Ceilings.—If the cornices of the rooms be deeply recessed and filled with heavy plaster ornaments, they must of necessity hold dust and other impurities, which are increased by the action of damp air causing decomposition, and by mixing with the air in the room, when stirred or blown away from their resting places by draught from opened door or window, must render it impure and unhealthy. In addition to this, they are more or less choked up by every coat of so-called distemper decoration, and this again, by absorbing damp and obnoxious exhalations, adds materially to the sense of stuffiness and foulness which can be appreciably felt on first opening up the room after it has been closed for some hours. It is better, if possible, to paint all ceilings and cornices than to distemper them, so as to render them as non-absorbent as possible; by painting, the plaster-work is covered with a non-absorbent coating, on which if desired a coat of distemper may afterwards be added.
Walls.—As a rule it is desirable as far as possible not to disturb the general flatness of wall surfaces, and to avoid all patterns which obtrude themselves too prominently upon the eye, or cause the space, whether covered with paper or painted decoration, to be broken into groups of ornament, or into distinct lines cutting it transversely or horizontally. The wall surface may be divided either by a chair or frieze rail and be treated in different shades of colour with good effect; or the upper portion may be covered with good artistic painting, which will add to the beauty and picturesqueness of the room. Where the upper space is covered with paper or distemper, the pattern or colouring should offer no startling contrasts, and the lower portion may be painted and varnished, so as to be readily cleaned. The colour of the wall surfaces of the different rooms must naturally depend upon the purposes for which the rooms are used, as the apparent warmth and pleasurable appearance of the room is materially enhanced or detracted from by the treatment of the wall-colouring; and while it is necessary to treat the surface of one room as a background for pictures, it may be desired to have another brighter and more decorative; but wherever possible, in passages, halls and staircases, it is desirable to varnish as much of the wall surface as possible, so as to render it non-absorbent and readily cleaned.
In the selection of paper or other hangings, and in the arrangement of all ornament in wall or panel decoration, it becomes a matter of importance to select none which shall have distinct and strongly marked patterns, in which the ornament stands out and repeats itself in endless multiplication and monotony. All staring patterns should be avoided. Almost all papers may now be considered practically free from arsenic; the largest printers of machine-printed papers now use little or no arsenical colours; the principal manufacturers of block-printed papers allow on colours with a known trace of arsenic to enter their factories; and, as the colours of this class of paper-hangings are more thoroughly bound with size than those which are machine-made, they are to be recommended for house decoration in preference to the cheaper kinds, as being to a certain extent more lasting.
Paper-hangings must enter largely into the decoration of all the wall surfaces of our houses; but, on sanitary grounds, all flock papers, however beautiful in design, are especially to be avoided, for, from the very nature of their design and treatment, they are detrimental to the healthy condition of the room. The patterns stand out in relief, and offer innumerable spaces for dust and dirt, while the generally fluffy nature of the material, practically powdered wool, renders it more absorbent and therefore more unhealthy; and the surface holds dust and dirt to a much larger degree than the ordinary printed papers, thus tending to a stuffy and unwholesome feeling, which is essentially at variance with all laws of health and comfort.
Stamped papers, in which the pattern is raised in relief, offer the same objections in a minor degree, as the surface is smooth and can be readily cleansed; and in the case of the imitation leather papers, the surface is varnished, and can be readily gone over with a damp cloth without injury. These papers can be well used for the dados of rooms or frieze decoration, and as such are exceedingly effective, although, of course, from the very nature of the manufacture, much more expensive than plain painting and varnishing. A good deal of illness often arises from the bad nature of the size and paste with which the ordinary wall-papers are hung, and great care should be taken that no such inferior, and practically stinking materials are allowed.
Cupboards.—In most houses it is common to have the store places for clothes and other household goods, practically self-contained in every room, and therefore we put therein furniture sufficient for our requirements; but we all know how soon our drawers and wardrobes get overcrowded, and the nuisance and annoyance it often is to have to take out coat after coat, or dress after dress, until we reach the particular one we want, which may be stowed away at the bottom of the drawers or chest, and it surely must appeal to ordinary common sense, to utilise in every way, with constructional fittings as far as possible, all spaces which, as a rule, are practically useless. If the cupboards are taken up to the ceiling line, that is to say an extra tier added to the ordinary wardrobe fitting, increased storeroom would be provided for clothing not immediately required. There would be less crowding up of the existing cupboards and drawers, and the ills of the flat exposed tops of the ordinary fittings, to which Edis before referred, would be done away with. Why not, in the window recesses of every bedroom, provide fixed ottoman boxes which can be used as seats, as well as store places, and if covered with stuffed tops, may thus not only be made useful, but comfortable; while in the sitting-rooms they might be used for store places for papers and magazines until bound up, and thus help to do away with the littering of our rooms, or the storing away of all such things in inaccessible places, where they are seldom dusted, and only help to breed dirt and disease.
Windows.—If instead of the usual heavy and ugly valances, which so many people still insist upon placing over their windows, as a top-finish to the curtains, we were to provide framed recesses constructed with the architraves, or mouldings, which run round the window-openings, with slightly arched heads, leaving room for a slight iron rod to be fixed behind and out of sight, with space for the proper and easy running of the curtain, we should have not only a much more artistic, but certainly a much more healthy and less expensive arrangement; and these arched heads would form part of the constructive finishing, at no more cost than the framed and panelled window linings and architraves, and if carried up to the ceiling, with the cornice returned round, would leave no spaces for the accumulation of dirt and dust, such as are now provided by the projecting boxed linings and the heavy valances, fringes, and poles, which the modern upholsterer provides.
Bedrooms.—The wall surfaces of bedrooms should be hung with some small and simple decorative paper of one general tone, but with no particularly emphasised design, so that we are annoyed at night with flights of birds, or symmetrical patterns of conventional primroses, daisies, or fruits, which might in any way suggest a countless and never-ending procession along the walls. Any pattern or design which shows prominently any set pattern, or spots which suggest a sum of multiplication, or which, in the half-light of night or early morning, might be likely to fix themselves upon the tired brain, suggesting all kinds of weird forms, are especially to be avoided. The design should be of such a description that, saving as regards colour, it should offer no specially marked pattern.
The general wall surfaces should be varnished if possible, so that they may be easily cleaned down and be made practically non-absorbent.