It's about time...

We bought these two German metal mugs about 10 years ago...
We can still remember the sweet German lady that sold them to us at a San Clemente garage sale.

We always thought they were soooo cute...
obviously we are the only ones that see their cute side because they never sold!!!

Yep, 10 years later, they are still here....

Rita, a fellow dealer, once told us:
"Everything sells if you live long enough"
Let us add that Rita turned 80 a few years back...

We don't have Rita's patience...

...if they don't sell now after this quick makeover,
we are going to start thinking that they are meant to stay.

Will Rita be right or will we have new desk accessories??

Update:
Since writing this post, last Thursday, the mugs have SOLD!
Was it the number makeover that helped, or was it their "time to go"?...
We will never know!


"Patience is also a form of action"
~Auguste Rodin~

Makeover Time...

You've got to love vintage furniture...

When an old dresser couldn't be salvaged and needed to be put to rest, we couldn't help ourselves and kept the drawers just in case we could think of something to do with them later on.
Well, that day finally came....

By decoupaging the inside of the drawer with vintage music sheets...

...and by adding glass drawer pulls as feet...

...we turned the old drawer into a deep "tray" perfect to be displayed in a big coffee table holding magazines, the remote controls or your favorite drink...

Note that this time we didn't paint the wood, we just bee waxed it to show its beautiful grain...

Like we said at the beginning of this post, you've got to love vintage furniture...and we love it to pieces!...even leftover pieces!!!

Thank you Jen for hosting the
Makeover Open House!

Now, we are on our way to visit all the other participants...
Share, Inspire and Be Inspired!
XOXO,
Clara & Marcela

One more done!!

We are determined to finish all the projects that have been quietly waiting for us in the garage before buying anything else in need of some TLC. We thought that this one was perfect to share on the 25th at Jen's Makeover Open House, but we couldn't wait to show you!! So, Ladies here it is: our first upholstery job...
We started with this vintage, yellowish, distressed (not exactly in a good way) occasional chair found somewhere...(was so long ago, we can't even remember!)

Good lines, dirty seat....

After applying the primer, 3 coats of white spray paint and removing the seat material, this is what we got:

Using the old material as a pattern, we cut burlap, and with a little bit of patience, the ugly chair started to show some chic-ness...

We added a cream trim and bronze upholstery brads...

And finished it with a little back pillow....

Wouldn't be just too adorable in a bedroom?

...or the entryway?...or in a reading nook?...or in the office?...or the bathroom?...
or the guestroom?...or the dressing room?...or the living room?...or...

What can we say...we don't know where this cute chair will end up, but we are happy that we worked on it...

One more project done...YEAH!!

Aqua fun...

The "Queen of all things white" AKA My Sister Clara, can't have enough aqua shades lately.

You probably remember her entry way makeover...

Well, she didn't stop there. She added just enough aqua to her kitchen corner piece, look at her cabinet before....

...During the facelift...good prep job, Sis!!!

and after the magic touch...

Who said that vintage ironstone was boring?????...Simple, un-pretentious, and clean.

Killer against the new background....

It's safe to say that the "Queen of all things white" it's having a blast with her new fave color...

and her new pastime....puzzles!!!

"When you are through changing, you are through "

~Bruce Barton~

Another party, giveaway and all things blog-licious!

That's right!!...Another party...this time a Make Over Open House, hosted by Jen from "Sanctuary Arts at Home"

Sometimes we get very frustrated when people just throw away their stuff
...their nice, old, "good bones" stuff!!!
and we say ...Oh well, if you don't want it...
We'll just "have" to stop the truck, dive in your dumpster, embarrass our kids again, and take home your "I don't want it anymore stuff"!!!! Last Monday was one of those days...

We lost the before pictures of our side-of-the-road-treasure, but here is a couple of the drawers.

We are sure you can imagine the rest, right?

Clara found it, so Clara works on it...we have some very strict rules around here!...
with the help of her new love Kilz Spray......

and her best friend Martha, yes Stewart, who provided the most beautiful and dreammy shade of pale blue, she transformed it into this...

Glass knobs, 2DIE4 accessories and the "Little Dresser that Could" is finished...

We wonder if the person that left it in the Lowe's parking lot could recognize it now...oh well, after all, it's just a good maple, very well constructed dresser that has been around for about 30 years and will last another 50. They can get that in any Ikea, Pier 1, Ballard....etc, etc, store!...Dream on!!!

Our second project went from "Grandma's makeup case"

to "I'm flying to Paris and I'm doing it in style" altered case!!

"Waste not the smallest thing created, for grains of sand make mountains, and atoms infinity"

~E. Knight~

Regarding Giveaways:
No, we didn't forget!!!...
visit Michelle Arnold at Vintage Grace, she is giving away a piece of her beautiful and stylish silver jewelry...No, we are not showing you... you just have to trust us and get over there...
totally worth it!!!!!...
It's OK, you can thank us later!!...Just don't forget all the creative Ladies participating in the Party and leave lots of comments!!

XOXO,
Clara & Marcela

Born Again Side Table

Hi! Thank you for coming back!

Today we are ready to share Part 2 of our Room Makeover. Part 1, was about the fabrics we selected for this room, remember?

This chapter is about salvaging a 1970's maple step-down side table that had seen better days and was destined to the dumpster...making this project a real Trash to Treasure...

In order to have any kind of hope, the poor thing had to take a little beating...

Sorry, sometimes beauty hurts...

New foam, pretty fabric, fresh white paint and Clara's talent transformed the ugly duckling in a great footstool....


With the addition of a tray, it could be used even as an informal coffee table...


And the little drawer still there, perfect spot for books or magazines!


When working in a budget, get creative!
This new piece will look adorable mixed with the dark wood pieces we are still working on, you'll see! The room will be staged on Friday morning and of course we will share pictures, don't miss it!

The M's Family Room makeover.

We have been having some fun! Jane and Tom M. called us to work on their Talega home once again. The M's are a young (and very good looking) family of 5 that have trusted us before with the re-do of their Living/Dining Room, Master bedroom and this time, the Family Room.
They always have some key pieces for us to work with and around... this time was a chocolate brown leather L shaped sofa, a fireplace mantel, build-ins and a pine coffee table that Jane thought it should be replaced...

Our challenge was to incorporate vintage, antique and new pieces to pull their room together....all of course, in a budget.
The contemporary graphics and bold colors that Jane likes so much, were used for the pillows. We also used a very vibrant printed material stretched on canvas for some color punch against the chocolate painted background. Recycled wood pieces were made into book ends, no room is finished without some chippy paint...

Over the fireplace, we placed an antique oval gold brushed mirror....
A killer piece, the perfect focal point! We kept the rest of the mantel very clean, just a turquoise vase holding tall, sleek branches and some white coral...

Antique Transferware Platter and new aqua and white pottery... no clutter and oh! so chic!....

A little elbow grease and an ebony stain transformed the coffee table...it's a sturdy piece, the size was perfect, round corners make it totally kids friendly. No need to get a new one: re-use, recycle and fall in love with it all over again! Lots of bee's wax was added to the top to protect it from water spills...

The high gloss white moulding, the chocolate brown, and the butter cream yellow walls make this a cozy room, the colorful accents make it fun and young, just like the M's themselves! It didn't take much , just a little shopping and some inspiration (in this case a ribbon that Jane bought a few months back) to make it into an inviting room that she is proud now to show off...

Room makeovers are fun and easy to do, sometimes all you need is a new pair of eyes to "see" your room in a different way...Thank you to the M's for letting us beautify Orange County one room at the time!