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1870

Soapstone, Wash-Tubs and Sinks

Click on image to enlarge AMONG the mineral productions the usefulness of which has for centuries remained unknown, and only recently has become to be appreciated, is undoubtedly soapstone, by mineralogiss called steatite, and by chemists hydrated silicate of...
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The Making of Beeswax Candles

What a variety of candles can be found today! The types of waxes have extended beyond the tallow and beeswax of our early ancestors to include parrafin, soy, and gel. There is even another type of wax which was...
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Advice about the Woodburning Oven

In nine out of ten kitchens, when there is any cooking to be done the range is made red hot; when the cooking is done, the fire is left to go down to ashes, and is then raised by...
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Improved Pipe-Wrench.

Click on image to enlarge The defects of many of the ordinary pipe-wrenches are that they are heavy, not easy of adjustment, apt to slip, and even sometimes crush the pipe. A pipe-wrench not subject to these drawbacks, but...
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Spring House Cleaning

Now comes the season of general cleaning, when all the corners and closets are overturned and hidden things are brought to light. Early in the months before the moths-millers show themselves all the woolen sheets, blankets, etc., are to be...
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Household Conveniences.

WE have received from our various correspondents quite a number of requests for us to publish something about the minor household conveniences. In compliance therewith we present the following details with explanatory illustrations, for which we are indebted to the...
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Remodelled Hallway

Click Image for a Larger View We offer the accompanying illustration as an example of remodelling. In the original house the stairway was narrow and enclosed. This has been removed, and a new staircase in hard wood introduced, with...
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IMITATING Dark Woods

The appearance of walnut may be given to white woods, by painting or sponging them with a concentrated warm solution of permanganate of potassa. The effect is different on different kinds of timber, some becoming stained very rapidly, others requiring...
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To Fit a Key.

When it is not convenient to take a lock apart to fit a new key, the key blank should be smoked over a candle, inserted in the keyhole, and pressed firmly against the opposing wards of the lock. The indentations...
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Kitchen Furniture

NEVER have dark furniture for a kitchen. It shows the dust much more than light and requires double the care. Never have extra shelves or mantels painted dark if you can help it. If it is your misfortune to have...
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Furnishing a House.

A newly-married young couple, just about taking and furnishing a house, anticipate a great deal of pleasure in the choice and selection of their furniture, carpets, paper-hangings, etc. Both being persons of good taste, they never for one moment imagine...
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Plumbing Improvements.

Every one will agree that the ordinary arrangement of wash-basins and bath-tubs, consisting of a stopper and chain attached, is objectionable; the chain is often in the way, it will pull the stopper out when this is not desired, and...
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Improved Kitchen Sink.

We represent on this page an important improvement in one of the most essential contrivances necessary in housekeeping, namely, a kitchen sink, which can also be used as a wash-basin, dish-pan, laundry wash-tub, and drainer. It possesses a valve,...
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Kitchen Sinks.

THE sink is without doubt one of the most essential features in a modern kitchen, but at the same time it has, unfortunately, thus far been a neglected piece of manufacture, being made after a certain accepted form, without...
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Plumbers? Cabinet Wood-Work. [Sink Cabinets]

ONE of the signs of industrial progress is the continually increasing formation of specialties in trades. Thus we have piano-makers? hardware, barrel-makers? tools, etc. At present we call attention to a branch of business established by Messrs. Win. S....
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New Demand For Tin Plates.

After making a variety of experiments, extending over a considerable time, a Paris house has at last patented a process for the ornamentation of tin plates. By means of colors, prepared in a way which is as yet a secret,...
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How to Build a Brick House - PAINTING, ETC.

In districts where the color of the brick is of a sombre hue, and not too bright a red, you need not resort to painting; it certainly is not necessary for the preservation of the material, and if left in...
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Hints on the Color of Country Houses.

The choice of color for country houses requires the exercise of taste, judgment, and an eye for harmonious combinations. Keeping always in view the general effect, when the fancy begins to range beyond the safe line of the neutral tints,...
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A Woman's Idea of what a Kitchen should be.

To begin with, I would have a kitchen well lighted; yes a great deal of the broad, expansive sunlight soming in boldly, as if it had a perfect right to be there. That would, of course, necessitate large windows. And...
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Shall our Houses be Painted or Plastered?

Of course, says the American Builder, everybody knows, or ought to? know, that walls and ceilings are finished with plaster. But everybody may not be aware that plaster has the property of absorbing moisture. This, perhaps, will not take place...
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Improved Domestic Sanitary Appliances. (Tub)

We illustrate and describe herewith some representative specimens of a very superior class of domestic sanitary appliances and conveniences, which are manufactured exclusively for the J. L. Mott Iron Works, of this city, by Messrs. Joseph Cliff & Sons,...
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To Clean Kid Gloves

Item for the Ladies. To clean kid gloves, have ready a little new milk in one saucer, a piece of white soap in another, and a clean cloth folded two or three times. On the cloth spread out the glove...
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How to Paper a Room.

SEVERAL lengths of paper should be laid one on another upon the floor or bench, allowing the fair edges to project over, so that the paste may not touch the figured surface. The back should then be smartly brushed over...
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CUT FLOWERS.

The first thing to be considered in arranging cut flowers is the vase. If it is scarlet, blue, or many-colored, it must necessarily conflict with some hue in your bouquet. Choose rather pure white, green, or transparent glass, which allows...
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Dress Goods.

IT seems as if there could be nothing new in fabrics, so great has been the variety before; but beautiful new goods, with soft twills, fine diagonal reps, rough surfaces, and wrought figures lie temptingly on every counter. Cashmere will...
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Transferring onto Glass

Colored or plain engravings, photographs, lithographs, water colors, oil colors, crayons, steel plates, newspaper cuts, mezzotints, pencil, writing, show cards, labels, or in fact, anything. DIRECTIONS. Take glass that is perfectly clear (window glass will answer) clean it thoroughly; the...
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Plant Baskets

An ox-muzzle, flattened on one side and nailed to a board, as in Fig 44, filled with spongy moss and feathery ferns, makes a lovely ornament; while suspended baskets holding cups or bowls of soil filled with drooping plants...
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Rustic Frames

Take a very thin board , of the right size and shape, for the foundation or "mat;" saw out the inner oval or rectangular form to suit the picture. Nail on the edge a rustic frame made of branches...
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On Colors...

Taken from Miss Beecher's Housekeeper and Healthkeeper 1873 Much of the beauty of furniture is secured by the tasteful combination of colors. There usually should only be two colors in addition to the white of the ceiling. Blue unites well...
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On Curtains...

Taken from Miss Beecher's Housekeeper and Healthkeeper 1873 The cornices to your windows can be simply strips of wood covered with paper to match the bordering of your room, and the lambrequins, made of chintz like the lounge, could be...
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Walls and their Coverings

Taken from Scribner's Monthly May 1872 In the old days of wainscots, when every room of any pretensions to elegance was banded with light or dark wood to height of three or four feet from the base, it was far...
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Floors

Taken from Scribner's Monthly September 1871 WHEN Mr. Ruskin chronicled the "Ethics of Dust," he should have devoted a large portion of his space to the modern floor. The popular theory of a floor, reduced to practice, amounts to this:...
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