ove the footboard, then draw the bed out into the room, place in a
position convenient to the light either by day or night, after which
put a cover of cretonne or silk over it and cushions of the same.
Never put a spotted material on a spotted material. If your couch or
sofa is done in a figured material of different colours, make your
sofa cushions of plain material to tone down the sofa. If the sofa is
a plain colour, then tone it up--make it more decorative by using
cushions of several colours.

If you like your room, but find it cold in atmosphere, try deep cream
gauze for sash curtains. They are wonderful atmosphere producers. The
advantage of two tiers of sash curtains (see Plate IX) is that one can
part and push back one tier for air, light or looking out, and still
use the other tier to modify the light in the room.

Another way to produce atmosphere in a cold room is to use a
tone-on-tone paper. That is, a paper striped in two depths of the same
colour. In choosing any wall paper it is imperative that you try a
large sample of it in the room for which it is intended, as the
reflection from a nearby building or brick wall can entirely change a
beautiful yellow into a thick mustard colour. How a wall paper looks
in the shop is no criterion. As stated sometimes the _wrong side_ of
wall paper gives you the tone you desire.

When rearranging your room do not desecrate the few good antiques you
happen to own by the use of a too modern colour scheme. Have the
necessary modern pieces you have bought to supplement your treasures
stained or painted in a dull, dark colour in harmony with the
antiques, and then use subdued colours in the floor coverings,
curtains and cushions.

If you own no good old ornaments, try to get a few good shapes and
colours in inexpensive reproductions of the desired period.

If your room is small, and the bathroom opens out of it, add to the
size of the room by using the same colour scheme in the bathroom, and
conceal the plumbing and fixtures by a low screen. If the connecting
door is kept open, the effect is to enlarge greatly the appearance of
the small bedroom, whereas if the bedroom decorations are dark and the
bathroom has a light floor and walls, it abruptly cuts itself off and
emphasises the smallness of the bedroom.

Everything depends upon the appropriateness of the furniture to its
setting. We recall some much admired dining-room chairs in the home of
the Maclaines of Lochbuie