IX. The Bedrooms

The position and size of the bedrooms if, as is usually the case, they are placed om an upper floor, will depend largely on the disposition of the ground floor. This, however, should not result in a haphazard arrangement, but ground floor and first floor should react ton each other until an arrangement is arrived at which fulfils the conditions of plan required by each. The bed should be placed in such a position that it is free from draughts, and not exposed when the door is opened. It is desirable where possible that the bed should be placed in a recess, so that the room can, if required, be adapted as a bed-sitting-room.. It is also an advantage, especially in a room where windows on two sides are possible, that the bedroom should have two windows—one of which, long and low, and provided with a window seat, may be left unobstructed. The other may be placed in such a position and at such a height that it will light the dressing-table which stands against it. Or where the windows are in one; wall only, the dressing-table may stand in the space between two windows, neither of which is thus obstructed.

The fireplace will not take thee dominant place in the plan which it enjoys in the sitting-room, and the bed instead will form the focus of the room. The fire, too, will be of a type which can be kept in all night without attention, and for this purpose the fire on the hearth is the best. For the average family a minimum of three bedrooms will be required. In the absence of a special dressing-room, a recess in the parents’ bedroom may answer this purpose, or it may be arranged that the master of the house should use the bathroom as a dressing-room. In addition to the parents’ room, there will also be a boy’s bedroom and girl’s bedroom, either of which need be very large, and besides these a night nursery and a day nursery may be required, with one or more spare bedrooms. If a single apartment, specially planned, is used for a night and day nursery, and the spar-e bedroom not considered justifiable under restricted conditions, the requirements of the family can be met by a house containing four bedrooms.

In addition there will also Ibe the one or more bedrooms required for servants. This it will generally Ibe most convenient to place on the attic floor, and where the other attic space is not used a servant’s attic can be arranged by dropping the kitchen floor a few steps below the general level, with a room over it correspondingly lowered, and thus an attic may be gained without raising the whole roof. It is generally desirable, however, to leave a certain amount of space in the roof which can be developed as bedrooms if required, not only to meet subsequent requirements of the family, but in the event of the house changing hands to admit of its accommodation being readily capable of being increased to a certain extent. This is the more desirable in special houses built for small families, which might not otherwise be readily adapted for normal requirements.

Although it is usual and generally convenient to place the bedrooms on an upper floor, where the conditions of planning suggest the desirability of one or more bedrooms on the ground floor, it will be wise not to let custom stand in the way of convenience. Bedrooms on the ground floor are specially adapted for partial use as sitting-rooms, and where the bed is placed in an alcove or recess, and screened during the day by a curtain, the room itself may open with folding-doors on to the hall and add to the general floor space. The furniture of the bedroom in this case would be of a special type—the dressing-table and washstand being enclosed with doors on the recessed portion, for the bed may be made large enough to include the appointments of the toilet.