HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES
In and around the house there is opportunity for the creation of a number
of useful articles that can be made by any boy who is at all handy with
tools. For example, the tops of doorways and windows in a dining-room may
be improved by the addition of narrow shelves, or ledges, on which old
plates, slim jugs, or some quaint old bottles may rest.
These ledges may be made from pine, white-wood, cypress, or other wood to
match the trim. The wood should not be more than half or five-eighths of
an inch in thickness, as shown at Fig. 1. The shelves should be three or
four inches in width, with a straight front, or slightly curved, as shown
in Fig. 2. This curve is called a serpentine line, and may be shaped
with a draw-knife; or, if the wood is soft, it can easily be cut with a
compass-saw and finished off with a draw-knife and sand-paper.
Two brackets cut from wood the same thickness as the shelf will support
it at either end. These are cut three inches wide at the top and from six
to eight inches long, in the shapes shown in Fig. 3.
It gives a more attractive finish to extend the ends of the ledge two or
three inches beyond the door or window trim, as shown in the illustration
of Fig. 1.
A Plate-rail
For cups and small pitchers a plate-rail may be arranged around the walls
of a dining-room, as shown at Fig. 4.
A wall-plate six or eight inches wide is made fast to the wall about
five feet up from the floor, and to it, at intervals of twenty to
thirty inches, brackets are screwed fast. These are cut in one of the
forms shown in Fig. 3, and are three inches wide. The top shelf is four
inches wide, and is laid on the tops of the brackets and pushed back
against the wall, where the rear edge is screwed fast to the top edge
of the wall-plate. Where the rail meets a doorway or window-casing the
corner is rounded, as shown in the illustration. This may be done with a
compass-saw and small plane. A narrow strip of wood is nailed fast to the
top of the rail about two inches out from the wall, to prevent the plates
from sliding off.
A narrow plate-rail may be attached to the wall higher up, or about in
the position occupied by a picture-moulding. Shorter brackets should
support it, and they may be attached directly to the wall without the aid
of a wall-plate, since the latter would give a heavy appearance to a rail
at that height.
A Cup and Plate Rack
It is hardly advisable to give definite dimensions for the cup and plate
rack (Fig. 5), since it should be designed in accordance with the amount
of wall room that may be available. The rack shown in Fig. 5 is intended
for a wall space three feet wide and seventy-two inches high. The two
uprights are made of white-wood thirty-nine inches high, three inches
wide, and half an inch thick. The lower ends are tapered, as shown in
the drawing, and the upper ends are fashioned with a compass-saw. The
brackets are six inches wide, nine inches long, and half an inch from the
outer edge a depression is cut in the top to receive a half-inch dowel.
[Illustration: FIG. 1. FIG. 2. FIG. 3. FIG. 4. FIG. 5. FIG. 6. FIG. 7.
FIG. 8.]
The shelves on which the plates rest are three inches wide and
twenty-one inches long. The dowels extend from three to six inches over
each end, as shown in the drawing. From their under-sides cups may be
suspended on hooks screwed into the wood. The front edges of the shelves
are provided with a strip of wood fastened on with slim, steel-wire
nails, to prevent the plates from, sliding forward, as shown in Fig. 6,
which is a plan of the arrangement of bracket, shelf, and dowel. The
dowels can be had at a hardware store for two or three cents each, and
from a quarter of an inch to the diameter of a small curtain-pole.
A Cup and Plate Pyramid
The cup and plate pyramid (Fig. 7) is another attractive dining-room
feature and is very simple to construct. Three of the shelves are cut
with a serpentine front, as shown in Fig. 8 A, and measure twenty-six,
twenty-two, and eighteen inches respectively; while the top one is twelve
inches long and cut as shown in Fig. 8 B. The shelves are six inches wide
at the middle, and three of them are two and a half inches wide at the
ends.
Short brackets one and a half inches wide and two and a half inches long
support the shelves at the ends. Under the middle of the bottom shelf
a large bracket five and a half inches wide and eight inches long is
cut and made fast with long, slim screws driven down through the bottom
shelf. A notch is cut at the front of each shelf, and a corresponding one
in the staff that binds the shelves together, so that they are spaced,
from the bottom up, eleven, ten, and nine inches apart. Slim, steel-wire
nails two inches long will secure the brackets to the wall, or long,
slim screws may be used.
A Butler’s Tray
For the house that is not built with a butler’s pantry, or for the mother
who does her own housework, the tray and drop-ledge shown in Fig. 9 will
be found a very convenient piece of dining-room furniture.
[Illustration: FIG. 9. FIG. 10. FIG. 11. FIG. 12.]
Two brackets on hinges will support the shelf when it is up. When it is
dropped the brackets fold in against the wall, as shown in Fig. 10.
The ledge and brackets are of pine wood three-quarters of an inch
thick and planed on all sides and edges. The tray is of white-wood
five-eighths of an inch thick, and put together securely with glue and
screws. The ends and handle-grips are cut with a compass-saw and finished
with sand-paper; then the tray is stained and varnished to match the
shelf and brackets.
Back of the drop-shelf a strip of wood two inches wide is fastened to
the wall by means of a wall-plate securely screwed to the studding, and
two vertical plates one inch thick make an anchorage for the brackets.
The latter are attached by means of flat hinges, and the shelf proper is
also hinged to the two-inch wall-plate. All these parts must be screwed
very solidly together if the safety of the household crockery is to be
considered.
Cup-pins and Brush-rack
In the butler’s pantry or near the kitchen sink it is sometimes
convenient to have a brush-rack and some cup-pins, on which cups,
drinking-glasses, and small hollow-ware may be kept.
These are easily made, as the illustration (Fig. 11) will show. The
cup-pins are dowels sawed in five-inch lengths, and then made fast to a
square pine stick with slim screws passed through holes that have first
been made with an awl. The rack is then attached to the wall with screws
passed into the studs or uprights behind the plaster.
The brush-rack is made from two pine sticks, one of which is cut out in
places, as shown in Fig. 12. The two sticks are then screwed together and
supported on brackets. Brushes kept in a drawer or on a shelf do not dry
properly, so that it is always best to place them where they have a free
circulation of air.
Lock-shelves
In a cellar or store-room it is often convenient to have a portion of
the shelves arranged so that their contents can be locked up. For this
purpose Fig. 13 shows a slat door arranged in front of several shelves
and hung on hinges. At the lower edge a hasp and eye may be made fast, so
as to make a padlock available.
[Illustration: FIG. 13. FIG. 14.]
The slats are from one-half to seven-eighths of an inch thick and two
inches wide; they are fastened to battens with clinch-nails or screws
driven from the inside. A smart boy can make any number of these doors so
as to lock up a whole lot of shelving, but for convenience of handling
they should not be more than four feet long.
A Vegetable-bin
For a corner of the cellar, and where it is convenient to the staircase,
a very useful vegetable-bin may be made from a few boards and slats
(Fig. 14). The bin may be of any width and length, but for a house of the
average size, it need not be more than six feet long and eighteen inches
wide each compartment being from sixteen to eighteen inches wide.
The front, back, and ends are ten inches high, and two of the partitions
are the same height. The partitions for the potato and turnip
compartments should extend eighteen inches above the top of the bin,
since these vegetables bulk largely. The bin rests on two battens nailed
to the brick or stone foundation-walls of the cellar, two feet above the
floor. At the exposed corner a foot, or leg, twenty-four inches long,
supports it. The bottom of the bin is made of long slats nailed an inch
apart, so that the dirt from the vegetables will fall through to the
floor, from which it can be easily swept up. The ventilation from the
slat bottom prevents the vegetables from decaying as quickly as they
would in a box or barrel with a tight bottom.
Across the tops of the high partitions, and propped up at the exposed end
of the bin, a shelf or ledge ten inches wide will accommodate cabbages,
lettuce, bunches of carrots and beets, parsnips, and various other
vegetables. In the illustration only five compartments are shown in the
main part of the bin, but a bin of almost any length can be constructed
according to the space available and the requirements of the family.
A Spoon-bar and Saucepan-rack
For the kitchen, a rack on which to hang spoons, ladles, saucepans, cups,
and other small accessories to the culinary department is shown in Fig.
15.
It can be made to fit any wall space in a kitchen, but the brackets
should be twenty inches high and ten inches wide at the top. They may be
made from most any wood one and a half inches square, and put together
with lap-joints. Three rails, seven-eighths by two inches, are attached
to the inside of the front bracket-rails or supports, with long, slim
screws or steel-wire nails. All the wood-work is painted two coats of
white enamel, or any color to match the wood-work of the kitchen. Brass
screws or galvanized nails are driven in the bars at regular distances
apart, on which to hang the utensils, and the rack is then to be securely
attached to the wall.
A Medicine-chest
Every house should contain a medicine-chest, where the necessary boxes
and bottles containing the family medicines may always be found in time
of need. Chests may be made in any size and shape, and adapted to the
spaces they may occupy on a wall or in a bath-room closet.
A convenient chest is shown in Fig. 16, and in Fig. 17 is given the plan
of construction. For the average household it should be made eighteen
inches wide and twenty-four inches high, with two shelves arranged so
that the space between the lower one and the bottom of the box will be
eight and a half inches. The space between the upper one and the top
should be six inches, and between shelves seven and a half inches. The
top and bottom wall-plates should measure four inches wide, and they are
attached to the top and bottom of the box by means of screws driven into
the edge of each through the top and bottom of the box.
[Illustration: FIG. 15. FIG. 16. FIG. 17. FIG. 18. FIG. 19.]
A door is made from three pieces of board across the ends of which
battens are made fast, as shown in the plan drawing. This is attached
to the box by means of hinges, and a catch at the other side will keep
it closed. The wall-plates and sides of the chest should be stained and
varnished, and the door covered with burlap glued fast or tacked at the
inner side. The letters, ornament, and imitation nail-heads are cut from
sheet-lead, scraps of which can be purchased at a plumber’s shop, shaped
with a shears, or an old knife, and light mallet, and afterwards trimmed
with a penknife blade or a file. They may be attached to the door with
slim, steel-wire nails, and painted black with a coating made by adding
dry lamp-black to thin shellac, and applying it in one or two thin coats
with a soft-hair brush.
Be careful to anchor this chest securely to the wall, as bottles are
heavy and their weight must be taken into consideration.
A Convenient Plant-tray
In the illustration of a convenient plant-tray (Fig. 18) an idea is
suggested for a receptacle that will accommodate several small pots in
the lower tray and a large pot, or jardinière, on the middle deck.
The tray is thirty-six inches long and twelve inches wide and at the ends
is four inches deep. But at the middle the sides are eight inches high,
and support the stage or deck, which is thirteen inches square.
The tray is made of wood three-quarters of an inch thick and planed on
both sides.
The legs are two inches square and twenty-four inches long, and at the
bottom they are slightly tapered with a draw-knife and plane.
They are fastened to the inner side of the tray at the corners with long,
slender screws driven down through the bottom of the tray and into the
top of the legs.
Bracket-braces are let into the legs in lap-cuts made with saw and
chisel, as shown at Fig. 19, and at the ends rails are let in between the
legs to hold them rigidly.
The screws attaching these joints may be covered with mock nail-heads.
The ornament at the side of the tray is cut from sheet-lead with a stout
pair of shears, painted black, and applied to the wood with flat-headed
tacks or gimp-nails.
An Indispensable Clothes-press
The available room in any clothes-closet can be more than doubled by
adopting clothes-hangers and a rod. Fig. 20 shows the plan of a closet
seen from above.
The projections around the outer edge represent hooks, while the bar
through the middle and the cross-sticks represent the space gained.
Fig. 21 shows the usual rail and shelf, but under them are the bar and
hangers that represent the new feature. This is a great improvement upon
the ordinary closet, even when drop-hooks are used under the shelves for
the support of hangers carrying clothes. The work necessary for this
arrangement is very simple.
Obtain two sockets and a small curtain-rod, and fit the rod into
the sockets screwed to the wall under the hook-rail, taking care to
drive long, slender screws through the plaster. From a hardware or
house-furnishing store obtain a number of coat-hangers composed of a wood
bar and iron hook. These can be had at all prices from two for five cents
to twenty-five cents each, or if it is impossible to purchase them they
can be sawed out of wood by any boy and provided with iron-wire hooks.
The bars are eighteen inches across and slightly curved at the top, like
one’s shoulders. Underneath the bars, near the ends, small hooks may be
screwed into place, on which trousers may be hung by using clamps (Fig.
22). In this manner from four to six suits can be hung to every running
foot of the pole.
This method will keep the coat or trousers in shape. If loops are sewn
fast to the skirt-band, the skirt will hang on the two lower hooks much
better than on a single hook, when this system is applied to mother’s or
sister’s closets.
[Illustration: FIG. 20. PLAN OF CLOSET
FIG. 21. FIG. 22.]
This device is so simple and useful that once tried it will always be
used, and where economy of space is a feature, this idea is a valuable
one for both the city and country house.
A Divan
A comfortable divan banked up with pillows is always an inviting addition
to a room, and helps to furnish it. In Fig. 23 an idea is given for a
piece of furniture that will serve a double purpose—that is, a couch and
a skirt or trousers press, with a compartment for shirt-waists or fancy
waistcoats.
In Fig. 24 the box, or framework, is shown. It is five feet six inches
long, twenty-eight inches wide, and fifteen inches high.
The tray is ten inches deep, and divided into a long and short
compartment. This is supported by the ends, which are fifteen inches
high, and made from several pieces of board with matched edges.
Corner-brackets at front and back lend additional strength, and prevent
the frame from racking.
The top, or lid, is made from several matched boards held together with
two or three battens; it opens on three or four stout hinges securely
screwed into the wood of the back.
A valance is made of some good upholstery material, and tacked all around
the upper edge of the box. For the couch proper use a mattress which is
to be placed on the lid, and covered with the cloth used for the valance.
This should be tacked securely to the under side of the lid. This will
hold the mattress in place and make a good finish for the edges of the
top.
[Illustration: LOUNGE AND CORNER DRESSING-TABLE
FIG. 23. FIG. 24. FIG. 26.]
Make a few holes through the lid, and with a long needle pass a string up
through them, through a stout button and down again, where the string is
to be tied around a tack, and then the tack is driven in so as to hold
the string securely. This will give a tufted effect to the cushion top,
and will make the mattress more secure.
Run a line of gimp or narrow belting around the top of the box over the
tacks that fasten the valance, and with large, oval-headed upholsterers’
tacks make a line of heads three inches apart all around the sides and
front. This will make an effective finish.
A Corner Dressing-table
A very pretty dressing-table for the corner of a girl’s room is shown in
the illustration (Fig. 25). This can be made by a boy for his sister, or
by a girl with a liking for such work. As shown in Fig. 26, it is built
up on a sugar barrel, which is thirty inches high and twenty-four inches
across at the widest place. When it is inverted, screws or nails can be
driven through the bottom to hold the triangular ledge or table-top in
place.
Three boards should be cut to form a quarter of a circle thirty inches
long on the two straight sides, as shown in Fig. 26 A. The sweep, or
curved edge, is one-quarter of a five-foot circle. Fig. 26 A also shows
how this quarter-circle is placed on the top of the barrel.
To keep the boards together, two battens thirty inches long are nailed or
screwed underneath the straight edges.
Screws rather than nails should be used in fastening the quarter-circle
to the barrel. They will not pull out or work loose so readily as nails.
The canopy top is supported on a framework consisting of three sticks,
each three feet long, and a triangular top made of three short sticks,
as Fig. 26 shows. At the top the sticks are joined as shown in B, and
the lower ends are attached to the table-top with long, slim, steel-wire
nails.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.]
If the color scheme of the room is pink, pale-green, or canary color,
this same color may be carried out in the drapery. Sateen or colored
cotton goods may be overlaid with a dotted swiss or scrim, and tacked
to the framework. At the bottom a valance is made and caught to
the circular edge of the ledge, which is covered with gimp held by
brass-headed tacks.
The upper sticks of the frame are bound with strips of white muslin
before the drapery is attached. This is to prevent the wood from showing
through the goods, and also to make an anchorage in which some stitches
can be taken, if necessary, to hold the canopy drapery in place.
For this top it will be necessary to have two swiss or thin scrim
coverings, between which one thickness of the colored material is laid.
Both sides of the drapery will be seen, and it is necessary to show the
colored goods on both sides.
A shirred band of the goods may be arranged along the top stick of the
canopy, and bows at the corners of the top and the edge will add to its
appearance.
An oval or square mirror in a white or light enamelled frame can be
suspended by wires from the top.
* * * * *
The directions as to methods and the suggestions of designs given in
this book open a broader and more inviting field, it is believed, than
has been accessible in similar form before. That there is need of a new
handy-book comprehensive, well tested, and designed on practical modern
lines seems to be indicated by the popularity of the preceding volumes in
this series: Harper’s _Outdoor Book for Boys_ and Harper’s _Electricity
Book for Boys_, which, together with Harper’s _How to Understand
Electrical Work_, form the modern “Boy’s Own Library.”
THE END