Harness room

“ In a small harness a good deal of shifting can be made that could not be attempted in a large or intricate one. In many places the harnesses are built in a separate room, or by the machine maker, and sent to the manufacturer; but practical experience with particular work will teach anyone that it is most desirable to have everything about the harness as level and true as possible, and it takes a good deal of care to effect this, even without any shifting. ”

“ The only things which could be considered furniture were a heavy oaken chest and a solid wooden bed—a box of a bed with a filling of feathers supporting two hard pillows. And that was every blessed thing the room contained except a toy pitcher and basin decorating the top of the chest; a white cotton curtain stretched across the lower sash of the single window; a nail for my towel, a row of wooden pegs for my clothes, and a square of looking-glass which once had the measles. Not a chair of any kind, no table, no wash-stand. ”

“ The arrangement of a vestibule for hat-rack, umbrella-stand, and other conveniences, changes the hall into an available room. Take, for instance, plan No. 16, page 153. At the right, as one enters, is a little closet; in it are hooks. At one side is an umbrella-stand; on the floor is a place for overshoes. Here one may arrange himself before going into the hall or reception-room. This is altogether better than having to pass across to one side of the hall or room, in order to find a place to deposit overshoes, wraps, umbrellas, etc. It saves work. ”

“ Upholstery fabrics were exceedingly rich and gorgeous, Gobelin and Aubusson tapestries, silk velvets, damasks, and brocades being chiefly used. Furniture was upholstered en suite, a common arrangement including one sofa, two arm chairs, and nine stools or tabourets. Etiquette prescribed the use of stools by most members of the court, and prudence demanded it of the ladies, who at this time wore hoop-skirts, so enormous that they couldn't sit in an arm chair. All furniture was placed against the wall, with the center of the room left clear. ”

“ When modern houses combine the living room and [49] library or reception room with the hall, there is need of something more than hall furniture of the formal kind. The requirements of comfort must be met. But, generally speaking, hall furniture is of little real use. Odd chairs, attractive by reason of their oddity, the richness of the materials used in their construction, or some other assertive quality, but not fit to sit in, are suitable or at least excusable in the hall. The hat and coat rack of our fathers has been declared insane and no longer appears in well-regulated houses. ”

“ These, if not taken from the room, should be moved into corners where they will be comparatively safe from injury; while the largest pieces of furniture, such as sofas or lounges and big easy-chairs, should be wheeled back near the wall, so as not to interfere with the movements of people through the rooms. ”

“ Awkwardly-placed doors and windows produce unsuspected draughts; the too close proximity of an ill-arranged staircase or housemaid’s closet becomes a serious trouble, and a low pitched ceiling prevents proper ventilation. It is more difficult than one imagines to find in a badly proportioned room a single convenient place for [Pg 96] the patient’s bed. It must be either close to the door, or touching the fireplace, or under a window or in some situation where it distinctly ought not to be. ”

“ When the floor-boards are up it is not a very costly matter to have them put in, and then when the furniture of a room is altered from the position originally assigned to it, as is so often done with a new house, it will not be found that the writing-table or sofa is on the opposite side of the room to the plug to which the lamp required to light it is attached. ”

“ In addition it should be noted that it is practically impossible to suggest the proper choice of hall furnishings in the absence of measured drawings, since both the number of pieces and their size are more definitely determined by floor and wall space than is the case in any other room. Every sale of hall furniture of any importance should be followed by a call at the house as soon after delivery as possible. If the new furniture does not fit the room, corrections may be made promptly, before any ill-will develops. ”

“ The large knocker of the outside door would thunder its fearful tones through the loud-resounding hall, chairs would deliberately move across the room, heavy marble-top tables would poise themselves upon two legs, and then fall with their contents to the floor—no person being within six feet of them. ”

“ If there are a couple of deep recesses, one each side of the fireplace, it would be quite possible to treat the room on the principles of the worker’s room and at no great expense. In one recess should be a folding bed, closed up in a cupboard during the day time, exactly on the same lines as the Harrow boys’ beds, and into this cupboard all the bedding can be shut. ”

“ Often the chair or settee is of the most uncomfortable design, conspiring with the narrow quarters to make the visitor's impression of the house and its inmates a very disagreeable one. If space is lacking to make the hall a comfortable and pleasing room, it should be abolished, and the visitor, if a social one, taken at once to the parlor, and if a business one, to the living-room. ”

“ As far up as a boy could reach by standing upon a bench the mottled surface was covered with pencillings and charcoal scrawls. There was but one movable desk; that stood at the head of the room. It had a hinged cover with a padlock attached to it, and a wooden arm-chair was beside it. The rest of the room was furnished with backless benches of unpainted pine mellow-brown with age, a big stove at the right of the teacher's chair, and a row of tall stools ranged in front of a sloping shelf made fast to the wall behind the desk. Upon these the scholars sat when they had their writing-lessons. ”

“ The furniture of my room was, as is usually the case in hot climates, extremely scanty. It consisted of a small musquito-curtained bed, placed in the angle of the room immediately facing the door, so that its occupant slept with his head against the end wall, and his feet turned towards the window. A common deal dressing-table stood at the further end of the room, under the window, a washing-stand in the left-hand corner, near it two or three chairs, and a pier glass fixed to the centre of the right hand wall opposite the folding-doors. The room was lofty, the window large and uncurtained ”

“ In some of the rooms there are valuable old pieces of furniture, a four-poster of the Sheraton type, and a highboy with details of the Queen Anne period. In another room modern white enamel furniture has been used, but it is so simple and straightforward in design that it harmonizes entirely with the atmosphere of the room engendered by the old fireplace and chimney cupboard, the thumb latches on the doors, rag rugs, and an old-time wall-paper figured with stripes of morning-glories and daintily poised humming-birds. ”

“ The furniture consists of a bed, or rather an old sack of barley straw, thrown down in the corner farthest from the door, and a chair and table, both aged and infirm, and leaning against the side of the room, besides lending a friendly support to each other. ”

“ There is no ceiling, nothing between the floor and the thatch and rafters, except perhaps at one end, where there is a kind of loft. The floor consists simply of the earth itself rammed down hard, or sometimes of rough pitching-stones, with large interstices between them. The furniture of this room is of the simplest description. A few chairs, a deal table, three or four shelves, and a cupboard, with a box or two in the corners, constitute the whole. The domestic utensils are equally few, and strictly utilitarian. ”

“ There was a big rosewood sofa against a wall, also a rocking-chair, a center-table, a wide walnut bedstead, and an ample alcove containing running water, and a basin and towels. The other was the typical hall room with a narrow iron bed, a chair, a wash-stand, a rug, a row of hooks on the wall for clothing over which hung a calico dust-curtain, and a single window.
"I suppose this might do for the little girl," suggested Mrs. McGwire, affably. "Children don't need much room. She is a relative, I presume?" ”

“ It is not really good taste to have these doors of plate glass as that militates against the primal idea of strength and protection.
A Door Divan.
Chairs and sofas we have without end in variety and beauty. Every alcove and nook in every possible sort of room has been thought of and provided for except the one place that exists in almost every house and is the one place where people are always wanting to sit—that is the doorway itself. Folding doors between communicating rooms are seldom closed. An ordinary chair within a few feet of the space never looks well. ”

“ The furniture consists of chairs with tall backs and low seats, a carved table with a tapestry or rug cover, a large oak cabinet and a cupboard on four legs, the treasure-chest and the wash-buffet, with wash-mops and toilet appliances. A heavy green damask curtain hangs before the bed, which is so high above the floor that it must be entered with the aid of a small stepladder that stands in one corner of the room next to the brass warming-pan. Sometimes a cradle, called “coach,” for the baby stands at the foot and sometimes under the bed. ”

“ Franklin advises persons apprehensive of lightning to sit in the middle of a room, not under a metal lustre, or any other conductor, and to place their feet upon another chair. It will be still safer, he adds, to lay two or three beds or mattresses in the middle of the room, and to place the chairs upon them. A hammock suspended with silk cords would be an improvement on this apparatus. Persons out of doors should avoid trees, &c. ”

“ On each side of the waiting-hall is a dressing room—one for women, one for men. Into these rooms the accident cases are taken one after the other. Here the house-surgeon and his dressers are engaged, and here the many-sided drama of the Receiving Room reaches its culminating point. It is an uninviting room, very plain, and, like the outer hall, bears an aspect of callous unconcern. ”

“ In many instances where a customer is interested in investing in good bedding but cannot afford to buy the entire bedroom suite at one time, it may be well to suggest a box spring and mattress on legs with detachable headboard and a small dressing table with detachable skirt. An inexpensive chest of drawers completes the ensemble. Later the box spring and mattress can be used on the regular bed, the dressing table maintained or moved into the guest room, and the chest of drawers used in another part of the house. ”

“ The newest hospital tables are of iron and glass and may be had in different sizes. An invalid’s table that will extend over the bed is a luxury much appreciated by the patient, especially during convalescence. Plenty of pillows is another luxury that will add to the patient’s comfort. A small pillow or two to tuck around the patient, in places where a little warmth or support is desired, is a sensible addition to the ordinary furnishing of the sick room. ”

“ If your house is clean and you intend to keep it so, a wooden bed that has some relation to the rest of your furniture is the best bed possible. Otherwise, a white painted metal one. There is never an excuse for a brass one. Indeed, I think the three most glaring errors we Americans make are rocking-chairs, lace curtains, and brass beds.
MY OWN BEDROOM IS BUILT AROUND A BRETON BED
XV THE DRESSING-ROOM AND THE BATH
Dressing-rooms and closets should be necessities, not luxuries, but alas! ”

“ The frame and supporter must be thick and strong. When not in use for the sick, the frame can be laid down, and the cushion laid over it, and then with a frill fastened in front, it makes a good-looking and most comfortable chamber couch, or a lolling sofa for a sitting-room. ”

“ Of course a great deal can be done to modify existing evils, by a judicious arrangement of screens and curtains, by taking out useless furniture, by substituting a comfortable low bed, easy to get at, for a cumbrous couch where the unhappy patient’s nose seems as if it was intended to rub against the ceiling, and various other improvements. But what can remedy a smoky chimney, or a grate where all the heat goes up the chimney, or windows that rattle, and doors that open in every direction except the right one? ”

“ The room is even more squalid than that recently occupied by them, for, besides a three-legged table, two rickety chairs, a horribly-dilapidated stove and two dirty, ragged pallets at opposite sides of the room, furniture there is none. ”

“ One must conform to this principle also in placing furniture. Most pieces should be parallel with the sides of the room, even though they are not against the walls. Curved line chairs or other small objects sometimes lend themselves naturally to a diagonal placement. Care should be taken in grouping furniture to give the appearance of harmony with the room structure. Let us look after the piano that is placed catacorner in the living-room, and the bed, in the same position, in the bedroom. ”

“ Safes are very commonly stood upon a wooden floor, or made to form part of a wood-framed bookcase, or press, or stand in a recess. Often they are comeatable all round, and even underneath, with nought but an inch board below them, and almost always they are left with the front door freely and fully exposed, and with ample and convenient room left all round. ”

“ In determining the position of the benches, especially with reference to their distance from each other, thought should be given to the general lines of travel, from the individual benches to the general tool-rack, to the finishing-table, to the lockers, etc. Even if all the aisles cannot be wide enough both for passage and for work, one wider one thru the center of the room may solve the difficulty. Where [page 143] rooms are crowded, space may be economized by placing the benches in pairs, back to back, c and d, Fig. ”