Furniture and Furnishings

Furniture and Furnishings 3(1+2)

Lesson 07: Plans And Furniture Arrangement

The Bedroom

The uses of bedrooms need not be confined to sleeping and dressing only. The main bedroom can be planned as a bedroom/study or pleasant workroom, while the children ’s bedrooms should provide for most of their indoor activities. The most important piece of furniture is, of course, the bed, and this should always be placed in the warmest part of the room. The cold areas in a room are along the outside walls and windows where greatest loss of heat occurs. Therefore the bed should be placed against an inside wall, the surface temperature of which is higher.

The window is not the best position for the dressing table, where the mirror excludes light and makes the room look smaller and unbalanced. It is better placed against the most suitable area of wall, with effective artificial light. The window could then become the site for a desk or, in the case of a bay window, a comfortable built- in seat.
Few people today use open fires in bedrooms. Old fireplaces can be removed to give increased space and greater flexibility in furniture arrangement.

Consider the advantages of having wardrobes built in. These and other storage can be fitted in suitable recesses, or along outside walls where they will provide additional insulation against heat loss. Outside walls can also be lined with fibre boards, or other insulating materials.

Waste space in bedrooms is usually in the angle of walls and ceiling, and above head level, can be effectively used for built- in cupboards giving extra storage for such things as suitcases, spare blankets and linen.