so as we plan it, let us endeavor to temper our likes and dislikes with
judgment until we can be reasonably sure that it will be a room
pleasant to live with, and companionable, which will not irritate our
moods into becoming moodier, nor our weariness into becoming wearier.



LIGHT AND AIR

Of first importance, of course, are light and air; these we must have,
and sun if possible. One good warm ray of sunshine is a more effective
destroyer of disease and "dumps" than all the drugs on the market;
while good ventilation is one of the most valuable as well as one of
the cheapest and most ignored assets of the home, particularly of the
bedroom, where our hereditary enemy, the microbe, loves especially to
linger. Given air and light, we have the best possible start toward
our rest room and upon its exposure and size depends largely what we
shall add unto it in the way of furnishings and decorations. Dark
walls and floors wrap one in gloom and have no place in any bedroom. A
warm, sunny exposure invites the use of contrastingly cool light blues,
grays, greens, and creams; while the glow of delicate pinks and yellows
helps to make a sunshine in the shadows of a north light. East and
west lights adapt themselves to the tasteful use of almost any color,
saving and excepting red, which cannot be mentioned in the same breath
with rest and has the red-rag-to-the-bull effect on nerves. If an
overstrong affection for it demands its use, it must be indulged in
sparingly and much scattered and tempered with white. Though a certain
sympathetic warmth should be expressed in the bedroom coloring, we want
rather to feel than to see it, and too much becomes a weariness.