of great spiritual stimulus 
and attested to it thereto by marking favorite 
passages. The guest cannot help prying into 
this secrecy, but she should not be given 
the opportunity. A 
religious book or two 
is perfectly accept¬ 
able; some of us 
would be lost with¬ 
out it. The rest of 
the books should be 
volumes that can be 
read in snatches and 
picked up and 
dropped at will. The 
more unusual the se¬ 
lection of books, the 
more the guest will 
appreciate them. 
And the fourth thing 
the guest appreciates is 
a chaise longue and a 
deep chair where she 
may take her forty 
winks before dinner 
