Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

the upper end working in a socket in the end of a stout piece of wood nailed to the beam overhead. The sockets may be purchased at the hardware store. The glass cans are arranged on the shelves, and the housewife can stand in one spot and turn the rack around until she finds the jar for which she is looking.

From the covers of large cheese boxes anyone could make a similar rack, using it in attic or kitchen, anywhere where one wants a rack which will hold an extra large number of articles for the amount of space involved.

Ill husbandry braggeth
To go with the best:
Good husbandry baggeth

Up gold in his chest.-Tusser.

TRANSFORMING A WASHSTAND

The kitchen cabinet here shown was made from an antiquated washstand and table, using old lumber, odds and ends of varnish, nails and screws, the finished article costing less than 50

cents. The only tools used were a saw, hammer, plane and square, such as can be found in any farmer's collection.

RECESS BEFORE
WASH STAND WAS PUT ON

First, the shelf shown in Figure I was made, it being wide enough to reach each end of the table and deep enough for the washstand to set on it flush. To the right end was screwed a board of the same width, the shelf being so placed that it would be 2 feet above the

FIGURE I

a

WASHSTAND AS IT WAS

table. A board of equal width formed the support at the other end.

Then the washstand, from which the top had been removed, was placed upside down on the shelf (bbb), one end of the washstand reaching to the extreme left end

of the shelf, and the two were securely fastened together. This left a narrow open space between the right end of the washstand and the right support of the shelf. A board was then nailed on top from one end. to the other, and a back added.

b.. The drawer of the washstand had to be fixed so that it would slide the other way, as it was now upside down. That necessitated a shelf inside the washstand above, the

drawer.

Old lum

ber was used, and

THE COMPLETED CABINET

this was smoothed with a plane, then sandpapered and holes and cracks filled with putty. When the putty was dry it was sandpapered again.

A support was then nailed to the back of the recess for a spice cabinet. This left the cabinet about 4 inches from the table. This support also did for two shelves, one in each corner of the recess. The spice cabinet contained eight small drawers and added much to the whole. A door with a glass sash (e) was then made for the narrow space to the right of the washstand above the recess. This made a little china closet with two shelves and containing over a dozen brass cup hooks. The space near the top on the left-hand side, between the short legs of the washstand, was left open for the crumb and draining trays. A piece of batten was nailed around the top as a finishing touch.

A leaf, which could be raised when required, added to the table room. The cabinet being placed in a corner left the front and one end free. On this end or side were placed two salt boxes, one for salt, and the other for kitchen cloths. Directly above these and reaching the length of the end was a shelf (f) for the clock, etc. Finally, walnut varnish stain, two coats, was applied. In each side of the recess were screwed two large cup hooks. Similar hooks were screwed on the inside of the washstand doors, to hang up biscuit cutter, corkscrew, nutmeg grater,

etc.

HOMEMADE DRESSER

Sometimes it is necessary to use homemade makeshifts in the house furnishing, and sometimes it is done through a desire to exercise one's in

genuity in fashioning simple affairs. The accompanying illustration shows a plan for making a simple dresser that when finished will not only be very useful in itself, but will also add a useful bit of furnishing to the room.

[merged small][ocr errors]

Select a drygoods box of the right size to fit well into the space to be utilized, then fit two shelves to the interior, as suggested. The whole box should be covered on the outside with some pretty cloth, the edges being drawn over and around the front edges of the box, and neatly tacked inside. Make a shelf with a length equal to the width of the box and fasten it to the wall above the box with some pretty nickel brackets, as shown in illustration. Cover the shelf with cloth, also. Now place a looking-glass above the shelf and have a curtain like the covering in front of the opening. This curtain can have little brass rings sewed to the upper edge, which will slide on a small brass rod.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.-Benjamin Franklin.

Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest.-Douglas Jerrold.

Blest is the man whose wish and care
Is just to be happy anywhere.

KITCHEN WINDOW CABINET

Nothing lightens labor so much as cheerfulness, and cheerfulness may often be secured by very simple means. In the accompanying picture is shown one way that works well. Instead of the usual kitchen table a cabinet is built below and at the sides of the kitchen window and the top made large enough to serve as a table. In this way the

« AnteriorContinuar »