



Produced by Pat McCoy, Chris Curnow and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)









THE BED-ROOM AND BOUDOIR.


[Illustration]




  THE
  BED-ROOM AND BOUDOIR.

  BY
  LADY BARKER.

  [Illustration]

  LONDON:
  MACMILLAN AND CO.
  1878.

  [_The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved._]




  _FIFTH THOUSAND._

  LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.




PREFACE.


Too much attention can scarcely be expended on our sleeping rooms in
order that we may have them wholesome, convenient and cheerful. It is
impossible to over-estimate the value of refreshing sleep to busy
people, particularly to those who are obliged to do much brainwork. In
the following pages will, we hope, be found many hints with regard to
the sanitary as well as the ornamental treatment of the bed-room.

  W. J. LOFTIE.




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER                                          PAGE

     I.--AN IDEAL BED-ROOM--ITS WALLS                 1

    II.--CARPETS AND DRAPERIES                       15

   III.--BEDS AND BEDDING                            26

    IV.--WARDROBES AND CUPBOARDS                     44

     V.--FIRE AND WATER                              57

    VI.--THE TOILET                                  70

   VII.--ODDS AND ENDS OF DECORATION                 80

  VIII.--THE SICK ROOM                               94

    IX.--THE SPARE ROOM                             110




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                   PAGE

  A CORNER WARDROBE                      _Frontispiece_
  DUTCH BEDSTEAD                                     27
  BEDSTEAD AND TOILET STAND                          30
  OAK BEDSTEAD                                       32
  CHILDREN'S BEDSTEADS                               37
  AN INDIAN SCREEN                                   41
  WARDROBE                                           45
  ANTIQUE LOCK-UP                                    48
  BUREAU                                             49
  TRAVELLING CHEST OF DRAWERS                        51
  CHINESE CABINET                                    55
  FIRE-PLACE                                         58
  CHAIR AND TABLE                                    59
  BEDSIDE TABLE                                      62
  FIRE-PLACE                                         63
  CANDLESTICK                                        65
  FRENCH WASHING-STAND                               66
  CHINESE WASHING-STAND                              67
  CORNER-STAND                                       68
  SHRINE "A LA DUCHESSE"                             71
  ANTIQUE TOILET TABLE                               72
  CHEST OF DRAWERS                                   73
  A SIMPLE TOILET TABLE                              76
  CANE ARM-CHAIR                                     81
  CANE SOFA                                          82
  OAK SETTLE                                         83
  LARGE ARM-CHAIR                                    84
  CORNER FOR PIANO                                   85
  PRINT-STAND                                        88
  SOUTH AMERICAN PITCHER                             91
  INVALID TABLE                                     107
  DESK                                              112




THE

BED-ROOM AND BOUDOIR.




CHAPTER I.

AN IDEAL BED-ROOM.--ITS WALLS.


It is only too easy to shock some people, and at the risk of shocking
many of my readers at the outset, I must declare that very few bed-rooms
are so built and furnished as to remain thoroughly _sweet_, fresh, and
airy all through the night. This is not going so far as others however.
Emerson repeats an assertion he once heard made by Thoreau, the American
so-called "Stoic,"--whose senses by the way seem to have been
preternaturally acute--that "by night every dwelling-house gives out a
bad air, like a slaughter-house." As this need not be a necessary
consequence of sleeping in a room, it remains to be discovered why one's
first impulse on entering a bed-room in the morning should either be to
open the windows, or to wish the windows were open. Every one knows how
often this is the case, not only in small, low, ill-contrived houses in
a town, but even in very spacious dwellings, standing too amid all the
fragrant possibilities of the open country. It is a very easy solution
of the difficulty to say that we ought always to sleep with our windows
wide open. The fact remains that many people cannot do so; it is a
risk--nay, a certainty--of illness to some very young children, to many
old people, and to nearly all invalids. In a large room the risk is
diminished, because there would be a greater distance between the bed
and window, or a space for a sheltering screen. Now, in a small room,
where fresh air is still more essential and precious, the chances are
that the window might open directly on the bed, which would probably
stand in a draught between door and fireplace as well.

I take it for granted that every one understands the enormous importance
of having a fireplace in each sleeping-room in an English house, for the
sake of the ventilation afforded by the chimney. And even then a sharp
watch must be kept on the house-maid, who out of pure "cussedness"
(there is no other word for it) generally