Studio: international art (25.1902)

A Country Cottage

much which might well be rubbed out in the
modern house, while so many of the so-called orna-
ments which disturb our peace might well be
eliminated, And so we escape from that strange
and dreadful tyranny which inanimate things have
the power of exercising over their so-called pos-
sessors. We have no carpets to demand of us
that annual beating which will alone reduce them
to subjection, and our chairs need not be muzzled
by coverings to keep them at bay. Our household
gods are few and choice, and make no demands
for troops of slaves to labour in their service.

The treatment of the study will depend on the
tastes of its occupant. A lover of books will line
its walls from floor to ceiling, perhaps, with many
volumes; a lover of sport will prefer to surround
himself with weapons or trophies of the chase ; or
the room may be consigned to the mistress of the
establishment as a workroom or as a schoolroom
for the children.

On the bedroom floor five bedrooms are pro-
vided, with bath-room and lavatory, while on an
attic floor accommodation is provided for servants,
as well as a box-room and cistern-room.

The example of a bedroom illustrated may
perhaps require a few words in its defence in an
age which is, above all things, devoted to the
pursuit of the germ. In spite of prejudices to
the contrary, it may be urged that a fourposter bed
with washable hangings has its advantages; for
the curtains shielding the occupant from draughts,
the room may be flushed with fresh air, and
windows left open all night without danger, while,

from the artistic standpoint, such a bed is certainly
more inviting than an unscreened and bare couch
exposed to every draught. In the decoration of
the house generally it is suggested that, finished at
first without pattern of any kind, it should be
gradually adorned with carefully disposed orna-
ments, not executed in the hurried modern way,
but done gradually as funds and time allow; and
in such decoration the bedrooms may be dedi-
cated each to a special flower. In pursuance of
such a scheme, in the example shown the rose is
chosen, and this bed of roses may give an oppor-
tunity for those products of the needle which
generally take the form of antimacassars and other
drawing-room trifles.

Unlike the sitting-rooms of the house, the bed-
room is generally the outward expression of the
tastes of an individual, and the personal note is
necessarily more apparent. And so it will not be
desirable to achieve merely that monotony of
treatment which one finds, for instance, in the
bedroom of the hotel, but each room should speak
of the personality of its occupants. And so one
may be luxurious and sumptuous, another daintily
and delicately white, while a third may be of a
more robust and masculine character.

The modern idea of a garden seems to be a
shapeless mass of shrubs and a curved carnage
drive, bordered with scarlet geraniums, calceolarias
and lobelias, one of the most unfortunate combina-
tions of flowers which the ingenuity of man is
capable of devising. Another type is the formal
garden, with its smooth-shaven lawns and its

A COUNTRY COTTAGE : THE PARLOUR M. H. BAILLIE SCOTT, ARCHITECT

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