As the pattern of rooms in later 17th-century England drew closer to the French model, a typical private‘ suite developed in fashionable houses. It consisted of the withdrawing room, the bedroom, and the closet. The bedroom had a role as a reception room where privileged guests were received, usually in the morning when the host was getting up and being dressed. For completely private relaxation another room developed — the closet — after the fashion of the French cabinet. (more…)

Enormous fun can be had with mirrors if you study carefully where to place them. Walls can be pushed out to infinity, rooms given better proportions, lightbrought into dark corners, things seen in the round.

There are the mahogany cheval dressing glasses, which used to be called “psyches”. There are pier glasses, to hang upon the “pier” walls between the windows and so let you admire yourself with the light from the window full upon you. They can be finished off with a handsome console table and a large Chinese vase or one of those soft metal groups which you can buy for shillings and paint a gleaming white. (more…)