Elizabeth Kramer and her sheepdog beside a water fountain that provides a central focus in the expanded loft. The fountain was salvaged from a home in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Times / IRFAN KHAN

LOS ANGELES With their restored 1918 loft and their 1946 Chevy pickup, the thrift-shop chairs they sit on and the vintage clothes they wear, fashion designer Elizabeth Kramer and real estate agent Robert Heller celebrate giving old things new life.

Entering the couple’s downtown loft, you feel as if you have wandered into a movie-prop storage area filled with treasures from a bygone era. The 3,000-square-foot open-plan space, with its low-slung arches and concrete floor, was once a bakery. Now, half a dozen department store mannequins — with and without heads — are stationed throughout their bohemian world, which is decorated with vintage chandeliers, Grecian statues and a melange of flea-market and thrift-store furnishings.

A decade ago, Kramer moved from a suburban bungalow into the loft, falling under the spell of the picturesque brick building overgrown with bougainvillea and climbing roses, an advertisement for the late U.S. Baking Co. still faintly visible on the side.

When Heller moved in six years ago, the couple knew they would need more space. They bought the adjacent loft and in 2006 broke through the shared wall, doubling the living space and allowing the home offices they both desired.

The loft is arranged as a series of live/work spaces without walls. Kramer’s sewing area and a small gym flank the front door. Tucked into one corner behind velvet-chenille drapes is the bedroom, which Kramer has filled with pillows. The open-plan kitchen with a vintage General Electric stove and a nearby dining table shaped like a slice of pie serve as the loft’s hub. His-and-her offices are separated by their baby grand piano in the new wing.

Nearly all the furnishings hail from flea markets or thrift shops or are alley finds, say the couple, both irrepressible collectors. Out of the Closet stores, Council Thrift Shops, prop houses, architectural salvage yards and antique malls are among their favorite haunts. Heller stops by the St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop downtown at least twice a week. And then there’s Les Puces (the Fleas), Paris’ largest flea market and Kramer’s favorite.

“We’re like two kids in a candy shop when we’re there,” Kramer says, giggling.

The rooftop garden yields impressive views, but the biggest allure here is clearly all the old stuff inside.

“I love that each piece has a story to tell,” Kramer says. “We’re not just buying something old. We’re buying a piece of history — as well as some part of the person who crafted it.”

Heller interjects. “And when you bring something old back to life, it’s like continuing that object’s history into the present. We have an emotional connection to everything here.”

Kramer’s late-1920s Singer is a case in point. The designer, who makes custom men’s suits for women, as well as silk ties studded with Swarovski crystals, says she used to own a modern sewing machine.

“I gave it away,” she says. “I prefer the old ones: The craftsmanship is stunning, and listening to the hand crank turning reminds me of the clickety-clack of distant trains. I like to take my time when I sew.”

The couple delight in bringing old possessions back to life. Kramer painted the ceiling off-white — the better to show off the grain marks from when the construction crew poured the concrete and then removed the wood framing long ago. She also mixed magenta and brick red with a bit of yellow to achieve the terra-cotta hue accentuating pillars, arches and the concrete floor.

Kramer replaced the torn velvet and horsehair stuffing on a lovely French chair with a lively pink stripe fabric, but first she washed the fabric repeatedly — “until it looked like someone had sat on it a hundred times,” Kramer says. “I didn’t touch the old gold leaf frame. It was perfect.”

For the avid collectors, finding great old things is all about the hunt — and, of course, the discovery of something wonderful at a bargain price.

“I’m a firm believer that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on things,” he says. “Especially in today’s economy, it’s nice to recycle. We’ve always done it, but now more than ever, it makes total sense.”