Jason and I were blessed to inherit a few pieces of furniture from his mom’s mom’s home after she passed away. These two Lane end tables were in rough shape. Both had watermarks on top and one was stained with newsprint.
Jason lovingly restored them back to their original glory with steel wool, walnut stain and a lot of elbow grease.
I can’t wait to see these tables have a second life at our new house. For now they’re resting in storage.
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Art, Art: mid-century design, Family | Tagged: end tables, furniture, lane, refinishing, restoration | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: before & after, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: before and after, cell phone photography, chair, Phone Photo Friday, upholstery | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Happy Independence Day! I LOVELOVELOVE fireworks so this is one of my favorite holidays. I’m optimistic that we can keep Precious up late enough and that she’ll be entertained and not terrified by all the colorful explosions.
Here’s a little musical morsel to celebrate the 4th of July. My handsome husband Jason Ahlbrandt playing “Freight Train” (Tommy Emmanuel’s arrangement):
2 Comments | Art, Art: music, Family, Family: Jason | Tagged: guitar, husband, instrumental, Jason, jason ahlbrandt, music | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
On Thursday the work on our concrete block foundation, front wall and fireplace began. And it was HOT. In Nashville we hit a record temperature of 109 on Friday. The block workers busted their butts for us and we’re grateful! Turns out half the crew was Salvadorian which is kind of cool because Precious is half Salvadorian, too. Jason took all these pictures while I was working during the day:
It look me forever to figure out the direction of this picture. The corner coming at you is the my office/laundry room/mudroom. Beyond that is the garage.
The beginning of our wood burning fireplace. Woo hoo!
Jason said when the guys take a lunch break, they lie down in the shade and take a nap. Apparently they also eat tamales:
I took the pictures below in the evening, when it had cooled down to approximately 95 degrees. You’ve probably noticed our concrete block is straight stacked in a modern, art-deco style. That was our architect’s idea. We like the grid pattern it creates.
The concrete block will be exposed inside part of the house…in the dining room, the den/playroom/4th bedroom, a tad in the nursery (I think) and the fireplace.
The left side of the picture is the corner of our garage and the right side of the picture is the wall of our courtyard which will lead up to the front door. That front wall is going to get a lot higher.
Here’s the garage. We’ve never had a garage before so we’re pretty excited about keeping our cars out of the heat and rain, as well has having lots of storage space. Those two openings are for access into the crawlspace under the house. That pile of dirt back there will be filled in around the house so less of the foundation is visible.
It’s dirty, dusty, dry and hot—but it’s our home!
2 Comments | Art, Art: modern design, Art: new home build | Tagged: construction, house, new home build | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: cell phone photography, granddaughter, grandpa, Phone Photo Friday, precious | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Last week the ground was dug and leveled for our new home and the concrete was poured for the footers (the base that the foundation blocks will sit on). I had to get a phone replacement and I lost a few pictures so almost all of these are from Jason’s phone. I took this one of Precious. We take walks down to the new house several times a day.
There was a lot of junk buried from the previous house. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but the house that was originally on this lot had a fire and was demolished. According to the city codes, they’re not supposed to do this…ahem…although, our contractors and the footer guys didn’t seem terribly surprised. It’s not usable as fill dirt so most of it had to be hauled away.
After the ground is leveled, they did trenches for the concrete. There is a trench for every load-bearing wall as well as some square pits for support pillars. Our house will have a crawlspace, not a basement, in case you’re wondering why its so shallow. Our ground is very rocky in Tennessee so basements are not very common. (Unless it’s a hillside property, blasting is usually required to get deep enough into the rock for a basement. $$$) We considered doing a slab instead of a crawlspace. I’m happy to explain why we decided on crawlspace if anyone really cares. Otherwise, I’ll spare ya the details.
Once the trenches are finished, rebar is set in place for the concrete. I learned the difference between concrete and cement last week, in case anyone else is interested. Quick answer: cement is an ingredient of concrete.
Speaking of, here comes the concrete truck! On my birthday. Biggest and most expensive birthday present I’ve ever received!
It was about 95 degrees out that day.
This was taken after the first truck load. It took about 2.5 truckloads of concrete all together. Later on in the building process the concrete truck will be back to do our garage and back patio.
On Thursday the concrete blocks were delivered.
This week, that block should be going into place around the foundation and the front of the house. It’s so exciting!
1 Comment | Art, Art: modern design, Art: new home build | Tagged: concrete, construction, footers, foundation, new home build | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
2 Comments | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday, Family, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: cell phone photography, Phone Photo Friday, precious | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Jason and I are currently refinishing this chair pair we picked up at a thrift store. I’m excited to show you an “after” picture when we’re all finished. It may be hard to tell in the picture but they’re covered in a sticky, stinky old vinyl. Apparently they’re made by the Dearborn Company in Chicago. One of the chairs—I named them Douglas and Davy, by the way—had this tag on the bottom:
I spotted a couple boxes of Shiny Brites at an estate sale that I couldn’t resist. ( I have a modest collection from my granny.)
This cart is very similar to the black one I found a few weeks ago. I’m planning to spray paint them both a matching color.
I’m not sure what to use this little table for but I thought it was cute.
Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: mcm thrift store find, Art: mid-century design | Tagged: cart, chairs, estate sales, table, thrift stores | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
Last Wednesday, the surveyor came out to mark the four corners of our property and to plot out where our house will be situated on the lot. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that our property is even larger than it appears, especially because one of the side fences is about 10 feet inside the property line; not right on the line as we (and our neighbor) had assumed. Thankfully, our neighbor is not upset. We’ve met several of our neighbors already and I’m really thankful we seem to be surrounded by great people. Jason took all these photos of the surveying.
On Thursday we broke ground! It was a wonderful anniversary present.
Things are moving quickly so I’ll have one or two updates a week on the house build. Today is my birthday and we’re hopefully getting a delivery of concrete for our footers. We might even get a delivery of concrete block for the foundation and front wall.
1 Comment | Art, Art: modern design, Art: new home build | Tagged: ground breaking, new home build, property, survey | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
1 Comment | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: cell phone photography, estate sale, Phone Photo Friday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
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Graphic designer, MCM interior design enthusiast, wife to amazing guitarist and hard working realtor, mama—by way of foster care, adoption and biology—and follower of Jesus Christ.
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