Country Cottage Arts

22 April 2010

Would you believe it if I told you that I was asked to paint on the old fashioned wooden washboards that our mothers used to wash cloth with ?

Decorative painting has sure made us all go back 50 years in time.  Now anything old and wooden or metal is fair game for painting.......   I actually quite like to work on such items because it gives a certain charm and grace and an authentic look.  More like shabby chic, which I really really like.. My customers are really going out of their way when they go back to their hometowns to bring back all manner of items they could find in their ' kampungs'. 

Just to prove my point, Miss ML  who travelled back to her hometown not too long ago, brought back  a really really grimy  old kettle which had not been used , like for 20 years, and told me to do 'something' with it.  Oh my God !, it had cobwebs inside it too.... honestly.    Am I supposed to wash the kettle too ?  I'm really lost for words  now .........  I was just caught off guard and  am a bit slow to react to situations like this...... (  sigh,  so stupid  la  I am sometimes  ........ ) .  Anyway, I took it in good faith and gave it a good scrub with the whole works.   Unfortunately, the handle came  off while cleaning,  ( I told you that it was that old ) and I dutifully kept it to show Miss ML before I could proceed further.

Now I have been given  3 wooden door frames.  I'm not joking when I say that all three wooden window/door frames have been infested with ant and termite road maps ,  rusty hinges and caked with dirt....you get my picture ?   Suffice to say that I'm a bit smarter now and am going to charge them for the cleaning up process too. 

Do you think I'm being difficult ?