Work, work, work...

Just another day at "the office"...
...Antique urns with the best patina full of nests and Birdie love...

Cool signs made of recycled wood...killer blue bottles...

Vintage pottery, antique architectural pieces turned into a fab lamp....

Pretty and sweet pink vignette...

It's all in a day's work...

Well, what can we say??...It's a job, someone's got to do it!!!

"When people go to work, they shouldn't have to leave their hearts at home"
~Betty Bender~

About our daily life...

A couple of days ago, Tara asked in one of her posts what we, (her readers), do for a living and what makes our heart sing. Well, she got us thinking...She knows what Clara and I do because she is one of the customers that visit our store regularly, and even when we can't say we really "make a living" with it (we only help two hard working husbands!) , having our store, sure makes our heart sing!...

We get to be surrounded by pretty stuff...

We look and shop for oldies....

We get to create...

...meet wonderful people, and read some awesome magazines...(research purposes!)

And we get to "play house" each day,

All of that, before going home to our families...

...to carpools, laundry, grocery shopping, and many, many soccer games!...all things that also make our hearts sing...

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars''
~Henry Van Dyke~

Doing what we love to do....

Since our Dealers started working at the store and Clara and I don't have to be there every day, things have changed. Not only we have a lot more time for family, antiquing and creating, but also, the days that we now spend at the store became a real treat!
Clara and I usually do the big re-arrangements: we move the big furniture around, we hang chandeliers, re-do the windows and the walls... and we get to shop our own store because the girls bring wonderful merchandise constantly!
As we walked the store today and Clara showed me all the new stuff that came in, I remembered something that Shell from Tales from the Raspberry Rabbits, wrote on her blog:

We might be recessed but we are definitely not depressed!!

Look at all these pretty vignettes and you'll see what I mean....

Of course, during our working days, we also get to chat with our great customers and they always confirm us that we are on the right path.... They come to our store looking for fresh, inexpensive ways to spruce up their home, they look for vintage, unique, recycled merchandise that makes them feel good without breaking the bank....

We sure have that...

They are also looking for handmade, one of the kind items to keep or to give away....

And they decided that on these "recessed" days they are looking to spend their hard earned money in little stores, helping us and many people like us do what we do best...recycle, re-use, and beautify each home one vintage piece at the time!



So, thank you to all our faithful customers for keep coming back, thank you for all your support, we REALLY appreciate it!... thank you to all of you, the vintage-cottage-shabby-antique lovers for supporting your own local Dealer!!...
Oh, one more thing: don't forget to visit Shell's blog and her adorable rabbits and tell them that the girls from Nice & Easy sent you!

No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.
~H.E. Luccock~

Between Dr Laura and Sarah Palin

OMG... It's been so long since our last post!!!...Time flies when you are having fun! And after some time of thinking and deciding what to do with our business, we can say that we are finally having fun again.

The addition of new vendors and the fact that they all work one day a week in the store has given us not only time to catch up with our own lives but also a totally renewed creative energy.

During our time away from the store, we have completed old projects, finished new ones, redecorated rooms in our own homes, watched our girls win a soccer tournament and let us tell you: it feels pretty darn good!

We even got the "creative juices" flowing again, we have stocked up the store with lots of wonderful cottage furniture and for the first time we are ahead with the seasonal merchandise: fun Halloween decorations are being created and displayed every day.

These days when many of us are having conversations about women doing it all, juggling work, kids, housework, helping run a country, it's pretty safe to say that Clara and I can't do it all.
We can't run a 10 to 5 business and be home with our families, we can't work every day and refinish furniture at night, and trust us: we tried! Our new schedule (we work 2 half days a week each) is what we call the perfect balance between Dr Laura and Sarah Palin!!

Our lives are really about Cottage Charm and Family Inspiration (not necessarily in that order), and our new schedule allow us to enjoy it all....