Treatment Of Bathrooms
SUMPTUOUS bathrooms are not modern inventions; on the contrary the
bath was a religion with the ancient Greeks, and a luxury to the
early Italians. What we have to say here is in regard to the bath as
a necessity for all classes.
The treatment of bathrooms has become an interesting branch of
interior decoration, whereas once it was left entirely to the
architect and plumber.
First, one has to decide whether the bathroom is to be finished in
conventional white enamel, which cannot be surpassed for dainty
appearance and sanitary cleanliness. Equally dainty to look at and
offering the same degree of sanitary cleanliness is a bathroom
enameled in some delicate tone to accord a color with the bedroom
with which it connects.
Some go so far as to make the bathroom the same color as the
bedroom, even when this is dark. We have in mind a bath opening out
of a man's bedroom. The bedroom is decorated in dull blues, taupe
and mulberry.
The bathroom has the walls painted in broad stripes of dull blue and
taupe, the stripes being quite six inches wide. The floor is tiled
in large squares of the same blue and taupe; the tub and other
furnishings are in dull blue enamel, and the wall-cabinets (one for
shaving brushes, tooth brushes, etc., another for shaving cups,
medicine glasses, drinking glasses, etc., and the third for
medicines, soaps, etc.) are painted a dull mulberry.
Built into the front of each cabinet door is an old colored print
covered with glass and framed with dull blue moulding and on the
inside of each cabinet door is a mirror. One small closet in the
bathroom is large enough to towels and holds a soiled clothesbasket.
On the inside of both doors are full-length mirrors.
The criticism that mirrors in men's bathrooms are necessarily an
effeminate touch, can be refuted by the statement that so sturdy a
soldier as the Great Napoleon had his dressing room at Fontainebleau
lined with them!
This fact reminds us that we have recently seen a most fascinating
bathroom, planned for a woman, in which the walls and ceiling are of
glass, cut in squares and fitted together in the old French way.
Over the glass was a dull-gold trellis and twined in and out of
this, ivy, absolutely natural in appearance, but made of painted
tin.
The floor tiles, and fixtures were white enamel, and a soft
moss-green velvet carpet was laid down when the bath was not used.
Bathroom fixtures are today so elaborate in number and quality, that
the conveniences one gets are limited only by one's purse. The
leading manufacturers have anticipated the dreams of the most
luxurious.
Window-curtains for bathrooms should be made of some material, which
will neither fade nor pull out of shape when washed. We would
suggest scrim, Swiss, or China silk of a good quality.
When buying bath mats, bathrobes, bath-slippers, bath-towels,
washcloths and hand-towels, it is easy to keep in mind the color
scheme of your rooms, and by following it out, the general
appearance of your suite is immensely improved.
For a woman's bathroom, Venetian glass bottles, covered jars and
bowls of every size, come in opalescent pale greens and other
delicate tints. See Plate XI. Then there are the white glass
bottles, jars, bowls, and trays with bunches of dashing pink roses,
to be obtained at any good department store.
Glass toilet articles come in considerable variety and at all
prices, and to match any color scheme; so use them as notes of color
on the glass shelves in your bathrooms. Here, too, is an opportunity
to use your old Bristol or Bohemian glass, once regarded as
inherited eyesores, but now unearthed, and which, when used to
contribute to a color scheme, have a distinct value and real beauty.
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