Many vacation homes are so obviously furnished with discarded town house
furniture—odds and ends from different rooms—and with misfit draperies
and scraps of old carpet. After a few seasons they are likely to look
like a cross between a second-hand store and a rummage sale. Rooms
containing such odds and ends can scarcely be called restful and yet a
cabin home is supposed to exist for rest and relaxation.
[Illustration: The fold-away bed is popular in well-ordered cabins.
You can buy the old-style apartment house beds or construct the
folding arrangement yourself with hinges or braces and legs as
shown. The shelf and curtain plan is the simplest way to conceal it,
but if you want better appearance in the daytime, recess the bed
into a closet to fit and enclose it with doors.]
[Illustration: Four single bunks arranged Pullman style provide a
lot of sleeping capacity in a small room. However, don’t overlook
the problem of comfortable ventilation.]
[Illustration: Imitation log siding made the framework and finish
for these built-in bunks. Note that space between the bunks is
sufficient for daytime lounging without striking a tall lounger’s
head against the upper bunk.]
If you are buying new furniture, give consideration to the newer
so-called California style furniture, which retains the Spanish or
Mission influence. It is now made by various manufacturers. It has
simplicity and sturdiness, is not easily damaged, and does not need a
great deal of care. It is perhaps the most distinctive kind of furniture
for the purpose and, when set in an environment of rustic simplicity
with gay fabrics and correct accessories, is admirably suited to
informal living.
[Illustration: Here is a space saving arrangement—a bunk and trundle
bunk. The bunk at the right slides through the living room wall and
under the high bunk in the bedroom. A variation of this arrangement
is a bed that slides through the living room wall to the sleeping
porch so you can sleep indoors or out as fancy dictates. From the W.
B. Fairweather beach home at Balboa Island, Calif.]