The Library of Work and Play: HousekeepingGilman, Elizabeth Hale
General
The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping
Gilman, Elizabeth Hale
Home economics
_Furniture._--Upholstered furniture should if possible be put out on
a veranda where it can be aired and brushed. If this is not possible
it should be beaten or brushed when we are preparing the room for
cleaning. All creases and tufting should be carefully explored with
a whisk and the furniture afterward covered with a cloth until the
other cleaning is finished. Furniture upholstered in leather should
be wiped, not brushed, and occasionally rubbed with vinegar, and sweet
oil--proportions, one tablespoonful vinegar to three of oil. In time
this slightly darkens the colour of the leather, but it keeps it from
cracking.
On regular cleaning days polished furniture should have its carvings
and cracks brushed out with the paint brush used for the woodwork of
the room, and should then be rubbed with a very soft cloth. About once
a month--oftener if the wear is hard, less often if it is easy--it
should be rubbed with a good polish. The old furniture in France has
usually been rubbed for generations with sweet oil and vinegar, in the
proportions given above for leather furniture; probably few things are
better. Two of the polishes suggested for floors, are equally good for
furniture:
½ turpentine to ½ crude oil.
1 part kerosene to 2 parts linseed oil.
Also, equal parts turpentine, linseed oil and vinegar.
I believe that the best care an amateur can give to a very highly
polished piece of furniture like a piano, is to wash it, when it
becomes clouded, with luke-warm soapsuds. The soap should be mild,
good soap. Wash a bit of the furniture at a time and dry it carefully,
using very soft cloths; when it has all been dried, polish it with
chamois and as much energy as you can conscientiously spare.
If painted furniture looks dingy, rub it with a little kerosene.
Kerosene will usually remove spots from painted furniture--finger-marks
from white enamelled beds, for instance.
_Windows._--The woodwork of windows should be brushed and wiped free
from dust before the washing of the glass begins. It is better not to
use soap for washing windows or glass of any kind; it sometimes clouds
it, sometimes gives it a blue tinge. Put ammonia or borax in the water
used, or else rub the glass with whiting, or a scouring soap which is
not gritty. If one of these, or whiting, is used, it should be allowed
to dry and should then be rubbed off with a dry cloth or a newspaper
until the glass shines. Newspaper is as good as anything you can get
for polishing windows. There is nothing especial to say about cleaning
windows with water except wash the panes clean and dry them dry, one at
a time, beginning with those nearest the top of the sash. Do not try to
wash all the windows in a house with a pint of water and a wristband,
but the opposite extreme is as bad--worse for your dwelling. Any
method of cleaning windows by dashing quantities of water on the panes,
breaks the putty, loosens the glass, spoils the paint on the woodwork
and soaks the wood itself with water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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