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House Cleaning: Wall
To Paint a Whitewashed Wall.- Scrape off the loose lime with any blunt-edged tool. A hoe is convenient.
Go over the wall with sandpaper tacked to a large block of wood and fastened to a handle. Wash with a sponge to remove the lime and let dry. Fill cracks and breaks with plaster of Paris. They will be concealed by the paint. Do not use putty for this purpose, as that when dry would have a different-looking surface. Apply one or two coats of shellac or glue size, 3 or 4 ounces of either to a gallon of boiling water. Cover with any suitable paint and varnish.
CARE OF WALLS To Clean Wall Paper. -Brush down the walls with a hairbrush or dust walls with a hairbrush or dust cloth, then cut a loaf of yeast bread two or three days old once vertically through the middle, and again crosswise. Hold these pieces by the crust and rub the wall downward with long, light strokes . Do not rub across the paper, or rub harder than is necessary . An ordinary coarse grater held in the left hand will be found convenient to rub off the surface of the bread as it becomes soiled. Clean thoroughly as you go. Or make a stiff dough of rye flour and water and apply in the same manwater and apply in the same manner. The dough should be stiff enough not to stick to the hands or to the paper. Take a piece as large as the fist, dip it in dry corn meal, and use until it becomes soiled. Change as often as necessary.
Or make a similar stiff dough of wheat flour and water. Afterwards brush down the walls with a clean soft brush or dust cloth to remove the crumbs.
To Remove Grease from Wall Paper. -To remove grease and oil stains from wall paper, fold a piece of blotting paper, and in the fold spread pipe clay or French chalk.
Stitch or pin the edges together to keep the chalk from falling out. Lay this over the grease spot and apply a the paper. Change the blotting paper hot iron, taking care not to scorch occasionally, and, if necessary, repeat with a fresh iron.
Or make a thick paste of powdered pipe clay or French chalk and apply it to the spot with a brush. Let it remain until dry. Then brush off and repeat if necessary.
To Dust Walls. - To remove dust from walls, use a clean hairbrush or window brush with a suitable handle.
Brush from the top downward.
Or make a bag to cover the head of the broom. .
Or draw a sleeve or leg of a suit of old knit underwear over the head old knit underwear over the head of the broom. Put the broom handle through the large part and draw it well down over the broom. The downward motion of the broom on the wall will hold the cloth tightly in place. hands, but without tearing it, and slip Or crumple an old paper bag in the it over the head of the broom. This using. can be removed and burned after.
Or insert into a clean mop handle a suitable dust cloth, as several thicknesses of cheese cloth or discarded cotton or woolen underwear, and sweep down the walls with this.
To Mend Wall Paper. - To patch a spot knocked out of the wall paper, or holes in exposed cracks or edges, take a piece of paper to match the HOUSE CLEANING pattern and expose to the sun until it fades to the same shade. Cut a patch an inch or two larger than the broken place, lay it face down on a piece of glass, moisten it with a suitable paste, and when moist scrape or pare the edge with a sharp knife or old razor to a very fine slant or bevel.
Lay on a fresh coat of paste, especially around the edge, and apply the patch so as to match the design.
Rub the edges down with gentle strokes of a soft cloth, and if done skillfully the patch will not be noticeable.
Or, if spots are too small to patch, obtain, for a few cents, a child's box of water colors, mix the colors to obtain the right shade, and paint the spots with a small camel's-hair brush.
A 25-cent box of colors will last a long time, and a little practice will enable anyone to match the colors and keep the wall paper in good order.
Faded spots left on solid-colored wall papers by the removal of pictures may be renovated by painting them with dyestuff. Select a color as near that of the paper as possible, follow the directions that come with the dye, and apply to the wall with a brush. Care must be taken not to let the dye drip on floor coverings or furniture. When first applied, the painted spot will be darker than the rest, but it will quickly dry to its proper tint or shade. To Clean Calcimined Walls. -Rub on corn meal with a coarse cloth, or moisten a soft cloth or sponge in aqua ammonia and rub spots very lightly.