The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-06-04
Excepting Your
House In The
Pink Is Urged
BY AMOS WAGNER
Manager, Hardware Store

|
tonished> to find how many small
things meet your eye when you
really set about looking for them
All floors, walls, ceilings, stairs,
window si1ls and doors should be
given the uncover. In fact, not
only the rooms foundation but
everything in the room should be
sized up with the most minute at
tention for signs of wear, breaks
or even lost fragments which
may be replaced of substituted.
It's the greatest wisdom to be con-
eerned with "the little rift within
the lutte" of which poets sing-in
other words, to take that much
publicized stitch-in-time.
Preparation for touch-up day
should occur a long way ahead.
In fact, it should be kept in mind
even while you're redecorating
your rooms. Any odds and ends
of paint left over from walls, floor
or furniture should be saved for
''touching-up purposes. A n d
don't forget to label them so you
won't have to pry open several
of the cans in your basement cor
ner or work shop before you strike
the right one. Perhaps some of
your walls are finished with
water or casein paint. In this
case, be sure to keep some of the
powdered or paste paint on hand.
The interiors of your bureau
drawers will look twice as spic
and span if coated with paint.
A coating of blue is said to pre-
vent linens from yellowing, Incl
dentalIy. And while we're about
it, let's sandpaper and apply fur
niture wax. This will prevent any
roughness Of the wood from snag-
ging delicate fabrics. You have
no idea how much difference it
will make with the interiors of
drawers in your kitchen furni-
ture if paint coated.
Careful attention should be
paid to windows at all times.
Sometimes you'll find panes have
cracked without apparent reason.
This may be due to lack of putty.
Sometimes heavy rainfalls cause
the wood to swell from the alb
sorption of excess moisture and
the resultant pressure cracks the
glass. To guard against this as far
as possible, keep your window
frames we'll painted to exclude
moisture. See that inner edges
are thoroughly covered-even
when they are not exposed to
view. Furthermore, don't neg
lect loosening putty around the
glass-and never allow a work.
man to use any but the very best
grade of putty.
Furniture has an unfortunate
habit of collecting scratches. Some
of these-if they are light-may
be removed without entirely re-
finishing piece, by rubbing them
over with boiled linseed oil, tur-
pentine and white vinegar COM
bined in equal proportions.
The rest of your room will not
look shipshape if your floors are
not also rejuvenated. Linoleum
and linoleum rugs quite often be-
come torn or broken at the edges.
Such breaks are not only danger
Gus heel-catchers, but unless a
crack is Immediately sealed it will
soon become irreparably scuffed.
Furthermore, any water that may
find its way into it will rot the
under surface of the linoleum. A
satisfactory method of repair is
to melt some sealing wax of CO.
lor to match the linoleum. Run
this carefully into the break and
smooth it flat before it cools. If
a fragment of linoleum is broken
away, cut a piece of cloth larger
than the break, cover it with glue
and slip it underneath. Insert
the fragment in place and weigh
it down until the glue dries.
If your hardwood floors are be-
ginning to show paths where the
finish is worn away, it may be
you can patch them up without
completely refinishing. This de-
ponds on the original coating.
You'll get the best results by
cleaning up the worn areas with
varnish and then re-coating the
whole surface. Floor varnishes
dry so quickly nowadays that it's
not such an upsetting matter to
undertake the refinishing of a
floor as it used to be. Anyway,
if you'll only apply a thorough
coating of wax two or three times
year you'll save yourself a lot
of further trouble.
All of these "stitches-in-t time"
are odd jobs requiring but short
while to complete each of them
That's the point, you see-to regu-
late your schedule so touch-up
days won't come too far apart. To