THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503170066
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: AROUND THE HOUSE
SOURCE: By Mary Flachsenhaar
SPECIAL TO HOME & GARDEN
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
FIREPLACES CAN BE hazardous to a child's health even when there's no fire.
Serious injuries can result when a child takes a nose-dive into the hard, sharp edge of a hearth. The Kids' Edge Hearth Pad, which fits over the edge of most hearths, can cushion the blow.
Made of high-density vinyl-nitrate, the bumper is available in brown or gray. It is durable, fire-resistant and easy to assemble and clean, promises the manufacturer, Child Safety Products Inc. of Newnan, Ga.
The hearth pad retails for $60 to $80, depending on the model, and is available through The Right Start Catalog (800 548-8531) and The Safety Zone Catalog (800 999-3030). The manufacturer's phone number is (800) 841-5903.
Carpet crisis cleanup
A dinner guest elbows a glass of red wine. The dog lifts his leg over the living room rug. The kids have a ketchup fight in the den.
Unless your name is Heloise, you probably are in a quandary whether to grab the vinegar, the detergent, the ammonia or something else to clean up the spot on the carpet.
(One homemaker I know swears by club soda for all types of spots. Her rugs are always clean, but she doesn't have guests, kids or dogs.)
In a carpet crisis, what you might want to reach for is a copy of the ``Carpet Spot Removal Slide Guide'' produced by The Carpet and Rug Institute.
The booklet gives general advice such as ``act quickly,'' ``blot don't scrub'' and ``rinse with water.'' And it gives the magical formulas for specific stains, everything from eggnog to shoe polish. There is even a formula for a spot of unknown origin.
Also included is a list of 911-type numbers for carpet owners, among them the institute's toll-free number, (800) 882-8846.
The guide costs $5, which might seem like a lot until you think about the price of carpeting or professional carpet cleaning.
To order your copy from The Carpet and Rug Institute, P.O. Box 2048, Dalton, Ga. 30722.
New hope for soap
The recent mention of a gadget called SoapSaver in this column prompted reader Lenore Paine Lavery to share her homespun method of prolonging the life of a bar of soap. An added bonus of her tactic is that the soap dish will be nearly free of soap scum, she promises.
The SoapSaver, an upside-down dish that suspends rather than cradles a bar of soap, also promises to do both of those things. But, as Lenore stated in her letter to us, ``There is no need to to buy a fancy gadget to preserve soap.''
There is no need, in fact, to do anything fancy.
Just put the wrapped soap on a closet shelf and leave it there - for a long time. Lenore noticed, just by accident, that the longer a bar of soap had been stored, the longer it would last once put to use. Old soap seemed to take forever to melt and left behind little unsightly scum.
So now Lenore makes a point of buying soap months before she will use it. She won't have to buy any for a while, because 30 bars currently are ripening in her Virginia Beach home. Some of them she's had for five or six years.
``The longer I keep soap, the longer it seems to last,'' she said.
Thanks, Lenore.
Neat sheets
You won't get caught short-sheeted if you use the method of storing bed linens recommended by a reader in the April issue of Good Housekeeping magazine.
Fold the fitted sheet into a neat rectangle about 18-by-12 inches. Fold the flat sheet the same size and place it on the fitted one. Top the pile with one folded pillow case then place the whole stack in the other pillowcase.
When it's time to change the sheets, you won't have to root around in the linen closet to put together a complete set. ILLUSTRATION: CHILD SAFETY PRODUCTS INC.
Attractive protection doesn't come cheaply. The padded bumpers sell
for $60 to $80.
by CNB