Home Sweet Home

For an area that is used several times a week and is always hard at work to keep you looking your best, the laundry is often sadly neglected. Pay it a little attention, too, and solve those washday blues at the same time.

To get the most space and ease out of your laundry, first consider its layout and be critical about its shortcomings. Many householders have no choice but to incorporate the laundry into the bathroom or kitchen, so the laundry basket, peg bag, sink unit, bucket, washing machine, dryer, detergents and all the rest of it has to be fitted in as unobtrusively as possible. Your laundry may even be positioned in a narrow passageway or back corner. Don’t despair — well-thoughtout planning doesn’t require a lot of space. (more…)

Ceramic tiles

If ever a product has stood the test of time, it is the ceramic tile. Popular since the days of the Romans, ceramic tiles are still the most versatile of the bathroom surfaces. They can be used for both floors and walls and are available in a huge variety of colours, shapes and prices.

When choosing tiles, select ones that are in scale with your bathroom. If you choose a fancy shape, such as the ogee or Moorish designs, keep the colours simple: too much variety looks over-fussy. (more…)

French polishing storage cabinet is a skilled craft but, using proprietary solutions, it can be tackled by anyone with patience for that special piece of storage cabinet that is beau but not faux.

Step by Step

1 Remove broken latch and strip wood veneer off storage cabinet top panels.

2 Rub down storage cabinet timber with methylated spirits using steel wool to remove lacquer. (more…)

One of the most successful types of floorcovering for a kitchen is cork tiling. The colour of cork is fairly neutral and these days can be natural, stained, or dyed to various colours. The finish applied is easy to care for and the job can be done by any handyperson.

Our project kitchen and family room is a large area, just under 50 sq. m. The original floor is structural plywood. There are three steps between the kitchen and family areas, which will be edged with light-coloured seasoned hardwood as a wearing edge. (more…)

Bathroom

Why is cleaning the bathroom always the worst? The stains are the pits — once they are there they stay, so don’t let them. Use these concoctions to get rid of them, clean regularly and keep the stains away.

Toilet bowl

Most old toilet bowls have stubborn stains that, regardless of how may litres of bleach you’ve poured in there, still remain. With a gas mask securely tied over your mouth and nose and industrial strength gloves on your hands, mix 5 cups of bicarbonate of soda with 1 cup of caustic soda. Sprinkle the mixture in the bowl and leave for half an hour. Give it a quick scrub with the toilet brush (you DO own a toilet brush, right?) and flush. (more…)

Due to the environment many of us live in, the sense of smell is becoming increasingly less important. The full capacities of this once vital sense are being subconsciously subordinated to the other senses of hearing and seeing. In other species the sense of smell is much more highly developed as, indeed, it is in those human societies today that remain in close contact with nature and depend on this sense, in conjunction with all the others, for day-to-day survival.

Denying your senses

Your nose is an extremely sensitive sensory organ and your sense of smell is many thousands of times more acute than your sense of taste. Because of this, you, like everybody else, have probably experienced a sudden and vivid association evoked by a particular smell, perhaps reminding you of a person, place, or event often from long ago and until that moment quite forgotten.

But air pollution, both indoors and outdoors, dulls and damages the sense of smell. By reacting badly to an unpleasant smell your body is warning you that you should not be breathing that air. But if you have no choice, as many of us don’t, then the warning goes unheeded. But you do pay a price. (more…)

Doors and windows are obvious focal points in the home. They are vulnerable because while they are welcoming to friends they are also meant, traditionally, to deter the entry of unwanted guests, evil spirits, and harmful energies. The threshold is the dividing line between the external, frightening world and the inner sanctuary of the home. Inearlier times, the doorstep was protected against evil with cast iron, knives, or crossed scissors buried beneath the threshold. Well into the 20th century it was common to see iron horseshoes nailed to the lintel and front doors as good luck symbols. Step charms and “tangled thread” patterns were common in Scotland and are still used in India where doors, doorposts, knockers, and hinges bear protective patterns; in China, the front door is painted red as a sign of happiness. Orientation of front doors to face the rising sun is of ancient origin, as are solar symbols. Windows were protected with various protective designs, and shutters often had heart- shaped cut-outs as representations of Mother Earth. Glass balls and mirrors hung in the windows were thought to ward off witches and evil spirits. (more…)

Enemies attacking exterior woodwork are reasonably under control inside the house. Extreme temperatures and ultraviolet rays are limited and the moisture content of the interior atmosphere is also not subject to extremes.

The home owner can therefore use more permanent finishes and expect it to remain attractive for ten years and even longer.

The inside of windows and outer doors

Adorning the wood by strenghtening the grain pattern is the starting point. If new woodwork has been treated by immersion as described in the section on exterior woodwork, further treatment will now depend on the primer which is already there. Enquire about this and make sure the paint subcontractor understands you. It could already be too late for quality sanding of the woodwork and you must make quite sure about this too.

Except for the above you can follow the paint contractor’s advice. (more…)

One condition for the successful use of the agents recommended in the technical section is that the wood must be clean, free from varnish or other finishes that form a surface layer, and such layers must be removed completely. If the previous application was a preservative with an oil base, the recommended agents can be applied without any preparation. Loose dust must be removed, preferably by wiping the woodwork with a cloth dipped in mineral turpentine or by using a steel brush.

Wood that has been smoothed before application appears better and is also more durable. This should be done before the very first application, and you need not repeat it before a subsequent application. Remember that external finishes and sandpaper are bad friends as most of these finishes cling to the paper.

If you consider an elaborate front door it should be well sanded before the first treatment. Such doors must not be stored on the building site and the pre-treatment should be discussed with the building supervisor or the contractor. (more…)

TECHNIQUE 10

Furniture polish after oil treatment on dark wood and yellowwood

Furniture polish can be applied direct on a previous oil finish or on a fresh surface prepared with sandpaper or steelwool. If the leaf surface has not been renovated the polish can be applied with grade 000 steelwool. The steelwool is dipped into the polish and sanded strictly along the grain. For dark woods the polish slurry is worked into the grain with the palm of your hand after it has become half dry. This is not required for yellowwood. Wipe off the excess slurry with cheesecloth and shine with a soft cloth. Follow up with another application of polish, leave to dry and shine until you have the gloss of your preference. Polish as often as needed. With a good polish the periods in between applications grow longer. A surface that is not much in use will not need polish more than once a month. (more…)