ITEMS OF INTEREST AND VALUE
There is nothing like spring sunshine for bringing out scratches and blemishes on the furniture and marks of wear and tear on carpets and upholstery. Possibly the housekeeper’s eye is quickened by the approach of housecleaning paraphernalia, but certain it is that the room that has worn a respectable air through the winter with the first ardent glance of old Sol will suddenly reveal no end of defects. For restoring furniture there are several excellent preparations to be found in the market, and nearly every housekeeper has her own preference among them. With one of the good oil polishes, a soft cloth, and plenty of what is popularly known as “elbow-grease,” very obstinate scratches will disappear. A vigorous rubbing with a clean flannel cloth should follow the application of the preparation in all cases.
A mixture of oil and turpentine is the best of restoratives for wood that has become grimy and dull. The usual formula is three parts of paraffine oil to one part of turpentine. Be sure that all dust is removed before the work begins. Moisten a flannel cloth in the mixture, and apply it to all parts of the wood. In obstinate cases let the preparation remain on the wood for a time then dust with rottenstone, moisten again with oil and rub quickly after the oil is applied. Do not let the rottenstone become dry, or it will still further blemish the wood. When the work with the rottenstone and oil is over, follow it up with rubbings with a clean, soft cloth and then with a polishing with the oil and turpentine described above. There is no objection to mixing the rottenstone and oil in a dish before the work begins.
To clean furniture that may have come from the second-hand store or store-room, where it has been badly soiled, make a mixture of beeswax and kitchen soap—an ounce of the wax to a quarter of a pound of the soap. Dissolve the two together over the fire and then stir in half an ounce of sal-soda. Stir the mixture until it is cold and then mix with it an equal part of turpentine. A little of this on a soft cloth will work wonders with old furniture.
The dark fumed oak of the Mission and other popular furniture shapes sometimes gets marred below its stain. In such cases common oil paints sold to amateurs for 10 cents and 5 cents a tube may be rung into service. Burnt umber and lampblack will give the fumed-oak shade. Drop the umber in a saucer and mix to the desired shade with lampblack, thinning with linseed oil. Burnt sienna and lampblack toned with yellow ochre will give mahogany color. Burnt sienna, burnt umber, lampblack, and yellow ochre mixed in the right proportions give black-walnut tone. Burnt sienna is about the color of cherry. Raw umber will answer for most light woods such as ash, oak, and maple. Use brush or cloth in putting on the colors, according to convenience.
Natural finished willow furniture may be cleaned with soapsuds in which borax has been dissolved. It should be applied with a scrubbing-brush. The pieces should be dried very speedily in the sun. Before the cleaning with water begins, the piece should be thoroughly dusted. This rule holds good with any article at all that is being washed. All loose dust should be shaken or brushed off or out before water is applied.
Natural wood should be freed from all loose dust before cleaning and then may be wiped off with a woollen cloth moistened with oil and turpentine or with wood alcohol. This treatment should be followed by a rubbing with a dry woollen cloth to bring out the polish. A woman who found several dents in the hardwood of her dining-room wainscoting restored it by laying over each dent a thick pad of wet brown paper, a wet cloth folded several times over that, and then applying a hot iron over all. When the pad was about dry it was removed, and if the place still showed a mar the treatment was repeated.
One housekeeper who is successful in keeping her furniture in polish washes the varnished-wood frames twice a year with potato water and then rubs them dry and bright with woollen cloths. The piano receives the same treatment. The potato water is prepared by soaking uncooked potatoes sliced thin in cold water for two or three hours and then straining the water.
An old housekeeper who has several choice Oriental rugs, some of light color, sees to the cleaning of them herself. They are first swept thoroughly on both sides on the grass of the back yard. Then, if they are light-colored, they are covered with cornstarch which has a small mixture of prepared chalk, and are left for several hours. At the end of that time they are brushed free from the powder, shaken well and beaten carefully. Dark ones are covered with hardwood sawdust and left over night. The next day they are swept with a stiff clean broom, and then wiped off with a towel wrung out of hot water.
The silver desk furnishings, vases, etc., will retain their gloss with little extra cleaning if they are polished with a piece of soft silk several times a week.
Silver should always be thoroughly washed after any cleansing powder or liquid is used on it.
To clean copper kettles, rub the kettle with a cut lemon dipped in powdered bath brick. When all stains are removed, wash in warm soapy water; then dry and polish with powdered bath brick and a soft cloth.
To polish brass trimmings, such as hinges, handles, and other ornaments of furniture, without marring the wood during the work requires that the polish shall be beneficial to the wood as well as to the metal. A mixture of half as much naphtha as paraffine oil and enough powdered rottenstone to make a soft, thick cream will accomplish the purpose. It should be applied with wool and should be followed by a rubbing with a soft cloth. Before polishing the last time it is well to make an application of dry rottenstone powder to remove all traces of the naphtha. Unless this is done, the brass will tarnish soon.
White wax packed with white silk or satin will keep the material from yellowing. It is an old custom to put away the wedding gown in this way.
To take out a blood-stain, cover the spot with cold raw starch, just wet enough to make a paste, and leave it until it is dry.
To remove wine-stains, spread the blemished fabric over a bowl and pour boiling salt water through it from a height.
Machine oil should be washed out in cold water before the article stained with it goes to the laundress.
Javelle water is an antidote for iron rust.
Valuable plaster casts are best cleaned by professional plaster-workers. Small pieces that have become soiled may be made more sightly by covering them with whiting and fuller’s earth, wrapping them in a cloth and leaving them for two or three days. When the powder is brushed off much of the grime will go with it.