I prefer tables, and I have them
made big enough to hold all my papers, big enough to spread out on.
There are dozens of enchanting small desks that are exactly right for
guest-rooms, the extremely feminine desks that come from old France. One
of the most fascinating ones is copied from a _bureau de toilette_ that
belonged to Marie Antoinette. In those days the writing of letters and
the making of a toilet went together. This old desk has a drawer filled
with compartments for toilet things, powders and perfumes and patches,
and above this vanity-drawer there is the usual shelf for writing, and
compartments for paper and letters. The desk itself suggests brocade
flounces and powdered hair, so exquisitely is it constructed of
tulipwood and inlaid with other woods of many colors.
Then there are the small desks made by modern furniture-makers, just
large enough to hold a blotting-pad, a paper rack, and a pair of
candlesticks. There is always a shallow drawer for writing materials.
Such a desk may be decorated to match the chintzes of any small bedroom.
If it isn't possible for you to have a desk in each guest-room, there
should be a little writing-room somewhere apart from the family
living-room. If you live in one of those old-fashioned houses
intersected by great halls with much wasted space on the upper floors,
you may make a little writing-room of one of the hall-ends, and screen
it from the rest of the hall with a high standing screen.
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