48 
House & Garden 
The Use of Paint, Stain 
and Varnish 
ETHEL R. PEYSER 
White enameled woodwork, cabinet and furniture are sanitary to the last degree. Moreover, this 
treatment makes a light, pleasant kitchen to work in. This is in the residence of Charles Wimpf- 
heimer, Esq., Long Branch, N. J. Harry Allen Jacobs, architect 
L IKE women, kitchens must be 
t made up continuously to be kept 
up. Like women, the fairer and even 
blonder they are the more attractive 
they seem to be; but unlike women, 
they must never be applied with pow¬ 
der (as a beautifier) or with oils, var¬ 
nishes and paints which for any rea¬ 
son disintegrate into powder. 
Every Domiologist (my coinage for 
home scientist) likes a light, clean, 
glistening kitchen. Oils, paints and 
varnishes and their relatives, enamels, 
shellacs and lacquers, do the trick. 
This article is not going to teach 
you to be a painter, but ought to give 
you the salient facts of kitchen “make 
up,” which every Domiologist should 
have in her mental, if not actual, 
filing case. 
Briefly, paint, according to Wood, 
is any liquid or semi-liquid substance 
applied to any metallic, wooden or 
other surface, to protect it from corrosion or 
decay or to give color or gloss or all of these 
qualities to it. Note the stress on the protec¬ 
tive quality. 
According to Heckel: Paint is a mixture of 
opaque or semi-opaque substances (pigments) 
with liquids, capable of application to surface 
by means of a brush or a painting machine, or 
by dipping and forming an adherent coating 
thereon. 
House paints are made of pigments, drying 
oils (volatile or thinners), driers or “Japans” 
and varnishes. Pigments are divided into 
white bases (like oxide of zinc, the most im¬ 
portant), inert reinforcing pigments, natural 
earth colors, chemical colors, pigment lakes, 
etc. 
Varnish enhances the beauty of surfaces, 
protects them from injury, increases the luster 
or hardness of other coatings, excludes mois¬ 
ture and gases, vapors and other atmospheric 
agencies of decomposition or decay. 
Preventives of Disease 
Paint and varnishes in the main have been 
thought to be beautifiers only, but in reality 
they are much more than this, for they are 
very complete means for the maintenance of 
sanitary conditions in the kitchen and are 
made for application on metals, cement, con¬ 
crete, plaster, wood, etc. Therefore, there is 
nothing in the kitchen that cannot be re-sur¬ 
faced if necessary. 
Cracks and holes spell vermin and germ 
traps, which make efficient distribution centers 
for disease. Here is where paints and var¬ 
nishes and the adjuncts not only fill the 
cracks, "but fill the bill before the physician 
has time to send his. 
The best blanket dictum to remember is 
that: Cleanliness is next to hole-iness. Fill 
up the holes, cracks, splits, roughnesses and 
unevennesses. Render all surfaces non- 
porous by application of liquid paint 
fillers. But before all else, scrape 
and pumice and wash surfaces with 
good old soap and water. Benzine is 
very often not sufficiently efficient in 
preparing for paint applications. 
Evenness, cleanliness, non-porousness, 
these three, and, to be Irish, the great¬ 
est of these is elbow grease—the best 
of all kitchen cosmetics applied in 
preparation and in brushwork. 
Choose the Manufacturer First 
“What criterion have we,” asks the 
Domiologist, “in the choice of paint?” 
The answer is, “Choose the manu¬ 
facturer, then choose the paint.” 
No household has a laboratory, 
and the widest advertised paint brands 
have stood the test. Consequently, a 
can opener, the paint, and an all-see¬ 
ing eye to keep abreast of the adver¬ 
tisements are the requirements for the 
pocket laboratory. But, the standard 
for any paint is the overworked word 
“service.” If the paint you and your 
The kitchen in the residence of 
Louis Sherry, Esq., at Manhasset, 
L.I. The walls are white tile, and the 
cupboards painted white enamel 
