Outdoor dining

One of the fun discoveries we made during our visit to Julio and Stella's was the outdoor kitchen. This was not just any outdoor kitchen, this came complete with an oven large enough to cook an entire cow.

I was also significantly impressed by the number of cast iron pots and pans on display.



"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all."
~ Harriet Van Horne

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Another man's treasure

Julio Machado loves flea markets and yard sales. For him, one man's junk truly is his treasure. He can spot potential in the most mundane or run-down objects, and these items, cleaned up and sometimes transformed, find their way into his house. At DDP, we like to see new uses for old things. Julio is a master at this process. Above, collections of old copper teapots and irons lead the way his  staircases.

You'll nearly always see a crystal (or faux-crystal) vase at a yard sale. I usually pass them by. But collect a mass of them, and display them on a handcrafted wrought iron shelf, and they come to life. A collection of miscellaneous items enhances a hand-carved wall shelf. And leftover scraps of metal and rivets create a map of the USA.

No two sets of lighting are the same. I like finding new uses for Mason jars, so these Mason jar light fixtures were my favorite, along with the use of old piping to conceal the wiring.

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Into the wood

Julio, Stella, and I also share a love of wood. Like the metal, wood is everywhere�but more so! The house is framed in wood, and it is all left bare, with the knots and the bark adding to the beauty.

Julio's floors are put together from many kinds and colors of wood�not just because that's what he had on hand, but also because the variations are beautiful and more interesting than a single kind and color of wood. In many places, words that relate to their lives are inlaid into the wood. Some of the wood is highly finished and smooth. Some is textured and dinged in a way that adds a whole nother (yes, Google says it really is a word) dimension to the beauty. Gnarled tree trunks get made into strange but comfortable chairs.



Huge wooden planks become dining room tables that will seat the whole extended family (or into a desk where there's always room to spread out your work). Thick logs get carved into jaguars (above) and eagles.



And Julio doesn't let anything go to waste. The little pieces that most carpenters sweep up and throw away get used to cover up ugly concrete columns. Or as material for an artist's rendition of the house, made entirely from wood.

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What Julio has wrought

Wrought iron: iron that has been heated and is then worked with tools to change its form and properties. The term �wrought� comes from the past participle of the word �worked.� Wrought iron literally means "worked iron."

Wrought iron, although prevalent, is just one of many metals found in Julio and Stella's beautiful home. I soon realized that we shared a love of metal. From the three wrought iron staircases, to the numerous custom-made display shelves, to the rows of hanging cast iron and copper pots and pans (not pictured), metal is everywhere, and most of it is handmade by Julio himself.

Here are just a few examples of the artwork that Julio has created from metal.

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