The _chambre de parade_ demands the handsomest kind of furniture. Here visits of ceremony are received. A magnificent bed stands here in a rich alcove, or is separated by a balustrade from the rest of the room. The railing is quite high, gilded, and terminates in Corinthian columns. Carved panels with pilasters, painted white and brightened with gold, decorate the walls. A rich cornice, ornamented with consoles, and whose metopes are enriched with bas-reliefs and trophies, runs around these panels. The ceiling should be tastefully painted, and pictures, mirrors and handsome furniture should complete the decoration. White and gold, according to D’Aviler, is the most elegant composition, especially if the wall behind the balustrade, where the bed is placed, is covered with a tapestry of blue silk, and the bed hung with blue and white curtains, ornamented with gold braid. The form of this room is important: (1) it must be deeper than wide, so that, if the space occupied by the bed is excepted, the room is square; (2) the windows must be opposite the bed; (3) the chimney-piece must mark the centre of the room and be exactly opposite the principal entrance. As a rule, the _salon_ is rectangular. Its proportions are 4 to 3 or 2 to 1. There are square, round, oval and octagonal _salons_. Sometimes Corinthian columns are used for decoration and to frame the mirrors and pictures. The decoration is left largely to the taste of the owner, but whatever is chosen must be of great richness and charm, because the _salon_ is supposed to be “a retreat after a day spent in hunting or after a walk.” Here the inmates and guests gather to enjoy the evening with cards or conversation and light refreshments. The cabinet is a little room in the apartment, consecrated to study. It should be secluded and removed from all noise. As a rule, it is between the ante-chamber and the bedroom. The morning hours are usually passed in the cabinet. The servants go into the bedroom through the exits by the bed, and the master or mistress is undisturbed in his cabinet, which is decorated in the simplest kind of fashion so as not to take the thought away from study. Sometimes the cabinet consists of three little rooms, one _arrière-cabinet_ where books, etc., are kept and which is very private (_cabinet secret_); the next is a _serre-papier_, where titles, contracts, business papers and money are kept; while the third is a kind of wardrobe and toilet-room, which communicates with the bedroom, and has an exit for the servants. The name cabinet is also given to the room where the ladies make their toilette, have their oratory, or take their noonday rest. The _garde-robe_ is the room where the clothes are kept and where the body-servants sleep. Some architects like a chimney-piece here, for the sake of an occasional fire.