This was certainly different from our modern ideas of hygiene:  In those days furniture that could not be hastily moved was of little importance.  The bed was usually a mere frame of wood, made to be covered with valuable hangings which could easily be packed and carried away on occasions that too often arose in the troublous days of the early Middle Ages.  The benches and tables one sees in many foreign palaces to-day are covered with gorgeous lengths of velvet and brocade.  This is a survival of the custom when furniture was merely so much baggage.  With the early Eighteenth Century, however, there came into being les petits appartements, in which the larger space formerly accorded the bedroom was divided into ante-chamber, salon or sitting-room, and the bedroom.  Very often the bed was placed in an alcove, and the heavy brocades and bullion embroideries were replaced by linen or cotton hangings.

When Oberkampf established himself at Jouy in 1760 France took first place in the production of these printed linens and cottons.  This was the beginning of the age of chintz and of the delightful decorative fabrics that are so suited to our modern ideas of hygiene.  It seems to me there are no more charming stuffs for bedroom hangings than these simple fabrics, with their enchantingly fanciful designs.  Think of the changes one could have with several sets of curtains to be changed at will, as Marie Antoinette used to do at the Petit Trianon.  How amusing it would be in our own modern houses to change the bed coverings, window curtains, and so forth, twice or three times a year!  I like these loose slip covers and curtains better than the usual hard upholstery, because if properly planned the slips can be washed without losing their color or their lines.

Charming Eighteenth Century prints that are full of valuable hints as to furniture and decorations for bedrooms can be found in most French shops.  The series known as “Moreau le Jeun” is full of suggestion.  Some of the interiors shown are very grand, it is true, but many are simple enough to serve as models for modern apartments.  A set of these pictures will do much to give one an insight into the decoration of the Eighteenth Century, a vivid insight that can be obtained in no other way, perhaps.

I do not like the very large bedrooms, dear to the plans of the American architect.  I much prefer the space divided.  I remember once arriving at the Ritz Hotel in London and being given temporarily a very grand royal suite, overlooking the park, until the smaller quarters I had reserved should be ready for me.  How delighted I was at first with all the huge vastness of my bedroom!  My appreciation waned, however, after a despairing morning toilet spent in taking many steps back and forth from dressing-table to bathroom, and from bathroom to hang-closets, and I was glad indeed, when, at the end of several hours, I was comfortably housed in my smaller and humbler quarters.