Annie Sloan paint arrives at Thomas and Lucia
On Friday my paint workshop partner in crime Maxine, and I drove to Oxford and went to Annie Sloan's shop and warehouse to collect our precious consignment of paint and wax. These fabulous chalk paints are specifically designed to paint furniture. They are totally matt and stick to anything, shiny wood, metal old pine, varnish even plastic! They come in handy one litre pots so you can experiment with lots of colours without breaking the bank.
There are 27 fabulous colours to choose from range from the pale and subtle greys of an English sky to the deep colours of a Cezanne painting
I will also be increasing my range of fabrics, and developing my garden range so very soon you will be able to have the Thomas and Lucia look for your whole home.
Now all I have to do it stick 27 paint samples onto every paint chart and I'll be ready for action!
The Diary of a Shopkeeper
Yesterday was the last chance for the menfolk to get their act together and buy Valentine’s gifts. I have had beautiful displays or hearts and scented soaps, candles and cushions (basically all that any woman would want) sitting in my shop for weeks just waiting for them to come in and say, ‘what gorgeous gift do you suggest for my lovely wife, girlfriend, mistress?’ and hardly a chap have I seen. They just don’t get it – that soap, hearts, candles and cushions make us feel happy, and a happy partner is a really good idea.
Yesterday however things changed and I had a fairly good stream on men looking for gifts which i was pleased to wrap for them.
I haven’t had a valentine’s gift since 1985. My husband would point out that I haven’t given one since then but I don’t think that’s at all relevant. In 1985 we were living in rural Wiltshire in a converted barn with no insulation. I was pregnant with my first child. It was a very hard winter and the toilet froze- not ideal when you have to pee every half an hour. After two days of peeing in a bucket Matt whisked me off to Mudeford to stay in his mother’s cottage while he went back to Wiltshire for work. By Valentine’s day the loo had recovered and we returned to Wiltshire but it was still jolly chilly. The evening before Matt had come home late and grinning like a Cheshire cat. His smugness was short lived however as next morning I was awoken by him cursing and slamming the car door which he had had to prise open due to the ice. Peering out of the bedroom window I say him bring out a lovely bouquet of flowers. At least it was once a lovely bouquet of flowers, now it was brown and dead looking and looked like Miss Haversham’s wedding flowers having frozen in the car overnight. Poor chap was obviously traumatised as I haven’t had so much as a daisy on Valentine’s day since.