Family heirlooms..

I have some obsessions in my life.

 I'll admit it.

I am absolutely obsessed with Mason jars. Not the ones you can buy now at Michaels per say, but the ones I find at estate sales from the 1920's-1940's.One day I should take count of just how many I have scattered throughout the house. My beautiful friend Kylie laughs at the fact that she can be sitting in one place and see at least 10 jars all over! I am also obsessed with beautifully warm smelling candles, along with warm music -think Frank Sinatra. Oh yah- delicious food, but especially preparing the food for ones I love. Lastly, I am IN LOVE/obsessed with having family heirlooms. Anytime my mom offers me to have something from our family, even if it doesn't necessarily go with our style, I take it and try to make it work! One heirloom in particular was given to me and J by my grandpa for our wedding. It was his and my grandmas Gorham silver made in 1940. It is such a beautiful set of silver, but its definitely missing some pieces, so not necessarily easy to work with. I was reading one of my favorite design blogs yesterday when i saw this post. She made a beautiful shadow box of her grandmothers silver and it totally inspired me to do the same, especially because its not me ruining what would have been a full set.

Sorry for the glare but here is my version of it in our dining room.

I love Love LOVE it and especially love that it represents family. Anytime I can have something that is beautiful and meaningful- its great!

On a very sad note..our little Boomer got neutered today- and this is the poor little guy afterwards. So,so sad:( But we definitely don't want him to be making any puppies..even though he is so stinking cute.

Love,
Adri

DIY Card Catalog Buffet

I should just start off by saying that in this post I tend to toot my own horn,a lot. However it's not because of me doing anything amazing myself, but for the fact that I am married the most AMAZING man ever! Go me!

A couple of months ago J bought this massive card catalog from Craigslist. It is from a closed down old Phoenix Public Library. It was so incredible, but yet we had no idea what the heck to do with it. It sat in the garage for a good four months until one day my hubby had a "light bulb" moment and decided he would take it apart and transform it into the most beautiful buffet ever...really, ever!

This is what we started with:

Here is the process:

• Removed the 72 drawers, numbering each with tape as we went so we could place it back in the correct spot
• Removed the outside plywood casing of the original cabinet
• Separated the four sections of 18 slots that were stacked 4x1 and reacquainted the with each other in a 2x2 buffet setting. Screwed the sections back together

• Purchased two 4'x8' sections of oak plywood and had Lowe's cut them to size for free. These would be the new top and base, but we used the original casings for the sides to preserve the character of the piece since they have great splits and dents already.

• Secured 8 legs purchased from Lowe's for $8 each to base sheet of plywood in a diamond pattern {the card catalog is probably 350 lobs. so we were really, really, relieved when the base withstood all of the weight.
• Added 3/4" trim purchased from Lowe's and cut at home with our Miter saw, then pathched the nail holes with wood putty.

• Sanded, re-sanded, and sanded some more to really smooth things out
• Painted all {freaking} 72 drawers {with a smile of course}and whole thing with Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint and primer in one from Home Depot {color:Rhino}- random fact: we will ONLY ever use Behr PPU for all projects, it is in our minds the best
• Rubbed some stain {Minwax Dark Walnut 2716} all over with a small brush and a few rags to give the antique look, followed by a little more sanding and then some Minwax Wipe on Poly to seal it

• Lastly, we placed all the original hardware back on each drawer {minus the 4 that are missing the little circle do-dads, we are very technical over here, do-dads} 

Photo credit:Melissa Young

Photo credit: Melissa Young

So far we have figured out that we can stick wine bottles, cloth napkins, serving utensils, and other small things..but lets be honest- 72 drawers is a little much! We shall see what junk I can find to fill it up...
Finally, how rad is my J. What hubby thinks of this, and then is even excited to do it over his three-day weekend. I kinda love him.


<3,
Adri

PS- I linked up this project with some of my favorite link parties:)

Family Photos

I know a lot of you probably will see these photos on facebook BUT my dad is in Albania for work for long periods of time and he doesn't have facebook, so he reads this.. Hi dad:)

Melissa Young (my best girlfriend whom i love and is UNbelievably talented) took some family photos for us the other day for fun. We had a blast,and in the process of the shoot managed to break our swing and watch Honey get attacked by a bird! Anyways- here are some of the photos.

The swing breaking

Bird attacking Honey

Thank you SO much Melissa! We LOVE all the photos
Melissayoungphotography.com

<3,
Adri