Threshold of Spring

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 August 1935, Page 13

Threshold of Spring

A Seasonal Overhaul

We are now on the threshold of spring, and thoughts naturally turn to a thorough overhaul of the home. Here are a few hints that will help you. If your white enamel bath is stained and dirty, rub it with kerosene, or in bad cases a concentrated solution of potassium bichromate. Wash thoroughly afterwards, to remove all traces of the cleansing agent.

If, unluckily, there should be a hole in the linoleum, first stick a new piece of canvas along the undcr-surface of the hole. Then take an old piece of lino or, better still, cork carpet, and cut it into tiny pieces, if possible grinding it to powder in a pepper mill. Add to it just sufficient hot Scotch glue to form a thick putty; smear a thin layer of glue around the hole, then apply the putty, pressing it well in. Make sure the putty fills up the hole, then, with a knife, level it down w r ith the surface of the lino. Leave for a day or two covered with paper, then rub the putty smooth with glass paper and paint it with oil paints to match the rest of the lino.

While we are still in the bathroom, do you know the correct way to wash chamois leather to prevent it going hard? Make a nice lather in warm water and squeeze as much lather as possible out of the chamois, but don’t rinse; just hang the leather up to dry as it is. The soap left in the chamois makes it beautifully soft.

If vour bedroom wallpaper is soiled her and there, rub all marks gently with a piece of stale bread, or dough, using a new piece w-hen the old one becomes dirty. Remove grease marks byplacing a piece of folded brown paper over the marks' and pressing with a hot iron until the grease has been absorbed. For very bad marks, .make a paste of Fuller’s earth and leave it on the spot all day, brushing off with a soft brush. When repairing a tear in patterned wallpaper be sure to cut out the fresh paper to correspond in pattern to the old torn patch. With plain wallpaper tear the new piece, don’t cut, and thin the under edges with glass paper. The patch will then lie flat and be hardly noticeable. You will probably have a polished chest of drawers which has become dented or scratched in the, course of time. If so, soak thick sheets of blotting' paper in water and lay them on the wood. Then press with a hot iron till the paper is almost dry. If you repeat this process several times, the surface will become quite smooth once more. .Should this treatment affect the polish of the wood, rub over the spot with white furniture cream and rub up with a warmed duster. Rub over your mirror with methylated spirits; it cleans all glass equally well, so use it for your picture frames and windows, as well.