The Library of Work and Play: HousekeepingGilman, Elizabeth Hale
General
The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping
Gilman, Elizabeth Hale
Home economics
_The Walls._--Walls are panelled, or painted, or calcimined, or covered
with fabric or paper. Wood, paint and calcimine are considered cleaner
than other coverings, but all can be kept up to an ordinary standard of
cleanliness.
Panelling should be carefully wiped with the wool-headed mop used for
the ceiling, or with a cloth where it is within reach. If the wood is
dark and polished, it may now and again be rubbed with a little good
furniture polish; if it is light or unpolished it is better to content
oneself with wiping off the dust.
Fabric-covered walls should be cleaned once or twice a year with a
vacuum cleaner. If this is not possible, they may be as often brushed.
This must not be done violently, but carefully, and preferably with a
hair broom--a white hair broom such as one uses for clothes, if the
wall covering is especially handsome or delicate in colour.
Painted walls may be wiped with a dry or dampened mop, or they may be
washed with soap and water, or even with disinfectant, should this
happen to be desirable.
Calcimined walls may be wiped only with a soft mop, or very gently
with a broom in a bag. Mop or broom bag must often be shaken out of
the window, otherwise the walls will be smirched or clouded. Very
little in the way of restoration or cleaning should be attempted with
calcimine, for it almost invariably makes a bad matter worse. Spots
such as are made by hands or heads can sometimes be removed by rubbing
them with a piece of dry bread, or with some corn meal. It is safe to
experiment with any _dry_ remedy; but a wet remedy will always fail.
Even calcimine itself, put over a spot or a scar, will leave a mark.
Papered walls may be wiped with a dry mop, or a broom in a bag. They
are not as easily smirched as calcimine, but one must frequently shake
out of doors, or else change any brush or cloth used for wiping walls.
If you need a reason for wiping walls and ceilings, look at the mop or
the cover of the broom with which you have done the work. Dirt is the
enemy of health and loveliness.
_Woodwork._--When woodwork is cleaned, all cracks, ornaments and
irregularities should first be gone over with a small, soft brush. A
flat brush such as is used for varnishing is good.
If the woodwork is not polished, it should next be carefully--that
is, every inch of it--wiped and rubbed with a soft, dry cloth, or if
the room is exceedingly dusty, with a cloth very slightly dampened.
Any sort of oil, or polish, or even water is apt to darken or spot
unpolished wood. In the case of baseboards and window ledges, however,
a little dressing of some kind should occasionally be rubbed into them,
for they have to be defended from dampness in the one case, and hard
usage in the second. A little of the polish used for floors will do
very well for this purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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