November, 19 19 
49 
Used in conjunction with the floor and walls, white enamel woodwork is the best choice. It can 
be readily washed and it always gives the appearance oj cleanliness. This kitchen is in a house 
at Rye, N. Y., oj which Hobart B. Upjohn was the architect 
friends have used does not wear, get another 
make. But by all means, do not use these 
things blindly any more than you would use 
face powder without knowing the brand. Buy 
the best. In no other household commodity is 
this advice more important. 
Sometimes the best paints and varnishes de¬ 
teriorate in storage or transit, by being kept 
in too cold a room, and may be explosive if 
treated with too high a temperature. 
Paint Rules 
In buying paint it will do no harm to bear 
in mind: 
(1) That one gallon of paint should 
be distributable over an area (in two 
coats) of 300 square feet. 
(2) A good paint should produce 
a surface that is neither too hard nor 
too soft. Surfaces that are too hard 
are prone to chipping and cracking or 
splitting. Sometimes they remain 
sticky if they are too soft, or chalk 
or powder or flow. 
(3) The average life of a good ap¬ 
plication of good paint is four years. 
It ought to last fifteen years, but today 
in our apartments we are glad if it 
lasts one month. Three years is the 
minimum, but a simple pigment paint 
frequently plays out in three years. 
(4) That paint must be durable in 
color and should last at least four 
years under normal conditions. Good 
floor paints and varnishes can stand 
dragging furniture, walking, hot uten¬ 
sils, steam, water, even alcohol and 
greases. 
(5) That good paints should leave 
surfaces suitable for repainting, 
which, being interpreted, means that 
the old paint should be still unbroken, making 
paste or liquid fillers practically unnecessary. 
Paste fillers with or without color are used 
to fill deep cracks, etc., not, however, caused 
by broken paint surfaces, but by faulty con¬ 
struction, warping, blows in plaster, wear, and 
such injuries. 
The common ills which are met with in paint 
life are: 
(1) Peeling, cracking or powdering, due to 
imperfect attachment, probably on greasy, 
damp or over artificially heated surfaces from 
which the moisture is driven up through the 
paint. 
(2) Blistering, due to underlying 
vaporized moisture. An excess of vol¬ 
atile oil prevents this. It often oc¬ 
curs on incompletely dried lumber, 
and often light or some chemical 
agency is the cause. 
(3) Alligatoring, incipient cracks 
due to heavy coats of paint applied to 
unseasoned wood, especially if the 
paint is drier, tougher or more inelas¬ 
tic than the under coats. 
(4) Wear. This is the only legiti¬ 
mate ill, if it takes place after the al¬ 
lotted period of its life. 
The common epidemics in varnish 
life are bloom (opalescence), blister¬ 
ing, spotting, cracking, sweating, pow¬ 
dering, livering, crawling (refusal to 
spread), flaking, deadening (loss of 
lustre), pitting, silking (looks like 
enameled silk), seedy or specky, 
wrinkling, grain showing, crumbling, 
all due to imperfect preparation of 
surfaces and the presence of mois¬ 
ture, greases, poor varnishes, poor 
application of good varnishes, differ¬ 
ent brands of varnishes put together, 
increase or decrease of temperature 
in drying or storage or transporta¬ 
tion, etc. 
There are hundreds of kinds of 
varnishes divided into: oil varnishes, 
spirit varnishes, japans, enamels and 
specialties. 
In house finishing, oil varnishes, 
enamels, painter’s Japans and sometimes spirit 
varnishes (shellac and dammar varnishes). 
Lacquers are highly transparent varnishes 
used on metals to produce a lustrous film. 
Japans (decorative) are dark varnishes ap¬ 
plied to metals and wood. 
Japans (painter’s), are varnishes added to 
paints for lustre and drying. 
Employ an Expert 
So it can readily be seen that the painting 
and varnishing of the kitchen should be, if 
nothing else, given over to experts. The 
(Continued on page 12) 
White walls in the Frederick Lewi- 
sohn kitchen in New York City add 
to the sunniness of the room. The 
architect was Harry Allen Jacobs 
