BUT WHEREVER YOUR MEALS ARE SERVED, in a real dining room or in an attractive corner. Metallic paper shades can be dusted and give extra treatment with paraffin oil and turpentine. The ornamental pieces can only be dusted.

China can be taking care properly, which can be use on special occasion. Store it in plastic covers to protect them from dust before you store it.

IMITATION PARCHMENT can be cleaned and brightened with liquid wax.

PLASTIC AND FIBERGLASS SHADES need only to be wiped with a damp cloth.

METALLIC PAPER SHADES seldom need more than dusting but now and then can be given a beauty treatment by dressing them with a mixture of paraffin oil and turpentine (one tablespoonful of turpentine to half a cup of paraffin oil). Carefully remove any surplus with a soft clean cloth.

THE ORNAMENTAL PIECES in your living room may include bits of statuary fashioned of unglazed ceramic or plaster. These can only be dusted. Plaster figures not valuable enough to merit the attention of an art expert can be whitened when soiled by the application of a very thin spraying of top quality flat white paint. And that just about covers the special cleaning problems to be found in a living room. Please don't try to do it all in one day.

There are holidays and special occasions when you want your table to look its sparkling best. This means bringing out your linen, polishing the silver, and using your best china and glassware. These are your heirloom things, some probably irreplaceable. If you take good care of them you can pass them on to your children. And the care you give your best things can be applied in the same, or less, degree to your everyday tableware according to your inclination. It isn't really difficult.

First, let's have a look at your best china.

LOVELY CHINA does not seem very important when we are very young. Sad to say, we are likely to develop a taste for it only after we have carelessly run through the supply we had when we were first married. It is when we try to replace the broken Minton and Haviland that we realize how expensive good china is and what a treasure we have squandered.

A HIGH SHELF IS THE BEST PLACE for your very best china during the time when children are small but, oh, how energetic. Use it only on special occasions and return it promptly to its safe retreat. Stack it carefully, or store the plates on one of the plastic-covered racks made for this purpose. In stacking plates remember that the footing is often unglazed and can scratch the surface of the plate underneath if it is carelessly placed. A precaution against this is to slip tissue papers in between. Plastic covers are made especially to protect stacked plates from dust. If you use them you won't have to wash your dishes when you take them down for a dinner party. Chips are safest when they are hung on properly spaced hooks. Wrapping the spouts of delicate teapots with soft paper will safeguard them against chipping. So much for storage.

Today's dining room may be a corner of the living room, or a little dinette. In these hurly-burly days, when practically no one has regular help, you may even serve most of the family meals at a table in the kitchen.