P age A6
A ugust 23 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
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Preserve Wood By Keeping Clean, Dusted, Polished
Whether fine antiques, heir
looms, contemporary pieces or ta
bles, chairs and bureaus from flea
markets, furniture will look better
and last longer with proper care
The best way to protect and pre
serve furniture is by keeping it
clean, dusted and polished
Cleaning, dusting and polishing
seems so obvious that most people
are not aware that they may not be
doing the job properly and may be
damaging their furniture.
Before trying any product or
technique, it is a good idea to look
carefully to determine construction,
age and condition. A product that
works well with one piece may be
unsuitable for another. For example,
silicone-based polishes are tine for
modern furniture that has a lacquer
or urethane finish, but they are not
suitable for surfaces with more tradi
tional finishes.
Read all labels carefully and
when in doubt, experiment on an
inconspicuous part. With valuable
antiques, it is always wise to consult
professionals beforehand.
Start with cleaning. Most peo
ple make the mistake of trying to
remove din and grime by dousing the
furniture with copious water and de
tergent.
Excessive water can cause wood
to warp, veneer to dislodge, leather
to stretch and padding to mildew.
The best way to clean leather is
by washing it with a good saddle
soap. Follow the directions on the
can and use as little water as possible
Wipe it off with a damp rag and dry
the surface as quickly as possible
with a clean, dry cloth.
Clean upholstery often with a
vacuum. Remember that surface dirt
has a way of working into the cracks
and crevices You can also use a
whisk broom to dislodge loose dirt.
Sometimes spills cause unsight
ly stains. The best time to attack
stains is as soon as they occur. It
helps to have a stain-and-spot re
mover on hand for emergencies. You
can make your own by mixing an
absorbent powder like fuller’s earth,
talcum or French chalk with a clean
Oregon Sees Trend Of Larger Houses
On Smaller Lots
many people to buy those kind of
houses.”
Why are lots shrinking while
homes are growing? Escalating land
prices, mounting regulatory require
ments and homebuyer’s preferences
are driving the trend, builders and
developers said. As the costs of land,
and o f preparing it, continue to soar,
developers squeeze profit from their
parcels by creating more lots per
acre.
“It now pays to cut parcels into
smaller pieces just because of the
high costs of developing them in the
first place,’ said Max Vollmer, exec
utive vice president ofthe Lane Coun
ty Home Builders Association
The city o f Eugene encourages
high-density building in town to re
duce urban sprawl, but it sets no
maximum lot size or minimum den
sity requirements for single-family
residential construction, city planner
Jerry Jacobson said.
City codes allow lots as small as
4,500 square feet for single-family
homes. The city lowered that mini
mum from 6,000 square feet in the
early 1980s.
Big homes, small lots. The latest
trend at several Eugene subdivisions
leaves some buyers scratching their
heads. They wonder why the mam
moth V icto rian s, T udors and
colonials are packed together like so
many dol Ihouses on a toy-store shelf.
But residents in those neighbor
hoods say they’ve found just what
they’re looking for: a country estate,
minus the country and the grounds to
maintain.
The homes typically cover 2,500
square feet to 4,000 square feet on a
10 ,0 0 0 -sq u are -fo o t to 20,000-
square-foot lot.
Love ‘em or hate ’em, such
homes are coming on strong.
Some builders and real estate
appraisers said all the new construc
tion has saturated the market with
homes that list for $250,000 to $1
million. They wonder how many
high-end homes the market can bear
and who can afford to buy them.
“ I ’ve ap p raised dozens o f
$500,000 to million dollar homes,”
said Roger Reich, president of Reich,
Broughton & Associates appraisers
of Eugene. “There just can’t be that
Join us in celebrating
Win' IJnvtlattb
(O bserver’s
Lot sizes in Eugene range from
4,590 square feet to 98,229 square
feet, according to a survey taken last
fall o f single-family residential sub
divisions built over the past five years.
On average, the largest lots are
in the southeast hills, where forests
and sloping land preclude construc
tion on much of the lot, Jacobson
said.
The city sets general guidelines
about how large homes can be rela
tive to the size of their lots, and how
close they can be to neighboring
homes.
Single-family homes can be as
close as 10 feet to each other, and a
dwellingcannot cover more than half
of the lot, under city code. But the
trend toward bigger homes is “mar
ket- or builder-driven,” Jacobson
said. Builders said they’re construct
ing larger homes because that’s what
buyers want.
“(Buyers) want the same kind of
feel of a big house in the country but
they want the convenience of being
in town,” said Chris Wolgamott, ad
vertising director for Valley River
Village, a 166-acre development.
ing fluid like naphtha.
Remember that cleaning fluid
may affect the upholstery color. Al
ways test it on an unobtrusive part.
Very dirty upholstery can be
cleaned with special commercial for
mulas. Read the directions carefully.
In general, the technique consists of
applying the shampoo and letting it
set for a specified period before work
ing it intoa thick foam. It is really the
foaming action that lifts the dirt.
Remove the foam with a coarse
sponge or stiff brush. Let the uphol
stery dry completely
before using the furniture.
Be careful when cleaning wood
surfaces. For slightly soiled surfac
es, dip a chamois in a mild detergent
and squeeze it to free excessive mois
ture. Wipe the wood and remove
detergent residue by wiping with
clean water Again apply this rinse
with a damp, not dripping, chamois.
That technique will not, howev
er, remove built-up layers of wax.
It may be necessary to use a
solvent to dissolve the wax. Some
authorities are quite cavalier about
using solvents. With careless aban
don they suggest using anything that
is available like naphtha or alcohol.
They can harm your furniture many
ways.
Naphtha will quickly remove any
wax build-up but it can penetrate
beneath thin sheets of veneer. That
can dissolve the adhesive and curl
the veneer. Alcohol can destroy a
shellac finish.
The best solvent to remove wax
is turpentine. People who are sensi
tive to its smell can buy odorless
turpentine from art-supply stores or
use mineral spirits.
Fine furniture should be waxed
two to three times a year, with addi
tional applications for heavily used
pieces.
It is important to dust furniture
often. Use a clean cotton cloth and
apply a little elbow grease to keep the
wax buffed.
Dustingaerosolsare helpful. But
read the ingredients to make sure that
they are compatible with your furni
ture finish.
Linoleum Is Making A Comeback
It’s hard to imagine the first
half of the 20th century without
linoleum, the flooring of countless
kitchens, bathrooms and recreation
rooms. And it’s almost equally hard
to imagine linoleum as a hot floor
covering in the ’90s.
“ Itcame in 15 shades ofbrown,”
said Scott Hyman, an owner of Town
and Country Flooring in New York,
recalling the classic linoleum ofthe
Lucy and Ricky era.
But linoleum, real linoleum
made with linseed oil, is back, turn
ing up everywhere from restaurants
to residences. The latest linoleums
come in contemporary colors - rasp
berry reds, eggplant purples, mus
tard yellows - as well as the muted,
marbleized grays, greens, aquas and
browns of linoleums past.
Not surprisingly, a big part of
linoleum'scurrent charm is its retro
quality, making it the flooring of
choice when vintage houses and
apartments are restored.
But interior designers are also
treating linoleum with new respect.
Hermes Mai lea and Carey Maloney,
partners in the M (Group), a New
York architectural firm, devised an
elaborately patterned floor of hand-
cut linoleum hexagons for an elegant
dining room in their show house in
1993. They particularly like lino
leum in entryways, sitting rooms and
other formal settings.
“We use linoleum because it is
great-looking, practical, durable and
unexpected,” Maloney said. “The
colors are great and can be very
subtle, all shot with different colors.”
Many homeowners also appre
ciate the natural ingredients that make
up real linoleum - wood flour, rosins,
ground limestone, powdered cork,
pigments and linseed oil on a jute
backing.
The name, coined in 1863 by
linoleum ’s inventor, Frederick
Walton, comes from the Latin words
linum (flax) and oleum (oil). Besides
acting as a binder - and providing
linoleum’s distinctive scent - linseed
oil oxidizes over time, creating a
hard surface.
Linoleum’s popularity faded fast
in the 1960s, eclipsed by newfangled
vinyls that were easier to install and
maintain and were available in more
colors.
In 1974 Armstrong Floors shut
down the last linoleum plant in the
United States.
Genuine linoleum is now im
ported from Europe, where it never
fell from favor. And a handful of
antiques stores carry unused rolls
of the real thing from the 1920s
through the 1950s.
Today’s linoleums cost about
the same as top-quality sheet vi
nyls.
Linoleum can be vacuumed,
dusted with a dry mop or damp-
mopped with a neutral detergent.
New linoleum should be sealed
with at least four coats of an acrylic
floor finish like Taski Ombra, which
provides a matte finish. Ifa buildup
occurs, it can be removed with a
low-pH stripper designed for lino
leum.
For all its beauty, linoleum is
still a challenge to install. Unlike
vinyl tiles, which are often laid by
do-it-yourselfers, linoleum usually
requires professional installation,
particularly for custom-patterned
floors.
7 - .
_
■ ' •
/ .
Sometimes,
working hard
just doesn’t
work.
y j i
A ÎJ »’ î V E K S M U V
WESTERN FAMILY SALE
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Like you, most people work hard
at their jobs. But tor some, their
reward is a squalid shack. Though
hard to believe, thousands work hard
to pay for "housing" with no plum b
ing, no heat...and no hope. Trapped
by a situation that takes their hard-
earned wages just to subsist, their
dream of decent shelter begins to die.
We at Habitat for Hum anity are
working to break the cycle of poverty.
A non-profit ecu
menical Christian
organization, we
work as partners
with those needing
simple, decent,
affordable shelter.
We mobilize volun
teers and solicit
donated resources
to build low-cost houses, sold at no
interest with no profit.
O ur new hom eowners don't
mind the 400-500 hours of "sweat
equity" work required of them. In
fact, many continue to work on the
homes of others long after their own
com m itm ent has been met. They
know that all the hard work pays off.
To learn more about Habitat for
Hum anity's work, simply contact us
at the address or num ber below. As
you'll see, Habitat works.
P o rtla n d I t a h U
fo r H u m a i i t y
P.O. Box 11527
Portland, OR 97211
(503) 287 9529
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Tuesday AugusJ_22Jhrough Tuesday August 27. 1995_ J
“1st Class Guarantee"
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(503) 230-1390 • (Res.) 287-6837
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