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This Saturday is the Day!!!

2013-04-10T05:54:35Z

This Saturday is a big day!! A really, really big day. Annie Sloan is coming to our store 'The Abode' for a book signing!

Her new book 'Color Recipes for Painted Furniture and more' just came out and we have it, and we have her!!! Crazy, isn't it!!

That right there alone is reason enough to come to beautiful downtown San Clemente. Annie Sloan! Here! At The Abode!! What more do you need? But downtown San Clemente has so much to offer, so you might as well just make a whole day of it!

This Saturday is the perfect day to have a perfect day. And really, it should be "A Perfect Day in San Clemente" day.

This is how it should go:

Start the day with a nice breakfast. A couple of good places: The Beach Garden Cafe - right across the street from the pier - yummy and a great view! Or Cafe Mimosa, right across the street from The Abode. So also a great view! And also delicious!

Both great choices.

Then it's time for the book signing! Don't delay - get over there and get your book signed! Annie will be signing books from 11:00 to 12:00 and then it's social hour from 12:00 to 1:00 pm. You will probably want to hang out with Annie for a bit. She's not only extremely talented, she's quite good fun. And nice. Really, really nice. And did I mention that she is the author of over 20 books, and the inventor of the amazing Chalk Paint®, - that phenominal paint that sticks to virtually anything? That paint that gives your furniture amazing fine finishes with very little effort? And she is nice. Did I mention that? And did I mention that this new book 'Color Recipes for Painted Furniture and more' is already in the top 5 of Amazon.com's top interior design books? And that it is a REALLY GOOD BOOK? Because I think I should mention that! And that we will have some refreshments for you all to enjoy at The Abode? Because a perfect day involves lots of refreshments!

And if that wasn't enough - right next door is the annual San Clemente Community Garden Fest! It's just next door and it's a big deal. It comes around only once a year, and it is this Saturday! People come from all over for this thing. And it's kid friendly. And there will be flowers!! Lots of flowers!!

And all this is a good reason to come for breakfast - parking could be a problem. San Clemente will be hopping this Saturday. Annie, Garden Fest, Perfect Weather at the Beach! I'm telling you - get down here early!

And bring the family.

And did I say get here early?

And after the Garden Fest, you need to just wander Del Mar and shop in all the great shops! There are so many! Lots of great restaurants, antiques stores and boutiques.

And then.....is it time for lunch yet? There are so many great places to eat I don't know which to recommend. Too many! Yum!

This one might be my favorite.

And then more shopping.

And then the very important walk down to the pier. It's very important to end your "Perfect San Clemente Day" sipping cocktails at The Fisherman on the pier. Go to The Fisherman "bar" on the right side of the pier. The food isn't anything special, but the atmosphere and the view, and of course the drinks, are perfect. Just follow Avenida Del Mar all the way to the end. You will end up at the pier.

And there you have it! A perfect day!

Hope to see you all this Saturday!

228 Avenida Del Mar

San Clemente, CA 92672

Any questions? Call Jill 949-412-4499

MaK & JiLL Have Moved!!

2013-01-06T14:36:51Z

Okay - It's hard to believe that the last time I blogged was October 21st! I really shouldn't point that out. Hopefully you have noticed! And been wondering! "What is going on with Mak & Jill?" "I need my posts from Mak & Jill!". Of course you have!

Well - we have been busy behind the scenes getting our new store "The Abode" ready!!! Yes - our very own store!!

Just 2 years ago Marjee and I decided to start doing what we love - so we created a bunch of fabulous furniture and art and accessories and took them to space KK13 at the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market and started selling. We got a great response and have been going strong ever since! We have had HGTV hosts buy our stuff, Reality T.V. shows interview us for pilots, books and magazines ask to use photos of our beautiful creations. We have found success in doing what we love! And now, less than 2 years after "giving it a go", we have opened the doors to our dream come true - a fabulous retail space of our very own!

We opened the doors to our store in a historic "Ole Hanson" Spanish home in down town San Clemente, CA on Avenida Del Mar. It is filled with beautiful and interesting things, and everyone is loving it!

So - there is a little preview. Come on in and let us know what you think!

Bed Turned Bench Twin Sister

2012-10-21T18:21:36Z

Here she is! The quieter, more laid back sister of "Bed Turned Bench".

There are the twins before:

And here is the first bench, during. She was given a slatted seat, made out of scrap wood.

But her sister was given a solid seat, so she could be hinged, and supply some storage! Because we can all use more storage, right!? Right!!

She got the shabby chic treatment with some Annie Sloan Old White, some distressing, and a coat of clear wax. Per Rick, the buyer, who loves some shabby chic!

And here they are together.....

So which is your favorite?

Shabby Shabby's Big Sister

2012-10-07T17:06:32Z

A while back I painted a dresser in a shabby chic style, and named her Shabby Shabby.

I wasn't sure I loved Shabby Shabby. My hubby hubby was the instigator for that piece. He likes things with a ton of distressing and character. I like distressed, and I certainly like character. So I did that piece for him. And he loved it. And lots of other people loved it! Which kinda made me love it.

It got pinned a ton on pinterest - more so than any other piece I've done. So now I love it even more.

So here is Shabby Shabby's big sister. The better looking sister if you ask me.

Again, she is heavily distressed. But not quite as heavily. I left more big areas of the white paint in tact on the body. But I still went pretty crazy with the electric sander.

Yum. Did you notice her beautiful bowed front? And that nice carved detail under the top drawers? She is mighty pretty!

And I LOVE the color of her drawers. I did a custom piece for someone in this color and loved it, so I used up the extra on this. It's a mix of Annie Sloan's Florence, Napoleonic Blue and Provence. I dry brushed some plain old Provence on there too, to add the beachy white washed look.

I decided to white wash the hardware on her also. I just brushed on some old white, let it sit a bit, till it was almost dry, then wiped off the high spots with a wet cloth.

And she was finished with a coat of clear wax.

Incredibly easy, and quite lovely if I do so say myself!

The end!

Why Not White........?

2012-09-15T16:29:02Z

I am a lover of COLOR! I am sooo drawn to anything with lots of color. Vibrant color! Mmmmm. Color, color, color!!! However.......who doesn't like white!? I certainly do! But you would never know it. I looked on my portfolio recently, and white is nowhere to be seen. There are bits here and there along with other colors; but nothing just beautifully white. Beachy, shabby, glorious white.

The reason I noticed this is because I had an old friend call about having something painted. Rick, my brothers best friend from high school, had called and wanted a piece painted a beachy, shabby, glorious white. Not really his words, but you get the picture. I told him to check out the portfolio page and see if there was anything there with the finish that he liked. And then I went to take a look. Oops. Nothing. So Rick just had to trust. I think he was a little worried.

So......here is some white for the color crazed pages of Mak & JiLL!

And this is what it looked like before:

Rick and his wife Trisha were very, very happy with their updated beachy white desk. So happy that lots more of their furniture is coming my way to get the white treatment! And remember the bed turned bench from the last post? How could you not?! Well they have ordered one of those in white! They live at the beach, and all of this beautiful white furniture is going to look amazing in their place. Hopefully I will get some pictures to post of these pieces in their natural habitat. Are you reading this Rick? You had better have signed up for my blog Rick and Trisha!! Send me photos!!! :)

And here are some beautiful photos of whites at their finest!

White with pops of color. Yum.

And yum.

Or white on white? I could never...... But it's beautiful!

Wow. Can't really go wrong with those windows.....that view....

But isn't all the white just perfect?!

Is this the most perfectly done white kitchen?

Another view of the perfectly done white kitchen. I LOVE a white kitchen with pops of color. I don't think I've ever seen it done better than this. It is just completely perfect!!!!

And we should definitely end it with a white piano!!!!

I think you might be seeing alot more white on the pages of MaK & JiLL in the future!!!

Bed Turned Into Bench

2012-08-30T03:19:54Z

This beautiful bench, made by my talented husband Simon, was a somewhat useless twin head/footboard in a former life!

If you have some old bed frames lying around collecting dust, you may want to pull out the chop saw and get building! If you don't like using the power tools - I don't - then find yourself a Simon!

Here is how Mr. Wilson did it.

First he found a bed frame on the side of the house collecting dust. Yes - on the side of the house. The garage is completely full of more important pieces! This one was intended for scrap wood.

Next, you chop it up and stuff. Really. I don't know exactly what he did to it. But I do know that he used almost all of the bed. The sides are the bed rails. The front is the footboard, minus some of it - so you could actually sit on it. And I know he took great care in measuring the seat height before he chopped things up. Lot's of measuring was going on.

And then some scrap wood was used to make the seat.

We debated over whether it should have arms on the sides, and decided not to put them on, as it was made from a twin bed, so it's not very large, and we wanted it to feel more open, and roomy.

And then I came along with my fabulous Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. This is a mixture of Florence and Napoleonic Blue. I painted it, distressed it, and then finished it with a minwax polyurethane/stain in one. I hadn't tried that finish before, but I imagined this bench living outside, and I wanted it to look antiqued, and I didn't want to spend too much time doing all sorts of layers to get the look I wanted.

I love my Bed Turned Bench.

This twin bed did have a twin. There were two! So keep an eye out for the next one!

Sharing with;

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/ http://missmustardseed.com/ http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://www.decoratinginsanity.com/ http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/

http://micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com/ http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/

http://www.remodelaholic.com/ http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/

http://tatertotsandjello.com/ http://www.theroosterandthehen.com/

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/ http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/

http://www.sistersofthewildwest.blogspot.com/ http://www.redouxinteriors.com/

http//makinglemonadeblog.blogspot.com/ http://diyshowoff.com/

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Salon Wall Extravaganza!!

2012-08-14T15:48:22Z

I LOVE a salon wall. I really, really, do! I love art, and I love eclectic, and that, to me, is a salon wall. I have a ton of pictures of salon walls, and this morning as I was looking through some of them, I decided I needed to share them.

So here you go!

An eclectic bedroom with some great artwork to make it even better!

Oh, the beautiful colors!

And more beautiful colors!

And how fun is this!? No expensive artwork here - just a great grouping of random stuff, put together to look amazing!

And this is not a great quality photo, but how great is the color here? I love, love, love it!

This one looks very unified by the black frames. Usually I prefer random, but of course, I LOVE color, and the color in these prints makes this pretty fabulous.

And I will end with one of my favorites. I love religious art work, and put together in this little nook (love nooks too!) I think it looks amazing. I love everything about this.

I have about 1/2 a million more salon wall images that I need to share, but not today! Hope you are inspired. I am! I'm off to rearrange some artwork!

MaCKeNziE~ChiLdS Inspired!!!

2012-06-22T01:48:37Z

Wow - it's been a REALLY long time since I've blah, blah, blogged. I like to blog, but I'm soooo bad about photographing my work. I almost always forget to take a before, which I'm sure alot of you can relate to. And I am your typical artistic type - very unorganized - so sometimes finding where I've stored the before shot is a challenge! And then there is just tooooo much going on lately, so the blogging falls to the wayside! I think this will be the first of many more to come though, and in a much more timely manor. Hopefully! Lucky you!!

So - I just finished a very cool, and very different custom project! And I took befores!! And Mr. Wilson took some very nice afters!

Here it is:

And the before:

I had these very nice ladies contact me about painting their old furniture to fit into their newly purchased home. They had a nice dining set that was very well made, but dated. But size wise it fit into the new space perfectly. So they decided to do the right thing and recycle it. I mean, why not?!! You save something from going into the landfill and you get a custom look for a great price! Typically, the older furniture is much more sturdy and well made than the furniture they are making today. At least if it is affordable! So recycle if you can!!

So we had talked about doing the typical painted furniture look - lightly distressed and antiqued, in some color that would fit into the space. But when I showed up to paint, they had their MacKenzie~Childs catalog out and wanted to talk about other possibilities. We talked alot about colors, stripes, checker boards, etc., and finally came up with a plan. I wasn't too sure I was going to love this - it's definitely not my typical look. But I wasn't painting it for me - so I just put my head down and started painting, trying to do the best job I could. I was sure I could come up with something that they would love. But I didn't expect that I would love it too. But I do!!! Their kitchen is beautiful, but it was a little plain. It definitly needed something. And this dining set is just what it needed! It has just the right amount of color and fun. It turned their beautiful but slightly plain kitchen into something slightly FABULOUS!!!

Here's a few more shots.

These are painted with Annie Sloan Decorative Chalk Paints of course! Why, you ask?! Because it is the best! The finish on this set was shiny, and I would have had to sand and prime before painting if I had used regular latex paint. It would have taken hours and hours! Also, the colors just always turn out right. The colors I used in this: The green color is Olive, the red is Emperor's Silk with a touch of Primer Red mix (I love to mix!), the checkerboard is Cream and Olive, the yellow is Arles with a touch of Olive to tone it down a bit. And the stripes are Provence and some of the yellow mix. There is also a Duck Egg stripe on the table leg. Lots of color!!

I also sanded down the table top and restained it with Dark Walnut and then sealed it with Polyurethane.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, and the girls love it too! They said, and I quote "Our kitchen ROCKS!"

I couldn't agree more!

Sharing with;

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/ http://missmustardseed.com/ http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://www.decoratinginsanity.com/ http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/

http://micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com/ http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/

http://www.remodelaholic.com/ http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/

http://tatertotsandjello.com/ http://www.theroosterandthehen.com/

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/ http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/

http://www.sistersofthewildwest.blogspot.com/ http://www.redouxinteriors.com/

ttp//makinglemonadeblog.blogspot.com/ http://diyshowoff.com/

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Red Delicious

2012-05-03T20:15:57Z

I have to start by saying that red is not my favorite color. I used to really dislike red. Alot. Wouldn't wear it, wouldn't have it in my home. Not even a little bit. But oh how things have changed! It started slowly - a little bit of red in the artwork here and there. A few little accent pieces - a vase here, a little box there. And now I have a red side table in my living room! My living room!!! Crazy, I know. But I've learned, or maybe just decided, that you need to mix things up. Shake it up! Add some pizzazz! And red sure does that.

With that being said - here is my latest favorite creation. My Red Delicous Dressing Table.

Isn't she pretty? Don't you just love how the red looks with the beautiful Mahogany? Yum.

A friend of mine gave me this dressing table. Yes Gave it to me. Thanks Nancy!! I totally owe her.

Nancy had started to refinish this herself, and quit after a few days of hard work. I must say it was an ugly job. Stripping all the finish off the drawers and mirror was not fun. Lots of crevices to get into. I was so worried while working on the mirror. It's a lovely beveled mirror with just the right amount of age. And I've broken a few mirrors in my refinishing days. Not fun! But I managed to get it done, and it was soooo worth all the hard work!

Look how nice this tweeked Annie Sloan Red (Emperor's Silk with a little Primer Red) looks with the Mahogany. I think it's so rich and interesting!

I think I'm over my dislike of red. I have some more red projects on the horizon. I found this picture of some amazing fabric that is the inspiration for my next red piece.

I came across this beautiful piece of furniture somewhere on the internet, and I'm not sure, but it looks like it is done in a stain. I'm thinking I could do something similar with a wash of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I'm hoping to try it some day. Kinda special, don't you think?

And then there are just endless pictures of interiors with little bits of red, big pops of red, and lots and lots of red! I'm loving the red!!

Are these amazing or what?!

And to finish it all off, we should include some English inspiration. Who doesn't love a Union Jack? Or a British Phone Booth? I'm thinking I need to paint an ugly old leather couch with a Union Jack, using some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Yes - apparently you can paint fabric with it! I'll be trying that!

Okay - really, I need to finish with a RED PIANO!!! I need to do one of these too!!

Okay - I'm done. Really ;)

Sharing with;

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/ http://missmustardseed.com/ http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://www.decoratinginsanity.com/ http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/

http://micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com/ http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/ http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/ http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://www.fingerprintsonthefridge.com/ http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/

http://www.remodelaholic.com/ http://www.findingfabulousblog.com/

http://tatertotsandjello.com/ http://www.theroosterandthehen.com/

http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/ http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/

http://www.sistersofthewildwest.blogspot.com/ http://www.redouxinteriors.com/

ttp//makinglemonadeblog.blogspot.com/ http://diyshowoff.com/

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Desperately Seeking Lazy Susan.....

2012-04-27T02:16:55Z

Okay, I'm not sure what that title means, but I found this amazing drum table, which has a lazy susan type top, and that is what I came up with........???

So this drum table is a Duncan Phyfe style table, with some nice Mahogany and some not so nice other wood, and it had this weird ugly leather inlay top. It sat in my living room in the corner for I don't know how long, waiting for a treatment. And it sat. And it sat. So after I did that shabby shabby dresser last week, and had such a nice response, I decided that maybe Lazy Susan should get the shabby shabby treatment too. And so she got it. And I'm not sure if I really like her, or if I really dislike her.

Susan before:

I had attempted something when I first got her - painted the top leather part a dark blue - it wasn't great.

And here she is now:

So what do you think? Is she weird? I seriously can't decide if she is great, or hideous. But either way, I think I like her. I mean the whole stinking table top rotates!! It's amazing. Someone who is reading this blog right now needs to go to La Casa Verde de Granada and buy her and then store all their fun games in the cubbies, and play a game of scrabble on her. When it's your turn, you just spin the whole table top around! Brilliant!

Let me know what you think about her. And if you aren't busy this Saturday, come down and see her, and me at La Casa Verde de Granada where I will be hosting a Furniture Painting Workshop. There are still a few spots left. Hope to see you there.;)

Sharing with;

http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/

http://missmustardseed.com/

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

http://www.decoratinginsanity.com/

http://www.mysimplehomelife.com/

http://micheleravendesigns.blogspot.com/

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/