Shoutout to the homeowner who asked me to match her 'rustic' texture

Last month in Portland, this lady wanted me to match a texture on her ceiling that looked like someone threw mud at it with a pitchfork. She stood there for 15 minutes explaining how her late husband did it with a whisk from the 80s. I ended up using a cheap sponge and some old mud to make it look close, but she still shook her head and said 'almost.' Did anyone else ever get a request that made you question your whole career choice?

3 comments

3 Comments

holly7099d agoMost Upvoted

Did you ever wonder if she was testing you to see if you'd actually put in the effort, or if she just wanted to keep her husband's memory alive through that ugly ceiling? I had a similar gig once where a guy wanted me to patch his driveway with the exact same shade of oil stains his dad left 20 years ago. He watched me mix a batch, then said "nope, too dark" and walked away. Sometimes I think homeowners want a time machine more than a repair.

abbyp619d ago

Did you ever have to fake a "worn path" on someone's lawn? I was cleaning this lady's house in Salem once and she asked me to rearrange her throw pillows so they looked "lived in." She had a diagram on graph paper showing exactly which corners should show wear. Took me 20 minutes to get the sofa cushions looking right. She paid me extra for the help but I still can't look at a decorative pillow the same way.

wells.christopher9d ago

...and that's exactly what this lady wanted, I swear. My buddy Mike had a client in West Salem who wanted him to rake her lawn so it looked like someone had walked from the driveway to the front door every day for like a year. She showed him pictures of her neighbor's paths and said "make it look like that, but sadder." He spent a whole afternoon dragging a garden rake in zigzags, then she came out and said the path was "too hopeful" and made him start over. He still brings it up whenever we see a lawn with any kind of pattern on it, which is a lot more often than you'd think.