Renovation & Design

Renovation & Design

Homemade play dough fun and easy to make

Question: I am opening a brand new preschool in my home. Do you have a really good recipe for play dough? Cindy

Answer: Congratulations on the new preschool. Here’s my favorite play dough recipe: Bring to a boil: 2 cups water, 1/2 cup of sea salt and 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. When salt is dissolved, remove the pot from heat. Add food coloring, 2 tbsp. cream of tartar and 2 cups of flour. Stir well and cool. Slip on rubber gloves and knead the dough until pliable. You can dye it with food colouring. Store in a sealed plastic bag.

Question: I am wondering if you know how I can remove a dog urine stain off my laminate flooring. My daughter brought her spaniel over to visit my condo and she was so excited that she urinated on the flooring. I threw a towel on it and swirled it around thinking I would wash the floor after they left and of course I forgot. No matter what I try I cannot get the white colored stain out of the panels of flooring. Please advise if you know of any remedies that might help me remove the stains. Thank you, Deborah

Answer: Although I don’t know which cleaners you used on your floor, I am assuming you tried; laminate floor cleaner, water and ammonia or water and vinegar and have had disappointing results. Typically laminate flooring is tough and almost anything can be cleaned with little effort as long as it is done fairly soon after a spill. However, in this case it sounds like the dog’s urine may have slightly bleached the floor finish. Since you probably don’t want to replace the boards and no amount of cleaners is going to clean a bleach stain, you are best off taking a trip to your local hardware store. Bring a piece of laminate with you and color match the floor to a wax stick or touch-up pen.

Question: Is it possible to store crushed garlic so that it is ready-to-use? Shauna

Answer: You can store minced garlic in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. Although the most active sulfur compound diminishes within a few hours, refrigeration will slightly slow the process. Use refrigerated garlic as soon as possible. Some people are tempted to freeze garlic, but this is not recommended because its texture changes, as does its flavor.

Question: Our leather chair has a dark spot where my head rests. Is there a way to clean it? I have heard I should not use saddle soap as it is too strong for leather furniture. Once cleaned, is there a daily ritual I should follow to keep our chair clean? Thanks. Louise

Answer: I agree saddle soap is a little too harsh for regular leather cleaning but once in a while saddle soap is a smart choice. This stain may fade over time if you place a cloth onto the spot. I once removed a grease stain on leather furniture with the following tip: smooth on a dry paste of baking soda and water to soak up the grease mark. Leave for one hour. Remove paste by scraping with a plastic putty knife, brushing, or vacuuming. Repeat until the grease is completely gone. Rinse with water, (do not soak leather) let dry. Alternatively you can purchase leather cleaners where leather furniture is sold. Persistence is the key. As for regular cleaning either vacuum or wipe leather with a damp cloth.

Note: Every user assumes all risks of injury or damage resulting from the implementation of any suggestions in this column. Test all products on an inconspicuous area first.

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Reena Nerbas
August 6

Renovation & Design

Summer vacation guide to clean rugs

I hope I’m not too late with this advice, because the children in these parts have been off from school for summer vacation since June. Because the kids may be around the house a little longer than usual each day this time of year, there is increased opportunity for things to get messier.

The best, but more expensive, solution is to send them to sleepaway camp for several weeks. If that option isn’t available, however, Derek Niederquell of 1-800 Water Damage — a national U.S. property restoration firm specializing in water, fire and carpet cleaning —offers some tips for keeping your rugs in good shape.

Let’s start with chewing gum in a plush carpet. Niederquell suggests applying a bag of ice directly over the affected area and allowing the gum to completely freeze. Once that has occurred, peel off the frozen substance using your hands or a dull butter knife.

For Gatorade or soda, even red wine, Niederquell recommends blotting the stain using cold water and a clean white cloth. Once that has been done, apply a generous amount of salt to draw out the stain’s moisture and let it stand for a few hours. Afterward, discard the salt and vacuum the carpet, he said.

For grass, Niederquell recommends vacuuming up any dry particles, then applying a detergent solution composed of warm water and dish soap. Let this treatment stand for five minutes and blot the rug dry with a clean cloth.

If it rains and the kids respond by making mud pies and then stepping in them, Niederquell suggests letting the mud dry, then vacuuming up as much of it as possible. Once you have done that, Niederquell says, apply a mixture of warm water and vinegar using a clean white cloth, then blot it until all the liquid has been absorbed.

— The Philadelphia Inquirer

Alan J. Heavens
August 6

Renovation & Design

Designers pine for natural wood

Using wood in design is nothing new. Keeping it natural — without a stain or a single stroke of paint — isn’t new, either. However, a growing number of designers and woodworkers are putting the natural aesthetics of bare wood centre stage, to great effect.

In the home-design world’s very recent past, paint was everything. Find a vintage wooden chair at a flea market? Strip it, then paint it. Now, straight from the design shows in Milan, New York and Los Angeles, designers have opted to keep their wood pieces au naturel or with minimal processing to maintain a sense of purity, substance and authenticity.

"The natural colours of walnut, cherry, maple, sassafras, hickory and oak are so beautiful, I can’t find any reason to cover them up. The designers and woodworkers that I draw upon as influence all work that way," said Ohio-based furniture designer Freddy Hill when discussing his new Townsend Credenza. "What’s most important to me is trying to distill my designs down to their barest element. Nothing is added simply for the sake of decoration."

Of course, designers sometimes have to use a clear stain for comfort, safety or manufacturing reasons, but for the most part, many modern woodworkers are keeping it simple.

John Pemberton, founder of San Francisco-based Carlysle Manufacturing, uses tung oil to keep his wood furniture pieces clean and protected and to bring out the grain’s natural richness. "I’ve never cared for the appearance of one wood species being stained to look like another. It takes away the uniqueness and detail of each board," Pemberton says.

However, Los Angeles-based designer Shin Okuda, whose Waka Waka project focuses on handmade wood furniture, thinks of the material as "a blank piece of paper." Baltic birch plywood, used with his new rocking chairs, "is a material that doesn’t speak first," Okuda says. And that’s just fine. Bare-wood designs are perfect for creating a relaxed energy in a space because of their neutrality. They’re not loud or quiet. Rather, they fit into any space without being a blatant distraction.

There are dozens of reasons designers choose wood. Sure, it’s a readily available material that’s easy to manipulate. But some of the latest designs are proof of the particular pride woodworkers take in using raw wood in natural ways. In other words: keeping the piece’s origin story a major part of its final design.

— The Washington Post

Kyle Troutman
August 6