Care of the Bedroom.

Otago Witness, Issue 2572, 8 July 1903, Page 80

Care of the Bedroom.

In these days we are nothing if not sensible ; we should therefore set our faces stiongly against every kind and form of wooden bedstead and all the useless trouble they entail by keeping them sweet and clean. Nothing is so cheerful-looking nor so healthy as a brass or iron and brass bedstead. There should be no draperies to catch the dust, nor to give the sleeper a headache. If curtains are essential to keep off an obstinate draught, they should be attached to brass or iron rods fixed in a socket on the neck of the screw which holds the ornamental bra»«s knobs at the head of the bed. Any local ironmonger will undertake to accomplish this simple fixture for a few shillings ; and when curtains of some pretty chintz, easily washed, ore hung on to these rods, they give an artistic and pretty finish to the bed, as they can be swung back in movable sockets during the day and draped over the pillow.

Counterpanes should be made very wide in proportion to the size of the bed, the fringe or frill only just escaping the floor. This is to obviate ths necessity for the unhealthy bed valance, which only harbours dust, prevents a free current of air beneath the bed. and encourages the unmethodical housewife to thrust cardboard boxes and other unsightly rubbish into so handy a hiding place. . On rising, the bedclothes should be turned right over the bottom rail, and a cood hous-emaid will proved as follows: — Each sheet and blanket should be pulled out from under the mattress, separated, and hung up if possible ; the pillows and bolsters removed and placed on chairs or sofa ; the mattress taken off and placed as close to the window as ifc will go, and the window opened' wide.