There was a wave of building and renovation activity in town and country. Housing is now, for the first time, purely for dwelling and not for defense. They were designed symmetrically with decorative features instead of a haphazard addition of rooms. Windows were large and put on the outer walls instead of just inside the courtyard. A scarcity of timber caused proportionally more stone to be used for dwelling houses and proportionately more brick to be used for royal palaces and mansions. The rest of the house was plaster painted white interspersed with vertical, horizontal, and sloping timber, usually oak, painted black. They had locks and bolts for protection from intruders. The floors were stone or wood, and sometimes tile. They were often covered with rushes or plaited rush mats. Some private rooms may have carpets on the floor. Walls were smoothly plastered or had carved wood paneling to control drafts. Painted cloths replaced tapestries on walls. Candles were hung from the ceiling and used on tables. Plastered ceilings and a lavish use of glass made rooms lighter and cozy. Broad and gracious stairways with carved wood banisters replaced the narrow winding stone steps of a stairwell. Most houses had several brick chimneys and clear, but uneven, glass in the windows. There were fireplaces in living rooms, dining rooms, kitchen, and bedrooms. Sometimes there was a library, study room, or breakfast room as well. Rooms were more spacious than before and contained furniture such as chests of drawers, enclosed cupboards, cabinets, buffets, tables, chairs and benches with backs and cushions, sometimes with arms, and occasionally wardrobes, either hanging or with shelves, for clothes. Carpeting covered tables, chests, and beds. Family portraits decorated some walls, usually in the dining room. Bedrooms all led out of each other. But curtains on the four poster beds with tops provided privacy. Beds had elaborately carved bedsteads, sheets, and a feather coverlid as well as a feather mattress. Often family members, servants, and friends shared the same bed for warmth or convenience. Each bedroom typically had a cabinet with a mirror, e.g. of burnished metal or crystal, and comb on top. One brushed his teeth with tooth soap and a linen cloth, as physicians advised. Each bedroom had a pitcher and water bowl, usually silver or pewter, for washing in the morning, and a bed-pan for nighttime use, and also fragrant flowers. Elizabeth had a room just for her bath. Smoking tobacco and snuff-taking became popular.