Sitting'rooms - Bay "Windows - Position of Fireplace - Bedrooms, their Situation, Suitability, and Arrangement - The Nursery - Casement versus Sash "Windows - The Question of Doors and

Floors - The Kitchen Premises

The dining-room which is entered from somewhere near the front door is objectionable as likely to involve collisions between the incoming visitor and the dish-bearing maid. The question of outlook may affect the choice of the meal-room, particularly if it is also to be the general sitting-room of the family. A well-lighted room with a cheerful prospect is a perpetual tonic.

In narrow-fronted houses it often happens that the first-floor front room is so much more roomy than either of the ground-floor sitting-rooms that it may be put to use as a drawing-room. This applies to rooms which occupy the whole frontage, standing over both ground-floor front room and hall. This alternative, of course, is only possible when ample additional bedroom accommodation exists.

The bay window is a feature that adds much to the comfort of any room. It not only increases the angle of outlook, but it adds appreciably to the floor space, and redeems many a room which, without it, would be called small. Rooms which approximate to a square are better than long, narrow rooms, unless the latter happen to be lighted from both ends, which is rarely the case. Even then there is a balance of advantage in the square room, in which there is more open space about the dining-table.

Rooms of irregular shape, termed "cornery," lend themselves better to decorative treatment than severely square ones, and provide nooks in which the housewife will fit her furniture with good effect.

The problem of making a home is always solved in one of two ways. Either the house has to accommodate a given quantity of pre-existing furniture, or the furniture to be bought to fit the house. In the former case one has constantly to bear in mind the size and amount of furniture, and it is well to be provided with measurements of the larger pieces, as the eye is not able to gauge space to a nicety. Nothing is so disappointing as to find that some well-treasured cabinet or sideboard must be discarded because in the new house there is no place where it will fit.

The long, narrow room has the disadvantage of being dark at the end far from the window. The fireplace should be placed as shown above

Convenient arrangement of bedroom. Bed so placed as to avoid draughts between door and chimney

The position of the fireplace in a long, narrow room should be on one of the long sides. If otherwise, it will be found that one end of the room will monopolise the heat of the fire, the other maintaining a temperature but few degrees above the open air.

The drawing-room is always so personal in its furnishing and decoration that each particular searcher for the ideal home will recognise the possibilities of a given room without hesitation. The drawing-room and its contents should sum up the taste and skill of the lady of the house. It is her special domain. Wherefore it would be as impertinent to advise on the merits of this or that room as to dictate the style of the searcher's new summer frock.

It may be pointed out that much that has been written here about sitting-rooms in general applies to the drawing-room. Outlook may not receive quite the same amount of consideration, since the drawing-room is used mostly in the evening. For the same reason the bay window is not so essential to comfort and cheerfulness. The plan of the room should be such as to admit of the piano being placed so that it is neither against an outside wall, nor too much exposed to the heat of the fire.

Bedrooms

First make sure that the bedroom accommodation is sufficient for the requirements of the family, and that there will be at least one spare room.

Then consider each room as to its special fitness for its purpose.

The experienced house-hunter will carry a mental note of what is required - say, principal bedroom, guest room, children's room, and maid's room.

It is not uncommonly found that one or two bedrooms are deficient in size, or in other respects wanting in those essentials which make for health and comfort.

Every sleeping-room should have a fireplace, not so much for the purpose of heating it as for ventilation.

It need hardly be mentioned that all bedrooms should be well lighted, and it is a further advantage if they receive the morning sun, but this cannot be expected of all. One or more must have a north aspect.

Make sure, however, that those rooms which by their aspect should receive the sun are not deprived of it by the adjoining buildings.

The good old rule that the head of the household should occupy the largest and pleasantest room still holds good.

The second best room, usually reserved as the guest chamber, may well be denied this advantage, for the very good reason that it is only occupied at intervals.

East, south-east, and south are good aspects for a bedroom.

A seventeenth century worthy has written:

"An east window gives the infant beams of the sun before they are of sufficient strength to do harm, and is offensive to none but a sluggard."