A Queen Anne bedroom conjures up the possibility of composing a charming scheme of interior decoration. First it is necessary to face the inevitable and accept the position that a modern bedstead is essential. This should be made of walnut-wood, and the ends shaped after the manner of the solid splats in the simple chairs of the period. Such bedsteads are made by several of the good modern furniture firms. They are not, of course, literal reproductions of the bedsteads of the period, which were of the four-poster order, but they will be found to be in good taste. Upon this bed should lie a reproduction of the bed-covers of the period in a pattern boldly coloured and Oriental in design. The floor should be covered by antique Persian rugs (or modern reproductions). A walnut toilet-table should stand in the window (see [Fig. 64]). Upon it should rest a toilet-glass (see [Fig. 12]), and in front of it, if possible, a stool covered with the needlework of the period (see Frontispiece). This stool will, however, be difficult to obtain, and its place could be taken by a simple chair of the period (see [Figs. 32] and [34]). Two other simple chairs should find places around the room, upon one side of which should be placed a walnut tallboy (see [Fig. 56]) surmounted by a piece of Chinese blue-and-white. We cannot too strongly emphasise the desirability of associating old Chinese blue-and-white pottery with eighteenth-century furniture. The washstand of the period (too small to be efficient) should be replaced by an unobtrusive wooden table painted white, the top of which should be covered with tiles in a shade which does not disagree with a reproduction of an old "Spode" or "Mason's Ironstone" toilet set.
Toilet sets, as we understand the term to-day, were unknown in the days of Queen Anne. Common earthenware pitchers and basins, or at best English and Dutch Delft, did duty until the rise of the great Staffordshire factories late in the eighteenth century. Orignal "Spode" or "Mason" ware would not be of earlier dates than 1770 and 1804 respectively, and so quite out of the Queen Anne period. We merely mention these two styles of so-called "Indian" decorations as being most suitable for the purpose in hand. We might, indeed, happen upon an eighteenth-century blue-and-white service; but all these early ewers and basins, like the early washstands, are altogether too diminutive for modern requirements. The reproductions, whilst retaining the old decoration, are built in more generous proportions.
For wall covering a plain white-or champagne-coloured paper might be adopted, and for wall decoration one or two old mirrors (see [Figs. 11] and [15]) and some reproductions of Dutch interiors by the old masters, framed in broad black frames, would be in harmony with the surroundings. A difficulty in composing a Queen Anne bedroom is to find a suitable hanging wardrobe. The marquetry hanging-press or wardrobe of the period, with its bombè-shaped lower section, is somewhat heavy in appearance, except in a large room, and is, moreover, expensive to acquire. Failing a hanging cupboard in the wall, a simple plain cupboard should be built and painted white. Such a cupboard at least strikes no false note, and is greatly to be preferred to a modern wardrobe or one of another period.
In this connection a schedule of the cost to the authors of furnishing a similar bedroom may be of interest.
| £ | s. | d. | |||||||
| Walnut | tallboy | 10 | 10 | 0 | |||||
| 3 | simple | Queen Anne | chairs | 9 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1 | " " | toilet-table | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 1 | " " | toilet mirror | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 1 | " " | wall mirror | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | |||||
| £ | 28 | 14 | 0 |
To this, therefore, must be added the various modern reproductions, including the bedstead: the total cost of the room would be about fifty pounds. The result is, of course, a combination of the old and the new—the best points of each being preserved—and the effect will be found harmonious.