American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-06-11
Floors and Floor Coverings.

| nero are many housewives unIS sea-
son who cannot afford to replace worm
out carpets with new ones nor have
they inlaid floors over which to spread
| rugs. How to cover the rough, knOtty
planks, splashed here and there with
| spoA of paint that Constitute the floors
o. 50 many houses, is one of the per-
Eple king problems a woman with a mod
est Income is called upon to answer. If
She were having house newly built, of
course there would be well-finished
floors. smoothly-planed, narrow, clear
grained and close-fitting planks that
would be more easily managed. but
with. unsightly floors provided and no
money to buy yards upon yards of car
pet to cover it. the only thing to do is
to accept the situation and proceed to
make the best of it.
Where there are spots and splashes
from the paint brush to be removed,
cover these with caustic potash, which
ns1st be left on from twentyfour to
thMty-six hours. or until the paint is
dissolved. Then scrub the i1oor. Next
fill up all cracks between the planks
with putty and plane off uneven sur
faces. IL is now ready to stain and
polish. Mixtures for staining are put
up in tin cans and are for sale at paint
stores. Decide if the floor is to be
stained light or dark color, in alternate
stripes of dark and light or center of
one shade and border OF another. Order
the staining material accordingly, and,
before applying with a good paint
brush. thin II TO proper consistency
with turpentine.
floor may be stained walnut color
with burnt umber ground in oil. All
other colors ground in. oil are. by the
way, put up in tin boxes or cans for the
convenience of those whph no facil-
'itias fOr grin ding their 0wn. paints. and
issisnsimps, rcss q bn 1s pound and
Rnsof burnt lumber grq IN oil will
ID Suaicient to stain -tk& r of an
room. Add to boiled
hseed oil enough Of this 90 to pro-
ducethe shade required. ThiSmixture
may be rubbed into the wood with a
woplen cloth or applied w141fp brush,
.asterwards rubbing over wiz WOODEN
rclotll until the stain Will - longer
come of. Ai.er the floor isNfy if the
color Is not dark enough apply second
THIS staining will leave the floor duh
ip color, and waxing 10 next in order,
in The proportions Of on1pound of wax,
.shaved thin to one dlon of turpen-
tine, The wax should soak for about
two days IN the tufpentine previous to
being rubbed ON the floor with WOODEN
cloth. Several applications at intervals
of about three days must be made be- |
fore the required polish will be gained, 1
after which, in parlors and bedrooms
that do not receive hard usage, the wax |
need not be applied oftener than once |
or twice every month The floor in the |
mean time can be cleaned by passing |
oyer it a broom covered with moist |
cloth. These floors must always be |
wiped up. never scrubbed. I
? it. need hardly be Explained that
much labor may be spared by Spreading
down over the main center space large
rug, allowing a border of the wood to
show. By this arrangement the border
portion only need be waxed.~. ff
In houses where there are hardwood
floors the following recipe will be found
q good one for refreshing them: Mix
one pound OF melted becswax in q pint
of turpentine. When mixed it ought
to be The consistency of lard or axle
grease. Should it prove thicker than
this, thin by adding more turpentine.
Apply to, the Hoerr previously cleaned
Of dust, with a CLOTH; put on sparing-
ly. Allow it to remain four or five
hours. or until the turpenttne hiss evap-
grated, and then wipe the floor dry with
Very serviceable as well as pretty
rugs for the center of stained floors may
be made of carpcting bordered with
regular carpet bordering, or with heavy
WOODEN fringe. There are also mex
pensive domestic rugs for sale at carpet
stores, in imitation of Smyrna rugs.
that cost but small fraction of the
price of an entire covering of carpet
~ y World.