Christmas came from Kansas

My package came in the mail!!! It's like Christmas showed up on my doorstep a month early. I sent the cubby hole cabinet and ceiling tiles by slow boat to save money and it came on Wednesday, only four days after I shipped it home. So excited!!

Here's my cubby cabinet, possibly a postal cubby hole sorter. When I came around the corner and saw this cabinet at the River Market Antiques, I got so excited! Possibly even heart palpitations....she had to come home with me.....it just didn't fit in my suitcase so I had to find a way to get it home and the UPS store helped me ship it home for cheap because this baby is a like thirty pounds. I shipped this home with some beautiful old ceiling tiles. 

It's seven cubbies across by six rows...that's 42 cubbies of awesomness!! I know...not a word...but it definetely describes how much I like this cupboard. 

This is everything I fit in my suitcase. I know it doesn't look like I could fit the large wood box in my suitcase but, with all the clothes stuffed around it and the glass jar...we finally got the zipper to close. 

The wood box barely fit in my suitcase. Luckily, I had packed light so the clothes could be stuffed around the items that I took in my checked bag. 

The expandable rulers(or yard sticks) are going to be a great addition to my christmas decor. They make perfect rustic stars....LOVE IT!! 

I loved this old lab piece because I work in a hospital lab (once a week to keep my credentials....what I went to college for). I love lab stuff.....it can be used in so many ways....like flasks and graduated cylinders for mad scientist parties. This old old lab piece has clips on the end that would be perfect to hold a photo or a fun saying. 

It's very industrial looking yet can be so practical...I really like how it has to many screws to move all the parts to different angles. I had two mats cut so I can put two pictures back to back. I need to get my pictures put in so I can show you all. 

This is an old candy store's candy jar! I love apothecary jars and this candy jar was perfect for me! 

I added a 3x5 card in the clips....can't wait to see it with a real photo. 

I can't believe I got all this home in my suitcase!! I had such a fun time at an antique store that is so different from the stores I have around my house. So fun!! Then to have that package come in the mail.....it was like Christmas morning!! Christmas officially came from Kansas!

Kansas Shopping

I just flew back from Kansas and had a great time. My husband had a three hour interview for a graduate program so I knew I would have three hours to do something with just the baby and myself. I looked online, found a flea market but, it was only going to be open in December. Drats!! I called the lady and she recommended River Market Antique's in the river district. She said I HAD to see it...it's fabulous! It didn't disappoint!! I spent the entire three hours in this HUGE store. The mural on one side of the building is like 5,000 square foot mural of Lewis and Clark Expedition. My arms spread out as far as they could reach was like smaller than one of their shoes...it's seriously is huge!

This letter sorter was SO cool!! I wish it would have fit in my suitcase.

This bench is made out of tail gate of a chevrolet truck and other parts. Very creative!

I love fingerjoint boxes. This one was really large, since it used to hold a typewriter. I did purchase one that held encyclopedia's....and just for the record...it BARELY fit in the suitcase...we had to pack our clothes around it and around the vintage glass candy jar that I bought and had to pack inside of it.

I love this houndstooth chair. It would look so cute in my friends bridal booth since she is doing a b&w with yellow booth. Too cute! Once again, this didn't fit in my suitcase either.

I love beautiful lampshades. I love the shape of this one.

The old building is so old that it has a freight elevator to take strollers up and down the floors with a cute bell to ding (each floor having a different bell, so the floor workers knew which bell it was and which floor needed the freight elevator). I started on the fourth floor and worked my way down. SO MUCH TO LOOK AT!! Probably over 400 dealer booths....so much fun!!

A vintage stamp holder.

I like the idea of putting fabric or paper in the bottoms of my printer's drawer to add color. We'll have to see. Cute idea though.

This cubby hole cabinet (looks like a post office sorting cupboard) and the ceiling tile(seen leaning against the counter) HAD to come home with me. When I turned the corner and saw this cubby hole cabinet it gave me heart palpitations and I got so excited. I could instantly envision it in my studio or a Christmas countdown. So many possibilities!!!! I looked into taking it on the plane with us but, it would be in the "ODD" size catagory so it would $147 dollars to fly it home. Yikes, on to plan B! So, the morning before we flew out we found a UPS store and shipped it home. It only cost $38 by slow boat. I can't wait to get it...it should be here any day now!! Yippeee..almost as good as Christmas!! It definetely was a fun trip to Kansas not so much for my husband, yikes a three hour interview....glad I found something fun to do while he was busy!

Printer's Drawer Cupboard Is Finally BUILT!!!

The printer's drawer cabinet that I have been working on for a while is finally built!! YEAH!!!! I have had this in mind for about a year and I have been working on it once a week for the last two and a half months at my neighbor's woodshop.  It started as a big sheet of high grade plywood with a hardwood exterior with a solid wood faceframe into this beauty. It's still amazing to me to see what you can build with some wood!! Wahoo!!! I love when my ideas come to life!!`

The library card catalog is actually a base peice and was meant to have another stack of drawers on it. So, I built the printer's drawer cupboard to be the hutch. Therefore I made sure all my router bits on the tops of each cupboard were the same so they would match. 

It's amazing to thing that this was what it looked like at the beginning. Just peices of wood cut to size with shelf grooves and a dado joint in the back for the backing of the cupboard. 

The beginning stages. Once it was cut we did a quick sanding to get rid of any splinters. 

Glued the shelf peices in and reinforced with a few nails for stability. It is one solid piece!! 

Glued together and held with clamps. We waited til the next week after this step to let it dry. By this point, it becoming a little heavy. It's a solid built piece. 

This is the original plans that we drew up because the printer's drawers are such a specific size and you had to fit the cupboard exactly to them with only a sixteenth gap on each sideso the drawer could slide in and out. We had to be REALLY precise....definetely measured twice before each cut! 

These are the three printer's drawers that I chose for the cupboard. I love the uniqueness of each one and that they are wood fronted. The later printer's drawers had metal fronts. I like the older ones with more character. 

I LOVE the drawer pulls!! All original!! 

The faceframe was made out of solid wood peices. It is the front of the cabinet. We had to match it up exactly to the cupboard because the drawers are only like 1.5 inches tall...we had to get it exact. 

This is the cupboard without the face frame. We are making sure the drawers fit. We also added in runners along the top of the inside of each drawer so that when you are pulling out a drawer and it starts to tip down that it won't fall out. Nothing worse that picking up a whole drawer that would be organized. 

The faceframe is made independent of the cupboard and put together with a specialty cabinet drill/screw peiece. It drills a hole on an angle and then the special screws tighten the whole piece together. It is quite the ingenious little invention. 

The faceframe ready to be attached to the cupboard.  

The faceframe is finished and we added a trim piece to the top edge. The top isn't on it yet. We used MDF for the routered edges because then they always turn out perfect. You don't have to worry about knots or imperfections in your wood piece if it's out of MDF. 

Now you can see why we left such a large space at the top of the cabinet. Above the top drawer was taller than between the other drawers so that it would be more substantial. It is going to sit on top of the library card catalog and I wanted it to have more of a statement moulding so it looked the top of the piece. The routered edge is matched to the library card catalog routered top edge so that they are going to be able to become one piece. 

This is the top all routered. I L-O-V-E love it!!! The distance between each drawer is kept the same above the top drawer because the moulding takes up the rest of the space. It looks more substantial with the added moulding piece. I love it!! 

The back has a dado joint so that the backing sit into the cupboard. You can see the stoppers or runners along the top of each drawer. This is so the drawer doesn't top down too much when you are pulling out the drawer. Like I said, nothing worse than picking up a fallen drawer that was full of organized stuff. Mighty ingenious on our part. 

This is the back. It is out of 1/4 inch hardwood ply and sits snugly in the back dado joint. It almost doesn't need a nail to hold it in place it's so perfect. 

This picture show you the runners on the inside and if you look closely in the inside corner you can see the cool angle drill holes that were on the back of the faceframe. Quite the ingenious invention. No wonder professional cabinet makers use this...it makes getting your corners square really easy and so tight and perfect. 

Now it's ready for nail holes to be filled with wood putty and then primed and finally painted. 

I know the cupboard looks like it's floating but, it's not. I have it sitting on 2x4 blocks so that I could paint and prime it more easily. It is being made to sit on top of the library card catalog. I didn't want it sitting on the floor to paint it because it would possibly stick to the cardboard that I had under it while painting. 

Aren't the routered edges beautiful?!!? I love how we made them to match the library card catalogs new top therefore this cabinet could be the hutch to that piece.  

Primed with white primer because I will be painting it the same heirloom (or was it heritage?) white. Either way, it's going to be the same pretty creamy white as the library card catalog. 

All primed and ready for the first coast of paint. 

The first coat of paint is done and it has been moved on top of this dresser to dry and cure so I can still pull my car in the garage. I don't want to have to scrape windows if I don't have to...brrrrrr. 

This is the printer's drawer cupboard all painted ready for sealer. I will use the same polycrylic sealer that I used on the library card catalog because they are going to be together so I better use the same finish. I love how the drawers are wood and will stand out against the creamy white color of the cabinet. I am SO excited about getting this piece finished and can't wait to put it to use in my studio!! It's gonna be purrrrdy!! 

Hope you all have a great day...this definetely made mine!!