Diamond in the Rough

Before our move to California, I got together with a friend, one rainy afternoon, and we got crafty. Not big crafty, like completing a fully tufted velvet headboard, but still crafty. We bought some antique wooden and ceramic drawer/cabinet pulls and glued some heavy duty button magnets on the back. The whole purpose was to create nifty looking magnets that could also function as jewelry hooks.

This was the end result:

Pretty cool, huh?

So, I thought it would be great if I could find a rusty old piece of decorative tin and use it as my magnetic surface on which to hang my knobs. I figured eventually I would come across some on my travels, but I didn't think it would be so soon!

Fast forward  a week later and my mom and I have hit the road like a couple of nomads. We were headed south to California and had big ideas about things we would see and places we would go along the way. We stopped in a little town off the beaten path just south of Portland, OR.

Naturally it was raining that day, so any exterior pictures I took were from the dryness and warmth of the car.

Aurora, Oregon is a quaint little town with a lot of antique stores for its size. One store, however, stood out among the rest; Aurora Mills. They do mostly architectural salvage (which is my favorite!). You name it, they had it; corbels, mannequins, signage, hardware, doors, furniture, iron, etc. The place is AMAZING! 

 

 

Anywhoooo....whilst I was poking around there, I stumbled upon, you guessed it, old tin! I couldn't wait to get settled into our new place and make my idea become reality. Well today was that day! 

It turned out better than I expected! All my long necklaces could hang freely from their new hooks while looking chic doing it! The tin was above and beyond what I expected to find. So naturally I picked up two; $10 a piece. Honestly I don't know if that's a good price, but it was a good price for me! 

The tin had existing holes so it was easy to thread ribbon through for the hanger. Some holes weren't very big so I took a large screw and rubber mallet (so glad I kept it) and pounded the screw into the existing hole to make it a little bigger. Viola! 

If you ever find yourself in the Portland area, make a point to stop at Aurora Mills!

Happy Friday, friends!

P.S. Hubby just got home and saw my new additions (aka rusty gold!). He doesn't appreciate the rustic and reclaimed like I do. The conversation went like this:

J: I see you hung something up today.

Me: Do you like it?

J: It's going to have to grow on me.

Me: That's "Jake speak" for "I don't like it".

J: It's gross looking.

I tried.