October, 1920 
31 
THE 
ATTIC AS GUEST ROOM 
This Usual Waste Space of the House Can be Made to Blossom with Interesting 
Furniture and Accessories to Delight and Serve the Visitor 
AGNES FOSTER WRIGHT 
T HERE is something romantic about an 
attic, and this seems especially true in the 
imagination of boys and men. It marks the 
manhood of a boy when he can sleep without 
fear in an attic. Queer old trunks holding 
queerer old hats and blankets of home-spun, 
an old relic of a gun, a horse- 
hide dispatch box, all with 
that curious, pungent atticy 
smell—these are the treasures 
around which tve weave ro¬ 
mances when we are young. 
Not long ago we had a queer 
old furniture painter come for 
the night to our house in the 
country hills. For years he 
has been living in a New York 
flat. The thing that gave him 
the most joy was the rain 
through the night on the attic 
roof. He had not heard it 
since he was a boy. He was 
a dear old soul, and yet all 
the country treats we had for 
him paled beside that of God's 
own treat of pattering rain on 
the roof. 
The attic holds many pos¬ 
sibilities for development. No 
style is expected of it. We can 
put all sorts of queer things 
together up there. With the 
help of water paint or stain on 
the walls, some braided, rag 
or hooked rugs on the floor and 
with fresh paint on the furni¬ 
ture so that in col¬ 
or at least the 
pieces will go to¬ 
gether, and some 
gay chintz on the 
furniture and a 
crisp, bright hang¬ 
ing at the windows 
—we’ve a place for 
the boys and their 
friends or for the 
grown-up boys’ 
guests. 
In the country 
there often comes 
the chance to ask 
three or four unat¬ 
tached men up for 
the week-end’s golf 
or tennis, but the 
house only boasts 
one or two guest 
rooms and those 
are reserved for the 
married couples. 
Anyone who has a 
place knows how 
often this happens. 
The remodeled at¬ 
tic will give space 
and accommoda¬ 
tion for these extra 
guests. 
The attic shown 
in the illustrations 
was in a house on a golf course where the 
hospitable owner never had beds enough for 
all the guests he wanted to invite. He turned 
to his attic for the solution. He opened the 
tiny ladder stairway and made a nice square 
stair well. On the first landing book shelves 
sans 
The dressing table has four compart¬ 
ments and a double mirror. The 
furniture is ivory and brilliant green 
The ivory, black and green color 
scheme is relieved by gaily flowered 
hooked rugs, and black glazed chintz 
were built into an alcove and a semi-circular 
top put on it to give it a little distinction. One 
could choose his night’s story on the way to 
bed. 
The rough plaster walls had countless angles 
and the roof many pitches. It was decided to 
make the color scheme for the 
room black, ivory and clear 
emerald green. The walls were 
kalsomined, beginning at the 
baseboard with the bright green 
and gradually finishing at the 
top of the ceiling in white. In 
this way one did not notice 
the angles, as the color floated 
from the baseboard into the 
ceiling and the fresh green 
gave a lovely cool effect, with 
the suggestion of distance to it. 
The floor was stained very 
dark green. 
The attic consisted of one 
large main part, an alcove on 
either side and a long, narrow 
extension. The main part was 
used as a bed dormitory, the 
alcoves as a sitting room and 
the extension a bathroom, with 
the linen and store closets be¬ 
tween. 
Four beds were placed in 
the four corners. Beside two 
were bedside tables painted to 
match in ivory and green with 
green diamonds for decora¬ 
tions. 
The bed quilts are of 
deep ivory sateen 
with green dia¬ 
monds appliqued 
in a stitched border 
design of white 
golf balls. All the 
furniture was 
heavily glazed so 
that it will not 
show wear and yet 
have an interest¬ 
ing texture that 
unglazed furniture 
lacks. 
The lamps on the 
tables are of black 
pottery with black 
chiffon shades 
made in bands of 
bright green with 
bunches of black 
shiny cherries 
hanging from the 
top. As the space 
did not allow of 
tables for the other 
two beds, standing 
lamps were used, 
with a shelf and a 
white parchment 
shade decorated 
with green bands 
The house being 
the mecca of golf 
( Con’t on p. 66) 
