House Cleaning

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 675, 29 May 1929, Page 6

House Cleaning

CARE OF FURNITURE

Tips Worth Remembering

YOU can’t polish a thing until it is clean. All the furniture cream in the house won’t make that table of .yours shine properly if it isn’t free from dirt first. Cold tea is one of the best cleansers for wooden surfaces. Use several clean cloths, damping the first one well in cold tea, and drying the article at once with a succession of dry, clean cloths; discard each of these as it begins to look grubby. Some people prefer to use cold vinegar and water (mixed in equal parts), while you still find people who pin their faith to warm beer.

Whatever your cleansing medium, don’t forget that you can reach those troublesome crevices and crannies by wrapping the cloth round an old penholder, or even a matchstick. Floors, too, must be clean if they are to polish well. Go all over them with warm (not hot) water, and a little soap, doing a small piece at a time and drying it before you proceed further. A little paraffin in the water will help to get the grime off linoleum. And change the water frequently. UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE Upholstered furniture should be gently beaten and then well brushed with a perfectly clean clothes-brush. Cane-seated chairs, wicker clothesbaskets, etc., may be made clean and taut by washing in hot water and lemon juice, and setting to dry in the sun. Remember that elbowgrease is the hest brightener of polished furniture; use very little polish but use it vigorously. One of the best ways of polishing a floor is to slip a man’s thick sock over each hand; use one hand for applying the polish, the other tor rubbing, and you will be surprised how dexterous

you become in using both hands at once, and so getting over your ground at a fine speed. To remove the grease spots from a polished floor, wash the stained part with cold water, well rub the spots with a good household soap, then wipe off, and the grease should have gone. Repeat, if necessary. Another method is to rub with a cut lemon. If hot water is used to remove the stains, add a little liquid ammonia to it. Stains on upholstery are best removed with petrol. As this is very inflammable the work should be done out of doors, if possible, and away from a naked light. If done in a room, turn out the gas and open the windows wide. Dip a clean, soft cloth in petrol and rub well into the upholstery, taking piece by piece, and changing both cloth and petrol as they become soiled! When quite clean, leave in the open air to dry and until all the smell of the petrol has gonq. A good stain for a floor is made by mixing one pint of turpentine with a small quantity of black japan paint. Stir well. This makes a brown stain. To darken the stain add more black japan.