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THE HOUSE IN GOOD TASTE
makes for great comfort and privacy. Here I find
that most of my countrywomen dress in their bed-
rooms. I infinitely prefer the separate dressing-room,
which means a change of air, and which can be thor-
oughly ventilated. If one sleeps with the bedroom
windows wide open, it is a pleasure to have a warm
dressing-room to step into.
I think the first thing to be considered about a dress-
ing-room is its utility. Here no particular scheme of
decoration or over-elaboration of color is in place.
Everything should be very simple, very clean and very
hygienic. The floors should not be of wood, but may
be of marble or mosaic cement or clean white tiles,
with a possible touch of color. If the dressing-room
is bathroom also, there should be as large a bath as is
compatible with the size of the room. The combina-
tion of dressing-room and bathroom is successful only
in those large houses where each bedroom has its bath.
I have seen such rooms in modern American houses
that were quite as large as bedrooms, with the supreme
luxury of open fireplaces. Think of the comfort of
having one's bath and of making one's toilet before an
open fire! This is an outgrowth of our passion for
bedrooms that are so be-windowed they become sleep-
ing-porches, and we may leave their chill air for the
comfortable warmth of luxurious dressing-rooms.
If I were giving advice as to the furnishing of a
dressing-room, in as few words as possible, I should
say: "Put in lots of mirrors, and then more mirrors,
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