Bridal Expo!

Flowers by: Southern-Social-Events

Hello Darlings!

We just completed our first Bridal expo this past Wednesday, and could not have been happier with the turn out! We were invited by our friend Marianna, owner of Southern-Social Events  and took place at a birding center in Mcallen, TX called  Quinta Mazatlan,  Since it was our first time participating in something like this we were not sure exactly what pieces to display in our booth. Since we had just finished our pallet wall, we decided that would for sure be included in our set-up. Accessorizing in front of the wall, we placed our new tufted coral chairs on each side of the pallet wall, and placed a "vintage inspired" wine rack bike in the middle. On the side of one of the chairs we piled three suitcases to make a side table and on the other side of the other chair we placed our new standing chandelier.

On the actual pallet wall we nailed our tin marquee LOVE sign to the top corner and on the opposite side a small amount of vines (which we found on a fence in our neighborhood!) We got a large frame from Goodwill, cut the paper out and took out the glass, then stapled some fishing wire to the middle so we could hang our business cards from them with clothes pins.

We even had a little time to play and take some pics with our friend Priscilla from Southern-Social-Events

We booked some rentals, networked with other local vendors, and even got a free cucumber martini! All in all, it was a great experience! looking forward to the next one. 

xoxo,

It's Vintage Darling

Irma & Moises 4-23-16

Hello Darlings,

We had a great Saturday creating the perfect photo backdrop for Irma & Moises's wedding!
We met with the engaged couple back in early January to discuss the pieces they were interested in including on their wedding day.  They requested the blue sofa, Cinderella, the brown leather suite cases, and a small chalkboard with a gold frame.... but there was something else missing from her ideal set-up. She showed us a few pictures of some backdrops she found on pinterest that were created from old pallets, and asked us if that was something we could build for them. We reviewed the project and got her a reasonable quote and committed to the pallet wall (tutorial coming soon on how we created our pallet wall).

and here was the final outcome.....

*All the picture frames were provided by the couple, as well as the side table, lamp and balloons. *

Irma and Moises shared with us that they were both involved in teaching music, so while designing their chalkboard, we added some details that reflected their love for the tunes.

Chalk artist: Jaclyn 

We were very blessed to be apart of their wedding day, we hope they enjoyed their vintage set-up, as well as their guests!

God Bless, Irma & Moises

xoxo,

It's Vintage Darling

Ivan Ramirez Collaboration

Hello Darlings,

We are very fortunate to work with so many talented photographers in this industry. We recently teamed up with Ivan Ramirez, a local photographer & artist, to help us promote and showcase some of our pieces. We met with Ivan to discuss the plans for the photo shoot, and since he had the creative background we let him take the reigns on the project.

It was such a cool experience to be apart of the collaboration. He was so professional, and put so much detail into everything, starting from the beginning when he held the model search. He found 5 beautiful women (one who was a glowing mommy-to-be) and 2 adorable little sisters to complete all the scenes he had planned for.

We started our day at 9 a.m. that morning of the shoot, cleaning the grounds of the property, and prepping the furniture that was to be used during the photo shoot. The models and photographer arrived at 1 p,m. setting up his portable wardrobe rack and starting on the model's make-up. The girl who was in charge of hair unfortunately could not make it so thankfully Jackie busted out her cosmetology skills and got to work on curling, straightening and teasing.

Then the fun started.....

We went from scene to scene using a total of 2 sofas, 2 chaise lounges, 4 upholstered chairs, chandeliers, and a tub.

photo by:Ivan Ramirez

photo by:Ivan Ramirez

Photo by: Ivan Ramirez

Photo by: Ivan Ramirez

  

Photo by: Ivan Ramirez

Photo by: Ivan Ramirez

We finished the shoot at 10:30 p.m. and were pooped! But seriously one of the coolest experiences we have been privileged to be apart of.

That's a wrap!

xoxo,
It's Vintage Darling

Tiffany & Ramiro Wedding

Hello Darlings,

This past Saturday, we kicked off our first wedding of the season. The bride and groom married at the Inn at Chachalaca Bend is Los Fresnos, TX, with 150 of their closest friends and family in attendance. We first met with the bride and her sweet mamma back in November to discuss her plans for the big day. Since she was going for a shabby, vintage theme, we were able to help her accessorize with pieces from our collection like, bikes, books, chandeliers, sofas and tables. Since our collection is still relatively small, a big chunk of her decor was styled by Rossy from. Rossy's Floreria who is a family business that  have been in the wedding industry for 20 years. Since we are still new to the wedding world, it's nice to meet different vendors and talk about "the biz" and what works for them and what doesn't.

Something we learned from this wedding is start taking a tool bag to every wedding! Just small things that you don't think you need, but will probably be some use to us, a hammer, staple gun, clear tape, and extension cords.

Looking forward to having a wonderful wedding season!

Bike by It's Vintage Darling / Canopy & flowers by Rossy's Floreria

table styled  by Rossy's Floreria

Chalkboard directional sign by It's Vintage Darling

Cake & Sweets tables by It's Vintage Darling

XOXO,

It'sVintage Darling

Photo Bomber

Hello Darlings,
For those who don't know, we not only offer furniture rental, but location rental as well. Our showroom is currently located on our family's ranch, located about 12 miles outside the city.

 After our grandparents were married, they slowly purchased the land when they were starting their family and over time had acquired over 100 acres of raw, south Texas land. Now that their children are older, many have built their homes on the land, but still have over 60 acres of untouched land, which is currently inhabited by 16 cows, 1 bull, 2 donkeys and a horse. Any-who,  when we plan a location rental, we make sure and send all the livestock into separate pastures to ensure they will not interfere with our guests.... I'm sorry when I say "we" I don't mean me and Jaclyn, I mean our grandma, because those animals are big, scary, and aggressive...Okay, not aggressive, but the only thing I imagine when I am near them, is the scene from Lion King when Simba is being chased by the stampede.

Of course outside my crazy mind, and in reality, this is all they do........

 

The point is, we don't want them near our clients, so they are sent away. But of course, there had to be a time when our full proof plan did not go as we wanted......

A photographer had booked a day in late November for a  Christmas family session, which was a young husband and wife with their son, who seemed between 4-6 years old, and their daughter who was no older than a year and a half. We set them up at their desired spot, and decided to let them have their privacy, something that we never do!! We always stay on set with the photographer just in case they need anything, or have any questions. And of course, that is the day it All. Went. Down!!

We were near the house when we got a message from the photographer that read: "The animals are here" We looked at each other, thinking "what animals?". We had put away the dogs, the cats never leave the garage, and the chickens were walking near the house. We ran over and and see the photographer taking pictures of the family, with the horse right behind them, and the two donkeys nudged against her while taking the pictures.The little boy looked like he loved it, and the parents were super calm, even the photographer was going with it.... We were mortified! To them, it was cute, but we knew that those donkeys get spooked easily and kick without warning. Even though both animals are not very aggressive in nature, the only contact we had previously had with them was through a fence, and now we had to pretend as though we knew how to handle them.... which of course, we did not.

It gets worse.....

We call our grandma to come and get them away from us, and thankfully she arrived within five minutes (although it felt longer!)** Keep in mind the family and photographer keep taking pictures**

But when she arrived she brought her Dalmatian dog, who we swear is un-diagnosed with Dog A.D.H.D! He practically pounces on the photographer, which thankfully I was able to grab him from his collar and stop him. Then Nana (our grandma) busts out her whip (literally, not figuratively) and she yells at them to move...which thankfully they did...... *Finally we could breath*

 Nana directed them to another field, and all animals were gone,,,, 

Then a few weeks later, the photographer sends us this picture......

Photo by:Lori J. Photography

We pretty much have dubbed this the best photo bomb EVER!!!!

xoxo,

It's Vintage Darling

Chalk Paint Make-Over

Hello Darlings,

 We wanted to share one of our recent projects with you guys, and spent less than $10 doing it!

Materials:

• 2 old chairs 
• chalk paint 
• fabric softener 
• gold glaze paint

The chairs were from an old living room set that were currently being used for a coat rack, and random household items. They had a flat fabric with a green and beige striped design. We did not want to spend a lot of money on them and had seen my mom re-do a couple of chairs in her living room with chalk paint so we decided to give it a try. For the chalk paint we used the brand from Wal-Mart called Waverly, in the color Ballet Slipper, and emptied the whole bottle into an old yogurt container. Then we mixed 1 cup of fabric softener into the paint (this will help the paint to not have that hardened feel to it after it dries). You can use any type of softener, but for this project we had Downy in our laundry room, so that is what we used. After you mix the two ingredients you are ready to paint your fabric! Honestly, one coat of paint covered the original pattern on the chairs, but just to be on the safe side, we gave it two coats. For the glaze on the wooden trim of the chairs we used a gold glaze paint that had been in our work room for forever (so old the label was gone), but you can use any other chalk paint, or any gold paint that you like. 

And that's it, the chairs were done and ready to work! 

P.S.If you are considering trying this, we recommend you testing this project out on a scratch piece of fabric, one similar to the one you will be painting, just to see how you will like it. Add more or less fabric softener to your paint depending on how soft you want the fabric, and most importantly have fun (cliche, but true)!

XOXO,

It's Vintage Darling

Charlotte

Hello Darlings,
So, a couple of months ago, a friend of ours sent us a picture of a chair that was sitting next to a dumpster that someone had thrown out. Being the amazing friend she is, she offered to scoop it up and place it in the back of her 2004 Chevy Colorado, and held onto it until we could pick it up from her. When we saw it in person we could not believe how amazing the wood frame on the chair was, of course the pattern of the fabric was hideous, but Oh My,the legs! They were slender and had a slight curve at the bottom, sure there was a little chip missing off of one of the legs, but it just added a little extra character.

We then started planning how to bring our new piece back to life!, Most of our pieces had the buttons on the backs of them, so we were wanting this one to have a different vintage look. We stumbled upon a style called "channel" backing, which looks kind of like a shell (sorry that is the only way we can describe it).

Since it was September, we wanted to plan for the Christmas holiday coming up, so we agreed on a red velvet fabric, which we found at Hobby Lobby. We got 4.5 yds @ $14.99/yd = $67.46 (plus tax) then applied our 40% off coupon (click to print), making our total to over a little $40 (yaaayy savings!)

About 4 weeks  and $150 later, we got our new baby back from the upholster, and oh man, she looked good!!

Thankfully, we started receiving calls and messages to book the piece for holiday photo sessions. So our new chair, which we decided to name Charlotte, got to work!
Up to date, she has been apart of 8 Christmas photo sessions, 2 graduation photos, 1 vintage themed birthday party, and her highest honor, an engagement, we will totally tell you about that later. Maybe next time......

After a Christmas photo shoot

Graduation photo shoot. Photo by: Claudia Farr

action shot from the engagment! Photo by: Cindy Rendon

XOXO,
It's Vintage Darling

P.S. special thank you to Marah for saving our chair that day by the dumpster!

Natalie Wood

Hello Darlings,
   We wanted to formally introduce our newest sofa piece in our collection, Natalie Wood.  Like many Hollywood stars, she has the perfect figure, with curves in all the right places! She stands at 3'7'', a width of 2'8'', and her length measuring 5'7''. She has a dark brown, mahogany wood frame and is draped with moss colored green fabric with a back rest that is covered with over fifty buttons.

Even though we drove over 400 miles to get her back to our showroom, we were blessed because we did not even have to change anything about it, and only paid $400 (cheaper than any sofa so far!). We were skimming the sofas on Craigslist, (pretty much where we find all our pieces) and happened to find this one up for sale in San Antonio, Texas. We gassed up and made our way towards SPURS Nation, excited to pick up our new addition.

When we got to the seller's house, and saw the sofa in person, we instantly knew this piece was meant for our collection. We love something with good history and this couch had it. The lady who was selling it ( probably in her late 30's) said it belonged to her grandmother, and acquired it after she passed away. She said she remembers it being in her grandma's spare room, covered in plastic, being preserved, for what we think, for us! We promised her it would be in good hands and packed it up and made our way home.

Photo by: Ivan Ramirez Photography

Of course, then came the fun part, finding her name. We scrolled through old Hollywood female actress names and tried to see which one matched our sofa. Since she had a "woods-y" feel to her because of her colors we thought the West Side Story star's name would be fitting.....And just like that, a star was born (haha ok, kind of cliche).

xoxo,
It's Vintage Darling

What's in a Name

Hello Darlings,
So, if you have read any of our previous posts you may be wondering why we name our furniture pieces, like, "hello who does that?" Well our reason was two fold, one because it was practical for inventory purposes and helped when we started getting more pieces, second because, well it's just fun to use all those baby names you secretly pick out but know they would never work with your last name.

So, how do we pick ours? Well it just depends on the piece and how it is shaped and the color of the fabric. For the most part, many of our pieces are given female names, but we have a few men in our collection as well. The first piece we actually named was our white chaise lounge, Betty White. We were kind of basic when we chose her name. Since the chaise had an old Hollywood look we wanted to give it a celebrity name. Since the fabric was white we just kind of thought of "Betty White"...Yeah not too much thought went into that one, but the more we added pieces the more fun we started having with naming them.

Robin chair

Lucille Ball chair

Sometimes we can't decide on the same name, so that's when we turn to our social media. We will take a poll and ask friends what name they think the piece embodies. That's how our love seat, Marilyn Monroe was born!

Marilyn Monroe love seat

We don't know how many pieces we will end up with in the future,and maybe we will run out of names, but for now we do find joy in picking out that special name for each piece.

XOXO,
It's Vintage Darling

Betty White

Hello Darlings,
       We wanted to introduce to you our #1 rented out piece, Miss Betty White. She stands at 3 feet and 11 inches tall and 6 feet long,  has porcelain skin with golden hair that silhouettes her body..Or in furniture terms, she has white fabric with a gold wooden frame (but that way kind of sounds boring!) okay, okay, we will try to stop sounding clever with our words, we will just get to point of this post, her before and after process.

 After we had our two main pieces, our Cinderella sofa and vintage truck, we started looking for others to add to our collection. We came across this ad in craigslist, and the seller was asking $450 for the chaise.

We offered $400 and they accepted. The seller, who was in her late 40s or early 50s said it belonged to her grandma, and had been in the family for a long time, so we knew we needed to do something fabulous with it. We could not agree on a color so we went to our facebook and Instagram and asked for other's opinions. With the feedback we received, we decided on a white colored fabric. This time we called an upholster, one with good reviews, and asked him how much material we would be needing and how much the piece would be to change the fabric (he quoted us $275 for labor). 

We went down to Hancock Fabrics and picked out a micro suede material (8 yds @ $7.99/yd), since it was going to be a light color we needed a material that would not stain easily. We also went with a white Gimp (border of fabric) which only cost us about ($4).

Before it went off the upholster we were advised to paint the wood part, so we turned to Roslyn's mom, who is an expert in painting wood pieces. She used a gold metallic color by Rust-Oleum ($3.99/can)

and highlighted the piece's accents and crevices with a dark glaze, also by Rust-Oleum, in the color Java Brown.($30/can. very little was used in this process)

Then off to the upholster she went....


Over $700 spent on her total work done and we had our final piece, Betty White!

One final note: Before we rented her out we scotch guarded the fabric and has really helped to minimize stains.

XOXO,

It's Vintage Darling

The Full Story

Photo by:Marisol Izaguirre

Hello Darlings! So, we kind of gave you a little summary of how we got started with our vintage rentals, but we thought we would give you the full story of how it all started.....

Well, when we first fixed up Cinderella (our first piece) our initial direction was to re-sell it. We went online and checked what other vintage sofa prices were ranging, on Ebay we saw them starting at around $800 and even went up to $2000 . Since we paid a total of $740 with all the repairs we were thinking we would get our money back and then sum..Nope! We posted on our local craigslist and priced it at $900 **crickets** then went down to $800, still no one called. Even though we loved the sofa and could have kept it for ourselves, there was no way we were going to keep it around with all our indoor dogs around it (two out of our three dogs are Basset hound mix so they shed terribly). 

Any-who, we started thinking of what to do with this blue vintage sofa....

We had some friends who did photography and thought maybe it would be a cool prop for their clients to sit on while taking pictures. We reached out to two of them and got their feedback, giving us a thumbs up. We then decided we would do a little market research (tried to put some of those marketing college classes to use). We pitched our idea to a wedding planner as well as other photographers who we didn't know in our area. Our little idea was well received, so it made us really consider renting it out, as well as finding more vintage pieces. Then we thought, "are there any companies out there who do this?" We found tons of companies that did the same thing we were wanting to do, but none in our area, so we decided to go further with our idea. We also had a 1947 black Chevrolet, fully restored, so that was also added to our start-up collection. 

Next, we decided on our name and went to register it at the court house and set-up our Facebook and Instagram pages. 

We contacted our photographer friend Marisol Izaguirre, and asked if she would be willing to take some professional photos of our two pieces so we could start promoting them. Thankfully she agreed and we offered a trade-out of our pieces in return for the photos. 

Photo by Marisol Izaguirre

Finally after three months of waiting, we got our first call........

xoxo,

It's Vintage Darling