A music room, to be perfect, should not have heavy draperies to deaden the sound, and the window and door openings should be treated architecturally to make this possible.  In a French music room the walls may be either paneled, or have a dado with a soft tint above it.  This space may be treated in several ways:  it may have silk panels outlined with moldings, or dainty pastoral scenes painted and framed with wreaths and garlands of composition.  The style of the Regency with its use of musical instruments for decorative motifs is also attractive.  The chairs should be comfortable, the lights soft and well shaded side-lights, with a plentiful supply near the piano.

[Illustration:  A beautiful doorway in the bedroom of the Empress, Compiegne.  The fastening shows how much thought was expended on small matters, so the balance of decoration would be kept.  The chairs are Louis XVI.]

[Illustration:  An exquisite reproduction of the bed of Marie Antoinette.]

[Illustration:  A simple but charming Louis XVI bed in enamel and cane.]

A piano is usually a difficulty, for they are so unwieldy and dark that they are quite out of key with the rest of the room.  We have become so used to its ugliness, however, that, sad to say, we are not so much shocked by it as we should be, thinking it a necessary evil.  If we walk through the show rooms of one of the great piano companies we shall see that this is a mistake, for there are many cases made of light colored woods, and some have a much more graceful outline than the regulation piano.  Cases can be made to order to suit any scheme, if one has a competent designer.  A music room should not have small and meaningless ornaments in it; the ideal is a restful and charming room where one may listen with an undistracted mind.

The modern dining-room with all its comforts is really of English descent.  In France, even in the eighteenth century, only the palaces and great houses had rooms especially set apart for dining-rooms.  Usually a small ante-chamber was used, which served as a boudoir or reception room between meals.  To our more established point of view it seems a very casual method.  At last, late in the century, the real ideal of a dining-room began to gain ground, and although they were very different from ours, we find really charming ones described and pictured.  The walls were usually light in tone, paneled, with graceful ornamentation, and often there were niches containing wall-fountains of delightful design.  The sideboards were either large side-tables, or a species of side-table built in niches, with a fountain between them which was used as a wine cooler.  These fountains where cupids and dolphins disported themselves would be a most attractive feature to copy in some of our rooms, in country houses especially.  The tables were round or square, but not the extension type which came later from England, and the chairs were comfortable, with broad upholstered or cane seats, and rather low backs.  There should be a screen to harmonize with the room in front of the pantry door.  We also add hangings, for, as I have said many times, our window-frames are not a decoration in themselves.  Old prints show most delightfully the manner in which curtains were hung when they were used; the very elaborate methods, however, were not used by the better class.