LIVING ROOMS The old custom of setting apart a "best room" or parlor to be used only on special occasions, as for weddings, funerals, or the entertainment of com pany, is happily passing away. Only very wealthy people now have draw ing-rooms reserved for state occasions. The present tendency is to call all the lower rooms of the house " living rooms," and to have all the members of the family use them freely. A room set apart from ordinary use, and hence shut up much of the time from sun and air, is not good for the physical or moral health of the household. Hygiene demands that sun and air should be admitted freely to all parts of the house. The furnishings them selves, if good care is given them, will be improved rather than injured by ordinary wear, and guests will receive a far pleasanter impression from the easy and graceful atmosphere impart ed to a room by daily use, than from the stiff and formal restraints imposed by the old-fashioned parlor. A hostess who takes her friends into a sitting room and tells them frankly that she prefers to "live in her own parlor" will have more friends than critics. The arrangement is plainly for the good of the family, and all who visit such a home will be the better for having been taken into the wholesome family life.
When possible, it is pleasant and convenient to have two living rooms thrown together by folding or sliding doors, with a grill and portieres or other suitable draperies across the opening. The effect of many country homes could be greatly improved by cutting an arch or square opening about the width and height of two or dinary doors placed side by side or slightly wider, so as to throw two liv ing rooms into one. Suitable folding or sliding doors, while desirable, are not necessary, as the opening can be closed by means of heavy hangings sliding on a rod. One of these rooms may, if desired, be furnished with more care and used less frequently than the other. But both should be regarded as living rooms in the full sense of the word.
" Front Room."—Large houses and ample means will, of course, suggest other living rooms, as the library, mu sic room, a special sewing room, and the like. But these are neither neces
sary nor possible in ordinary house holds, and the " front room" may be made not only more habitable but also more attractive to callers and guests by the presence of a piano or other musical instrument, and by low book cases built along the walls, three or four shelves high, to hold the family collection of books, and stained or painted to match the woodwork. The top of these bookcases may be finished by a shelf about breast high, or slight ly lower, on which plaster-of-Paris casts, vases, or flowers and other ap propriate objects may be displayed. A " front room " having the walls hung with suitable cloth or paper in solid colors, or two-toned shades of brown or green, with shades of green or tan, and hangings to match the wall coverings; a hard-wood floor waxed and oiled, or floor stained or painted in imitation of hard wood, or a solid color floor covering of denim or in grain filler, with rugs of Oriental pat terns and appropriate furniture, will have a distinctly modern and artistic atmosphere.
Conch.—Couches and sofas having a raised headpiece or arms at either end are giving place to plain couches, after the fashion of the Oriental divan, without head or arms, and covered by appropriate couch covers. An ordi nary folding canvas cot bed and a common cotton top excelsior or hair mattress thick enough to prevent sag ging in the middle is really superior to a sofa or davenport costing much more money. Imitation Bagdad or other suitable couch covers in cotton fabrics are inexpensive, and a row of fancy pillows can be readily made of washable material at slight expense. Thus the entire couch and furnishing may be had at the cost of but a few dollars.
On the other hand, by purchasing an iron or steel couch with wire-spring top and hair mattress, and adding a real Bagdad or other Oriental couch cover and pillows to correspond, a couch may be .had that will be in keeping with the most luxurious sur roundings.