THE CALL OF SPRING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20261, 9 November 1935, Page 14

THE CALL OF SPRING

RENEWING THE HOME The spring-cVaning campaign, on however modest a scale it is waged, will almost certainly need to take in the furniture and the woodwork ,in your living rooms, for with clean upholstery to live up to the wooden surfaces of the furniture will be crying out for attention. And usually both cleaning and polishing are necessary. There are many reliable furniture polishes and waxes on the market that do both, but when the soil is of long standing polishing becomes much easier if the film of dust and grime is removed beforehand. And for this vinegar water, made by adding a tablespoonful of vinegar to a quart of water, is quite the most effective, though

varnished wood that is inclined to be gummy is better washed with lukewarm suds made from a good mild soap. After washing the woodwork should be rinsed with a cloth wrung out in clear water and then dried with a soft cloth.

And now the furniture is ready for polishing. Actually the kind of polish used is of comparatively little importance, for none of them is effective without regular and vigorous application. One of the best of polishes is the good old-fashioned one that our grandmothers used —beeswax and turpentine. The beeswax is shredded and just enough turps is added to dissolve the wax to a fairly thick solution. Camphor can be added to the turps, too, in the proportion of half an ounce to a pint of turps. After allowing this to stand for 24 hours two ounces of finely shredded beeswax is added. Olive oil and vinegar, parafiin and turps or linseed oil, turps and methylated spirits, all mixed in equal proportions, also make good and inexpensive polishes, while a solution that will help to bring up the colour in the wood at the same time as polishing it is made from half a pint each of turps and linseed oil and a quarter of a pint each of methylated spirits and brown vinegar. THfcse ingredients are simply poured into a bottle, shaken well and left to form an emulsion before using.

Leather furniture can be freshened up enormously if it is treated with a weak solution of oxalic acid. It must be used very sparingly, though, as must any preparation that is applied to leather, for if it is too lavishly used the leather will become sticky, and consequently collect every speck of dust within reach.

Probably the walls will call for attention too. Rubbing with stale bread or a piece of indiarubber will freshen up wallpaper amazingly, while another excellent method is to sprinkle oatmeal on a damp cloth and rub gently over the walls, paying particularly attention to especially soiled spots. Certain kinds of stains, however, need special treatment. Grease, for instance. For these stains the application of a thick paste made of French chalk and petrol or some reliable dry cleaning fluid is the best treatment. The paste should be thick enough to stick to the wall, and it must be left on for an hour or two, till it is thoroughly dry. Then brush it off.

Varnished wallpaper is best cleaned by rubbing over lightly with a cloth wrung out in warm soapy water to which two tablespoons of ammonia has been added. Afterward rinse with cold water to which turps, in the proportion of about two tablespoons to half a bucketful of water, has been added, and, finally, dry with a clean cloth and work over with a clean, dry duster.