Calamity Jen: Leaving prints

August 14, 2007

Leaving prints

There were several special touches that sold me on my present home. Copper eavestroughs, a copper-lined fireplace and a copper range hood, to name a few. Never mind that the eavestroughs leak, the fireplace is fake and the range hood does not look like this:

I'm just a sucker for anything copper. The range hood would have been quite attractive, but the previous owner had tried to clean it with a chemical that reacted with the metal. Her efforts left unsightly streaks, as you can see:

Such a lovely piece of copper, marred by the former owner's stupidity. What a shame. One day I decided to get ambitious. Using copper polish, rubber gloves and good ol' elbow grease, I scrubbed and I scrubbed and I scrubbed. I couldn't undo the chemical damage, but I was able to bring back some of the shine. I was pretty darned proud of my work. I pulled off the gloves and went to step off the footstool to admire my work from arm's length, but the stool slid out from under me and I fell forward, planting my palms flat on the freshly polished range hood.

The next owner will get to shake her head at the stupidity of the previous one.

5 comments:

Rob K said...: Hey, Jen, just think of it as your version of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Hooray for Jenny-wood...; 2:46 PM
HAR said...: I would have cried but I'm a freak.; 8:39 PM
Calamity Jen said...: If I'm frustrated enough I cry at such mishaps, but they happen so often that I'm becoming jaded.; 10:26 PM
Anonymous said...: LOL not sure how I missed this, but you actually made me laugh out loud at a gross time of the morning on a Monday. Sweet...do something again! It's funnnnyyy :D; 7:53 AM
Unknown said...: you could try to use a steel wool and burnish the stains off, it won't have that perfectly smooth natural look but it will look like the body of the image above ;), then cover it with a sealant and don't use abrasives to clean it :)

Saffron@texaslightsmith.com
www.texaslightsmith.com; 12:49 PM

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