ON THE CARE OF PARLORS.
In selecting the furniture of parlors, some reference should be had to
correspondence of shades and colors. Curtains should be darker than the
walls; and, if the walls and carpets be light, the chairs should be
dark, and _vice versa_. Pictures always look best on light walls.
In selecting carpets, for rooms much used, it is poor economy to buy
cheap ones. _Ingrain_ carpets, of close texture, and the _three-ply_
carpets, are best for common use. _Brussels_ carpets do not wear so long
as the three-ply ones, because they cannot be turned. _Wilton_ carpets
wear badly, and _Venetians_ are good only for halls and stairs.
In selecting colors, avoid those in which there are any black threads;
as they are always rotten. The most tasteful carpets, are those, which
are made of various shades of the same color, or of all shades of only
two colors; such as brown and yellow, or blue and buff, or salmon and
green, or all shades of green, or of brown. All very dark shades should
be brown or green, but not black.
In laying down carpets, it is a bad practice to put straw under them, as
this makes them wear out in spots. Straw matting, laid under carpets,
makes them last much longer, as it is smooth and even, and the dust
sifts through it. In buying carpets, always get a few yards over, to
allow for waste in matching figures.
In cutting carpets, make them three or four inches shorter than the
room, to allow for stretching. Begin to cut _in the middle_ of a figure,
and it will usually match better. Many carpets match in two different
ways, and care must be taken to get the right one. Sew a carpet on the
wrong side, with double waxed thread, and with the _ball-stitch_. This
is done by taking a stitch on the breadth next you, pointing the needle
towards you; and then taking a stitch on the other breadth, pointing the
needle from you. Draw the thread tightly, but not so as to pucker. In
fitting a breadth to the hearth, cut slits in the right place, and turn
the piece under. Bind _the whole_ of the carpet, with carpet-binding,
nail it with tacks, having bits of leather under the heads. To stretch
the carpet, use a carpet-fork, which is a long stick, ending with
notched tin, like saw-teeth. This is put in the edge of the carpet, and
pushed by one person, while the nail is driven by another. Cover blocks,
or bricks, with carpeting, like that of the room, and put them behind
tables, doors, sofas, &c., to preserve the walls from injury, by
knocking, or by the dusting-cloth.
Cheap footstools, made of a square plank, covered with tow-cloth,
stuffed, and then covered with carpeting, with worsted handles, look
very well. Sweep carpets as seldom as possible, as it wears them out. To
shake them often, is good economy. In cleaning carpets, use damp tea
leaves, or wet Indian meal, throwing it about, and rubbing it over with
the broom. The latter, is very good for cleansing carpets made dingy by
coal-dust. In brushing carpets in ordinary use, it will be found very
convenient to use a large flat dust-pan, with a perpendicular handle a
yard high, put on so that the pan will stand alone. This can be carried
about, and used without stooping, brushing dust into it with a common
broom. The pan must be very large, or it will be upset.
When carpets are taken up, they should be hung on a line, or laid on
long grass, and whipped, first on one side, and then on the other, with
pliant whips. If laid aside, they should be sewed up tight, in linen,
having snuff or tobacco put along all the crevices where moths could
enter. Shaking pepper, from a pepper-box, round the edge of the floor,
under a carpet, prevents the access of moths.
Carpets can be best washed on the floor, thus: First shake them; and
then, after cleaning the floor, stretch and nail them upon it. Then
scrub them in cold soapsuds, having half a teacupful of ox-gall to a
bucket of water. Then wash off the suds, with a cloth, in fair water.
Set open the doors and windows, for two days or more. Imperial Brussels,
Venetian, ingrain, and three-ply, carpets, can be washed thus; but
Wilton, and other plush-carpets, cannot. Before washing them, take out
grease, with a paste, made of potter's clay, ox-gall, and water.
Straw matting is best for chambers and Summer parlors. The checked, of
two colors, is not so good to wear. The best, is the cheapest in the
end. When washed, it should be done with salt water, wiping it dry; but
frequent washing injures it. Bind matting with cotton binding. Sew
breadths together like carpeting. In joining the ends of pieces, ravel
out a part, and tie the threads together, turning under a little of each
piece, and then, laying the ends close, nail them down, with nails
having kid under their heads.
In hanging pictures, put them so that the lower part shall be opposite
the eye. Cleanse the glass of pictures with whiting, as water endangers
the pictures. Gilt frames can be much better preserved by putting on a
coat of copal varnish, which, with proper brushes, can be bought of
carriage or cabinet-makers. When dry, it can be washed with fair water.
Wash the brush in spirits of turpentine.
Curtains, ottomans, and sofas covered with worsted, can be cleansed, by
wheat-bran, rubbed on with flannel. Dust Venetian blinds with feather
brushes. Buy light-colored ones, as the green are going out of fashion.
Strips of linen or cotton, on rollers and pulleys, are much in use, to
shut out the sun from curtains and carpets. Paper curtains, pasted on
old cotton, are good for chambers. Put them on rollers, having cords
nailed to them, so that when the curtain falls, the cord will be wound
up. Then, by pulling the cord, the curtain will be rolled up.
Mahogany furniture should be made in the Spring, and stand some months
before it is used, or it will shrink and warp. Varnished furniture
should be rubbed only with silk, except occasionally, when a little
sweet-oil should be rubbed over, and wiped off carefully. For
unvarnished furniture, use beeswax, a little softened with sweet-oil;
rub it in with a hard brush, and polish with woollen and silk rags. Some
persons rub in linseed-oil; others mix beeswax with a little spirits of
turpentine and rosin, making it so that it can be put on with a sponge,
and wiped off with a soft rag. Others, keep in a bottle the following
mixture; two ounces of spirits of turpentine, four tablespoonfuls of
sweet-oil, and one quart of milk. This is applied with a sponge, and
wiped off with a linen rag.
Hearths and jambs, of brick, look best painted over with blacklead,
mixed with soft-soap. Wash the bricks which are nearest the fire with
redding and milk, using a painter's brush. A sheet of zinc, covering the
whole hearth, is cheap, saves work, and looks very well. A tinman can
fit it properly.
Stone hearths should be rubbed with a paste of powdered stone, (to be
procured of the stonecutters,) and then brushed with a stiff brush.
Kitchen-hearths, of stone, are improved by rubbing in lamp-oil.
Stains can be removed from marble, by oxalic acid and water, or oil of
vitriol and water, left on fifteen minutes, and then rubbed dry. Gray
marble is improved by linseed-oil. Grease can be taken from marble, by
ox-gall and potter's clay wet with soapsuds, (a gill of each.) It is
better to add, also, a gill of spirits of turpentine. It improves the
looks of marble, to cover it with this mixture, leaving it two days, and
then rubbing it off.
Unless a parlor is in constant use, it is best to sweep it only once a
week, and at other times use a whisk-broom and dust-pan. When a parlor
with handsome furniture is to be swept, cover the sofas, centre table,
piano, books, and mantelpiece, with old cottons, kept for the purpose.
Remove the rugs, and shake them, and clean the jambs, hearth, and
fire-furniture. Then sweep the room, moving every article. Dust the
furniture, with a dust-brush and a piece of old silk. A painter's brush
should be kept, to remove dust from ledges and crevices. The dust-cloths
should be often shaken and washed, or else they will soil the walls and
furniture when they are used. Dust ornaments, and fine books, with
feather brushes, kept for the purpose.