Today I am hopping along with Between Naps on the Porch and her brilliant Metamorphosis Monday. These last few weeks have seen me in and out of way too many shops buying emergency furniture while we wait an ever growing length of time for our goodies to arrive from the UK. The oddest part about the shopping was trying to fit some of our modern minimalist pieces come from the UK with our plans for a proper Hacienda. I suspect our new home will become one part minimalist modern, 2 parts Mexico and a dash of Moroccan just to keep things interesting. The only room with a hint of what is to come is our Kitchen, complete with a new table, a long rectangle to replace our industrial size square. The new shape, the naked surface, the bland seeping from its pours left us all longing…
In my quest for this new look I came across the perfect accompaniment for our kitchen table, gone are the dull cream lines of our old kitchen, and in come the bright fiesta colors of our new kitchen. I want the warm tones of orange and red to be accented with the cool tones of the blue and green…I love the retro feel of the print, the colors and of course the oilcloth. We have a long way to go before we can wow you with our kitchen, but somehow getting the table dressed and ready is a big step, from here we can begin to build the room and breath a sense of home into the space.
My love affair with oilcloth started 8 years ago when we bought our first home in London. The Victorian house we refurbished was complete with as many period features as we could find, and when we couldn’t we improvised with something funky to break up the monotony of the design. In this case, it was the tablecloth, or rather the oilcloth to be exact.
Oilcloth has been around for just over a 100 years. It was originally a heavy cotton or linen cloth with a linseed oil coating to make it semi water proof. By the late 1950′s oilcloth was breathing life into kitchens everywhere with its bold prints and colors. Its durability, easy to clean surface made it perfect for the family table and a favorite among housewives.
Recently oil cloth as had a revival of sorts, and has found its way into our lives as something more than just fabric for the kitchen table……
Do you have childhood memories of sitting around an oilcloth table?
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Calling all domestic artisans — are you fabulous at flower arranging? A know it all at needlepoint? A powerhouse at preserving? A smarty pants at sewing? Then Housewife Bliss wants to hear from you, please contact Mrs. Bliss to participate in a brand new 101 series taking place in July/August.