SPECIAL PLACE
It may be that you are among those old enough to remember when many homes had a room called a “parlor”?
There was also a living room, and they were pretty much the same with the parlor little bit fancier, perhaps, and quite different because no one went into the parlor unless there was special company. It also took on special meaning for state affairs of the family such as weddings and funerals.
The parlor was kept closed, “shut up” was the term so often applied,and it was kept dark and shaded most of the time. Heavy drapes were drawn because sunlight faded the colors in upholstery, rugs and coverings. If the house had outside shutters they, too, were kept closed to tempt early morning coolness to remain in the parlor sanctuary. It was very often musty and many
parlor fireplace mantels had little cast-iron, oriental-like incense burners to counteract that natural tendency for a place so set apart and sealed.
The other “everyday” parlor - called The Living Room – was used a great deal more depending on the weather conditions outside. A dependable fireplace or stove was necessary, in most cases, too. It was intended to be a place for relaxation and comfort and the chairs were much less formal and much more sittable than in the formal parlor. In truth, most of the family's real day-to-day living was done in the kitchen and dining room . A long, stretch-out sofa was usually a standard part of a room intended for living rather than show, several deep chairs. It was, as the years moved along, invaded by a “gramophone”, card and game tables,. then “radio”, and, in time, TV.
These encroachments on Living Room comfort eventually saw the formal parlor in our house and others mutated into a Rec Room oror Den with stereo, TV, VCR, tape recorders, computers, electronic games an other alphabecially identified units were added as the came in to being. The parlor as such , ceased to be, on the whole, I think that has been an improvement especially for Mom ,or whoever was charged with maintaining the monster . When the preacher called, for example, Mom had to rush ahead in to the parlor to let in just enough light to keep the accumulated dust hidden a bit. She dusted the family Bible with quick swipe of a cloth or handy, real-feather dust brush keep nearby for just that purpose.
House-living has changed a great deal in recent decades with more emphasis on visiting rather than staying. So many home today are, quite logically, coming to be places of visiting rather than staying. The very design of smaller homes has changed. Look down the street in your development and notice how many homes consist of a two-car garage sticking out toward curb side along the street like piglets at a trough, with rooms appended above or in back of the garage. Real estate dealers, not too proud of this typical home they are selling so well, when conversing with one another , call them “snouthouses.”
Not a parlor in sight anywhere, and you will also find it difficult to locate what used to be called a “Living Room” which is on the way out. Snouthouse living calls for a large, fully-equipped g/p-room behind the two-stall car enclosure with beds/baths attached all-round. Gone forever are such isolated, inefficient divisions such as the Living Rooms and Parlors.
Practical. Home discrete home.
A.L.M. July 9, 2004 [c566wds]
