BY GAIL BORELLI
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Wood furniture suffers all kinds of abuse at the hands of well-meaning but often ignorant homeowners.
In the May issue of House Beautiful, Nigel Thomas from Stair Restoration in Claverack, N.Y., discusses the biggest hazards to furniture and how to keep it intact and looking good.
_ Dry air. Keep household humidity between 40 percent and 45 percent to keep wood from splitting. Inexpensive hygrometers are available at hardware stores.
_ Big derrieres. Protect caned chairs by covering the seats with cushions. This helps spread the load.
_ Sunlight. Direct rays fade not only fabric but also wood, and intense sunlight can split wood. Pull the drapes when you’re not home.
_ Food and drink. Acids in food and alcohol can eat through polish, and who hasn’t seen water rings on wooden tabletops? Protect furniture by placing coasters under drinks. Keep an eye on children who run out of the kitchen with food in hand.
_ Housecleaning. Dust rags can catch on the edges of loose veneer and pull it off. Silicone dusting sprays make antique wood surfaces greasy. Instead, wax antique wooden pieces yearly with hard paste wax, Thomas says.
Elsewhere, the magazine suggests recycling old tablecloths as shower curtains, cafe curtains or duvet covers. An antique pulled-work tablecloth gets a modern twist with a lining of lime-green fabric. Buttonholes big enough to hold decorative shower curtain rings are sewn into the top of the cloth.
Finally, the designer of an awesome New York kitchen brings some perspective to the hand-wringing over stains and natural stone countertops.
“When my clients say, `Oh my gosh, I have to use granite because marble won’t be durable enough,’ I tell them, `They put marble on the floors of buildings that were built 500 years ago. It’s still there. Just what are you planning to do on your countertop?'”
SWEET SENTIMENTS
Some greeting cards and postcards are too pretty to throw in the recycling bin, or even to tuck out of sight in a box of special treasures.
April’s Family Circle suggests displaying eye-catching cards by mounting them on florist’s frogs, the oddly named, spiky metal things that hold flower stems in the bottoms of vases.
The frogs come in different sizes to suit the size of the cards. Using several frogs, you can create a small card gallery on a bookshelf or tabletop.
The magazine also shows a table-setting idea that combines the idea of table runners and place mats. Instead of placing one runner down the middle of the table lengthwise, place several shorter runners across the width of the table, in the same spots where place mats usually would go. Top the runners with place settings and simple bouquets.
