The whitewasher should prepare herself carefully for the work. Lime is injurious to clothes, shoes and skin. Wear old shoes and clothes which can be washed, and protect your head and hands. Professional whitewashers usually appear in hats or sunbonnets; it is not a badge of their profession, but a means of protecting their eyes when they whitewash above their heads. Protection for hands is even more necessary, a day's work without protection means hands too sore to use for anything. One might think that rubber gloves would be perfect for this purpose, but in a few hours the lime eats through the rubber. Old rags which one can tie round one's hands and replace with others when they get wet are I believe the most effectual protection.
Lime once slacked can be kept from one whitewashing to another and from year to year merely by keeping it always wet. It should also be kept covered, for dust discolours it.
Painting.—Surfaces which are to be painted should first be made clean, dry and smooth. Sweep and wipe walls and ceilings, scrub woodwork with soap and water, remove stains and grease spots, sandpaper rough places and fill dints, cracks and scratches: those in the walls with plaster of Paris, those in the woodwork with putty. When woodwork receives two coats of paint, the putty should be applied after the first coat has dried.
Surfaces which have not before been painted always require two coats of paint. The first must be thoroughly dry before another is applied.
Amateurs succeed better if they use already mixed paints, rather than those of their own mixing. If after it has been long and well stirred paint is thicker than light cream, it should be thinned with turpentine. Because in thick paint the places where the strokes of the brush began and ended are apt to show; likewise, because thickly painted surfaces are easily scarred.
Paint with long, light strokes; it is a motion like waving a flag, not like scrubbing.
For wide surfaces, like walls or ceilings, use a fairly wide brush to save time; for narrow places like door and window casings use a small brush. Soak new brushes in water, and keep all brushes in water during intervals when they are not in use. A brush which has dried with paint in it will soften if it is soaked in turpentine.
Floors and Carpets.—Methods for refinishing hardwood floors were given in Chapter Six.
The directions for beating rugs given in the same chapter apply equally to the cleaning of carpets.
Papering.—It is not always safe to copy professionals in the matter of putting on wall paper. They do many things which the unskilled cannot. Nevertheless, the first thing to do in this work is to examine the paper already on the walls. Count the full-length strips, then count the short strips and calculate how many full-length strips they amount to.