If you have ever owned a historical home, there is a sense of stewardship that comes with it. For me, it’s hard to imagine someone prior to 1910 dreaming about building this house we now enjoy. But many older homes are stripped of the original architecture and details, losing historical authenticity, for more modern design and function.

The Design-Architect Unknown

In 1910 Feng Shui wasn’t a well known concept here. But the architect knew how to design this structure with a flowing floor plan. How innovative to create ways to capture the light, protect itself from the harsh summer sun/heat and feel warm and engaging in the winter~all without air-conditioning.

Multiple fireplaces provide heat. The exterior walls are 18″ thick, built with bricks and designed to allow good air flow. Imagine that.

When I come downstairs in the morning, I always take the front staircase. The bottom step places me into the eastern morning sun pouring into the windows in the Spring and Winter months. During the summer, the large 3 foot wide exterior overhang blocks the bright, blistering sun and bathes the rooms in ambient light. It is quietly magical.

One of my favorite visual sites is standing in the dining room and looking through the foyer into the living room. It is as if the architect is trying to put the rooms in a frame, like a painting.

Adding the Mechanicals

The challenge with restoring a house that is rich in history is how do you preserve its authenticity, while making it livable in the 21st century. This is the state of the house after purchasing it in 1999. There is no central air conditioning. The existing coal chute is still in the basement. All the windows are rope and pulley with single paned glass. The electrical panel has a Frankenstein switch and bees are making hives in the walls. It is uninhabitable.

Adding all new mechanicals is a critical step and we take great care to hide as much as we could. HVAC chase vents are made to look like part of the wall and architecture. The above picture shows a corner of the dining room where the HVAC chase blends in with the original trim and cove ceiling.

The Details

Beautiful detailed brass vent covers are painted with pastel colors from a previous owner. Re-plated with brass, they are stunning reminders of a different time.

All the windows require replacing and are custom made to today’s standards. Thank you, Marvin Windows. Each and every detail of the original sash, head, grill, mullion, ogee, casing, sill, stool and apron is replicated. Most of the windows are 6 or 8 panes over 1. Windows created for new parts of the house are crafted to look like they have always been there with fine moldings and windowsills.

Walls, Doors and Floors

I don’t know about you but I can tell the difference in sound when I enter a room with plaster walls vs. drywall. It is difficult to find someone that does high quality plaster work in Phoenix. Maybe it’s easier back east or in historical communities, but our contractor wanted us to remove all the lathe and plaster(with its horse hair) and replace it with drywall. Cheaper, faster and easier was his reasoning.

Many of the walls are severely cracked, or in the case of my son’s room, saturated with honey from the bees. There are many problems in fixing the plaster but in retrospect, I’m glad I held my ground. It is the subliminal and solid quietness of plaster gives a sense of strength to these walls.

The same goes for real hardwood floors vs. engineered or laminate. I can tell the minute I step on a floor whether it is the real deal or not. The light Canadian beech planks are 2 1/8″ wide and an amazing 12′ long. You can’t find lengths like that today in real hardwood. Though we matched the flooring in the new areas, they lack the patina and history as the original.

In restoring the house, we found original pocket doors buried in the walls in the dining room. This 5 panel door style is the template for all the new doors we added in the house.

The House Today

These are just a few elements of design we used to achieve historical authenticity. Are we purists? No. The kitchen and bathrooms are 21st century. We now have air conditioning vs. sleeping porches.

But I believe that when you step foot into this lovely, unique historical home, you clearly get a sense of what life was like 108 years ago. Over time, the land was carved up into other parcels and we cherish the remaining 2 acres. With Phoenix being the fastest growing city in the U.S., we only hope this land stays whole. It certainly will as long as we are living here.

We feel blessed to call Bella Terra home. As we continue to add memories here, we hope to enrich this space even more with love, laughter, kindness, joy and hope.

Sending Wednesday hugs to all! If you want to see some of the original restoration stories and pictures, check out The Restoration Chronicles, Chapters 1-5. Have a wonderful day!

Here is a peek into our home office. I have not shown this room before, probably because it tends to get messy! The home office is located upstairs between my art room and the master bedroom. As much of our home interior is painted white and neutral colors, the office space is more masculine and dark, reminiscent of an old law office. My husband uses it primarily as his main work area.

The office is a highly functioning U-shaped space with French doors leading out to the wrap around outdoor terrace. This second story location provides expansive views to the east, south and west. To see more about this terrace, click here.

The custom-made cabinets are stained a cherry/ebony color with a high gloss finish. When designing the space, we needed lots of book shelves and filing space for important documents and records.

On one side of the short U, is the copier station. All the business supplies are stored below~file folders, binders, copy paper, ink and back up school supplies.

On the other end of the U, is a small secondary workstation. Even though I don’t do much of my work there, I do consider it my space.

Here is where I display a collection of watercolors of a previous home. When I lived in Alameda, California in an 1894 Victorian, a group of plein air painters asked if they could conduct an art class in front of the house. Four artists spent the day with their chairs and easels carefully studying the lines of the house.

Each painting expresses a different perspective. But since I couldn’t decide which one I liked the best, I purchased all four of them.

Located below the bookcases are numerous filing drawers which are perfect to keep all the required documents like taxes and titles.

The main workstation has access to the desk and computer station by way of a swivel chair. Sorry for the photo quality~lack of natural light.

An old pottery crock holds all the blueprints to the property. It is time to go in and clean out old tax records and documents again. I try and do that every 3 years or so, but it is an easy job to drop down to the bottom of the procrastination list.

I hope you enjoyed seeing our home office and forgive me for the less than high quality photos. To read more about the restoration of the 2nd story master bedroom, bath and office, click here.

Part of me is tempted to paint all the cabinets a high gloss blue, but again, there is a long list of other projects that require attention. This one would be a fun design change, but certainly not necessary. What do you think?

Wishing you a great Tuesday!

This post shared with Charming Homes & Gardens Party #21

Thank you for visiting my blog on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday! I am so grateful to my faithful readers and all the new people who are joining us every week. Your comments and questions make my day. Since many of you are new, I thought it might be fun to share some oldies but goodies. Let’s call it Life at Bella Terra’s greatest hits!

Here at our home, we have the good fortunate of space where we enjoy everything from gardening to outdoor entertaining. Here are a few areas of interest.

Gardening and Chickens

My blog post Gardening 101 stemmed from the question, “does gardening take a great deal of time”? After the initial garden plan, the actual work to plant, harvest and maintain a garden is minimal and seasonal. And the benefits are enormous! To see this detailed post, click here.

Another popular post is about Composting 101, which is an ideal project to start during COVID. Being home and creating more waste, composting is the answer to having great soil for your garden. If you could recycle 30% of your trash to make rich fertilizer, why not? See that post, here.

Before and Afters

Don’t you love to look at other people’s homes? I certainly do! And it is a bonus if there are good Before and After pictures. I actually have a file where I keep renovation photos of other projects as inspiration.

Our historic home is always going through a constant renovation. However, the initial restoration was the most significant. In an attempt to capture that journey, I am writing The Restoration Chronicles. So far there are 5 chapters and if you haven’t read our story, click here for Chapter 1.

Entertaining

COVID has definitely put a monkey wrench into our socializing and entertaining. We feel blessed to be the stewards of this unique historical property and share it often to host everything from charitable events to proms. The orchard is one of the areas of the property we use for large sit-down meals. For more details about one of our dinners in the orchard, click here.

I long for the day when we can open up our home and our arms and welcome guests again. If you are dreaming of when we can all reconnect, here is an autumn entertaining post.

Cooking, Baking and Making

The summers do put a cramp in my cooking, as it is almost painful to turn on the oven in the triple-digit heat. However, the minute there is a touch of autumn in the air, I am back to baking. This past year, I learned how to bake sourdough bread from scratch, using starter that I carried home on a plane from Washington, D.C.

If you need a new project while we are all stuck at home, baking bread using a natural yeast, is so rewarding. I just recently shared more sourdough starter with someone who reached out to me and now I have a new friend. Bake bread. Make friends. Check out my post, Sourdough Starter Basics here.

Of course, there are all sorts of recipes in the files of Bella Terra. But here are a few favorites. Key Lime Pie post

Together we made Preserved Lemons (see recipe here) and then we used them in some fabulous recipes, like the one above. This delicious chicken pasta salad is ideal for the summer~as it can be eaten warm or cold. Check out the recipe here.

DIY and Home Improvement

I am not much of a crafter, but I do like to tackle projects myself, sometimes moaning along the way.

The most recent is a hand stenciled tile bathroom floor in our pool house. If you missed that post you can see it here.

We have accomplished quite a few projects this year, and several with your helpful comments. From the great advice on the vintage mailbox above, to helping select a front door color, your feedback is gold! See that post, here.

Organizing

Staying organized is such a challenge, but I am inspired to be better at it when I see others accomplishing these tasks. This year, getting the master closet organized was a big win. To see the embarrassing before pictures and the fabulous after shots, click here.

Keeping heavily used spaces like the pantry is always a challenge. But it looks so nice when it is neat and tidy. See the improvements here.

Pets

For those of you who have pets, you know how important they are to family life. Our two dogs, two cats and numerous chickens are all part of our daily existence here. The Best Kind of Friend is a blog post about the bond we have with our pets, how they shadow us daily and love us unconditionally. Read it here.

Thank you for all your kind words during Sox’s recent back injury and Tippy’s current failing health. We share in the joy of their presence and the grief of their loss.

Just Getting Through Life

You have provided loving ears to some of my life’s challenges as we enter new phases of maturity. It was only a year ago, when I was struggling with empty nesting (see post here). But with the pandemic, nearly everyone is home again! Now, next week I will do a repeat performance as we move our daughter out of the house to start her sophomore year in college. Ah, the ups and downs!

We have talked about Kindness (see post here) and how important it is to Smile (see post here) and how to age well (see post here). Even though we cannot get together physically, we have such a supportive community right here on this blog. The goal with each and every blog post is to provide you with something interesting and important. And I’ve learned so much from all of you along the way.

Again, I cannot express how delighted I am that you have been with me from the beginning and I extend a warm welcome to new readers. In a world that seems to be filled with division and anger, it is my hope that Life at Bella Terra will be a bright spot in your day.

Happy Tuesday, my friends! If you ever want to see more content on any topic~gardening, recipes, home improvement, decorating, seasonal, whatever it is, please let me know! Thank you.

This post shared with Tuesday Turn About #61

Back in July, I shared with you a project I have been wanting to try ~ stenciling a tile floor. Well, I finally started and I have got to tell you, this project is kicking my butt. I just re-read my first post about this (click here to read), and my enthusiasm is high.

Well, I am now day 4 into the project and it is like climbing a mountain. Sort of reminds me of that volcano hike I took last year in St. Kitts. What the heck was I thinking???

Prepping the Floor

I started this project on July 12th. That day, I started prepping the floor by washing it with TSP (trisodium phosphate). This heavy duty cleaner is recommended before painting. So one washing coat and then another with clear water to remove any residual TSP. Be careful using this product as the warning labels are pretty scary.

Priming the Floor

Next I primed the tile floor with 2 coats of Zinsser’s Bulls Eye 1-2-3 primer. This apparently is supposed to work on tile. But first, I taped all all the baseboards with Frog’s Green paint tape.

I apply the primer with a paint brush for the grout lines and a roller for the tiles. Letting the first coat dry, I then apply a second coat. I let the floor set for a few days. The floor is looking better already because the dirty grout is now a pristine white.

Here is the floor with the crisp, white primer on it.

After the floor is primed and dried according to the manufacturer’s instructions, two coats of Behr Decorative Chalk paint in white is applied as the base coat.

Selecting the Paint and Colors

I selected chalk paint because it gives an aged appearance and adheres well to any surface. But it does require a finish coat to protect it against staining and scratching.

There are now several chalk paints on the market today. After reading the article comparing Annie Sloan, Rustoleum and Behr chalk paint by Three Coats of Charm, I was inspired to try something other than my go-to, Annie Sloan.

During a recent trip to Home Depot, whose limited inventory of Rustoleum included black only, I picked 2 blues from the Behr paint line. What is nice about Behr is that they can mix whatever color you want, which is mixed in with the white base paint. My two blues are: Inked and Arrowhead Lake.

Naturally I am excited to start painting the stencil. I experimented with different colors of blue on some drawing paper beforehand. This step is time consuming, but well worth it.

After an overwhelming consensus that this stencil needs 3 colors, not two, I mixed up an additional lighter shade of blue by adding Inked to the white paint.

The Painting Process

As a side note, if you decide to do this, get good stencil brushes. Mine are from Royal Designs. I also bought a set from Walmart but the bristles keep falling out. This is tedious work so it’s important to use the best tools.

Here is the color combination I selected~ three shades of blue.

By the time I was comfortable painting the stencil, it took approximately 15 minutes to finish a stencil. I counted 77 tiles, some full size, others were partial tiles on the perimeter. Figure in additional time to accurately line up the tile and tape it down.

About every 10th tile painted, the stencil and brushes require washing.

Today marks 4 days I have been working on this. I was hoping that today’s post would reveal the completely painted bathroom floor. However, there is still a bit more to do~the partial tiles under the vanity and those around the toilet.

Each cutout requires hand dabbing and I use different size brushes for the size of the cutout. Some painting tips: The paint is in 3 individual bowls which I cover in Saran Wrap to prevent it drying out. It is also helpful to keep paper towels nearby to dab the excess paint off the brush before applying it to the stencil.

I apologize for the photos~I had the overhead lights on and it just makes the photos dingy.

My goal is to complete 10 tiles a day. It doesn’t sound like much but what I didn’t take into consideration is that all this work is done either on your knees or on your butt. Hovering over the tile, while on my knees, is a great isometric exercise, but very tiring. I tried spreading the pain by using different body positions. Plus the getting up and getting down added to an unexpected fatigue.

I recommend investing in good knee pads, not these! The plastic material increased sweating which made keeping the knee pads in place difficult.

Expect the unexpected

And then of course, are the unexpected disasters. Once I had completed this tile, I inadvertently kicked over my cup of coffee. It smeared the wet paint and this tile was ruined. I was able to fix it by priming it again with 2 coats of white chalk paint, and letting it dry for an entire day. A minor setback, but discouraging nonetheless.

So as of today, most of the floor is painted. This is the entry view from the hall. I still need to get the partial tiles done under the vanity and around the toilet.

Unfortunately, I need to take a break from this today to can the 50 lbs. of tomatoes I have, as those cannot wait. Once I complete the last few tiles, then I will paint the floor with 2 coats of a polyurethane.

I love how it looks, but in all honesty, this was a HUGE project to undertake. In retrospect, here are my thoughts. It would be much easier with a less intricate tile. Using one paint color the application could go faster and easier with a paint roller. Obviously having a smaller floor to finish would significantly cut the labor time.

But as I stand back and look at it, this is now a work of art. Once I finish I will sign a corner. And, at the end of the day it looks so much better than the previous floor!

Happy Tuesday to everyone! August is an interesting time of year here. Typically we get our monsoon rains but there hasn’t been a drop yet. The yard, regardless of our watering system, looks tired. Everyone is done with the heat and looking onward to a cooler fall.

Also, I am sending prayers for those along the eastern seaboard in hopes the hurricane doesn’t adversely affect you.

If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it on Pinterest.

This post shared by Tuesday Turnabout #60 by My Wee Abode

Charming Homes and Gardens #16

To Gramma’s House We Go #204

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop

Thursday Favorite Things #451

Finding Silver Pennies Link Party #371

Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday #602

After being out of town for 12 days, I’m feeling a bit lost here at home. The stacks of mail, bills need to be paid and I just don’t feel like doing much of anything in 111 degree heat. Seems like all the good relaxing vibes fly right out the window and are replaced with the foreboding sense of responsibility and chores. So today’s post is about catching up with you!

My time at the Cabin

The good news is that we finally got rain in the mountains and lots of it. When we have such a dry summer, it doesn’t take much for a massive forest fire to start. The one and only day I decided to go do run errands (Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s) is when I got caught in a torrential downpour. Given the ground is so dry, the volume of rain couldn’t absorb fast enough.

Here is what I posted on Instagram. The roads were badly flooded within minutes after the first clap of thunder. This felt like my first flash flood and when I was driving through this, escape options raced through my mind.

Perhaps the storm disrupted nature, as it was shortly thereafter that I had a bat(s), mouse and woodpecker experience. A bat, possibly two, flying around inside the bedroom, a mouse in the house and then several woodpeckers.

The next day I searched everywhere and never found the bat(s). Later that evening, Mr. Mouse visited me again. I set a trap, put really good Brie cheese on it and then hoped I didn’t hear it snap shut in the middle of the night. When I woke up the next morning, the trap was still engaged but the cheese was missing. Very smart mouse.

Did you know that a group of woodpeckers is called a descent? Well, that what it felt like. The woodpeckers are relentless in pecking at our cedar siding. All day long….tap..tap..tap. I must have looked like a mad woman running outside scaring them away. Look at the damage they’ve done. The challenge is that they are a protected species and insurance doesn’t cover the repair.

In search of the bats/mouse

The unintended consequence of not finding the bat(s) or mouse resulted in me deep cleaning. Envisioning a dead bat or mouse behind a sofa was impetus enough to get me scrubbing.

So how often do you deep clean? You know, really clean, where you move furniture, roll up the rugs, and wipe down every single surface? Me? Not so much. Maybe once a year?

Sprucing up the furniture

Since we are at 7500 feet in altitude, unless it is raining it is quite dry. And the furniture suffers.

This Howard’s Feed-N-Wax wood polish and conditioner is a good one. See the side that wood that is conditioned and the one that is not? The results are impressive and it smells nice. Click here for the link.

Cleaning all the Vents

If I could re-design something, HVAC vents would be it. These are the most unattractive and dust collecting devices ever created.

Hours were spent moving all the rugs, vacuuming underneath and then cleaning the floors with Bona Floor Cleaner. I use this same cleaner on our 110 year old hardwood floors in Phoenix and prefer it to other wood floor cleaners.

What is out of sight is out of mind, so I climbed on a ladder and looked on top of the curtain rods. Eeek! Lots of cobwebs.

How often do you clean your lampshades? Finally, I did this to all of mine.

This cluttered cord look is disturbing and I really need a system to label each and every cord. But in the meantime, I just vacuumed behind all the various cabinets.

The great room has 3 large sliding doors. The grooves where the doors slide get so dusty and dirty.

After all of this, which literally took me hours, I didn’t find any mice or bats, dead or alive. Which makes me wonder where they went….

The good news now is the cabin is the cleanest it has ever been and then, of course, I had to leave to head home to Phoenix!

Project Update

Now that I’m back home, yesterday I started the actual stenciling of the pool house bathroom floor. To date, the floor has been cleaned, primed and painted with 2 coats of white paint.

This will be a time consuming one. Here’s my progress so far. I do feel like I’ve bitten off a bit much but I can’t stop now.

This room doesn’t get a lot of natural direct light so the photos are a bit dingy with the overhead lights on. A bigger project than anticipated, it will definitely take some time to complete. To see another floor stenciling project I did, click here.

Summer Canning

My friend, Rick asked me if I wanted 50 pounds of tomatoes as he has a farmer resource. Naturally I said yes and now wondering when I’m going to have time to can them. But homemade tomato sauce is so good and worth the effort!

So between stenciling, canning and paying bills, that’s my exciting weekend! Please tell me you are doing something fun and exciting so I can live vicariously through you!!!

Happy Saturday, my friends.

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive a small stipend if you make a purchase after clicking on my links, at no cost to you.

Since it is still summer, it is almost hard to think ahead to fall or winter. But during a very chilly day at our mountain cabin, I was inspired to put together this woodland table. Actually, with some different elements it could also be a summer camping/s’more theme. It was fun for me to put this together as entertaining accoutrements are limited up north.

The Tablecloth

Starting with a leftover bolt of fabric, the colors are appropriate for a warm, cozy dinner. You don’t necessarily need a bonafide tablecloth. Think of the vast possibilities with any fabric available.

The Place Setting

In my blog post about fun Home Depot finds, here are the dishes that coordinate well with this table’s theme. If you missed yesterday’s post, see it here.

The 14″ wood disc chargers are also from Home Depot. They are large and thin. In retrospect they would probably look better with a round plate, but I think this works. Click here for the link. Online the price is $55.98/for 4.

At the cabin, I don’t have many centerpiece items, mostly because when we entertain it is often casual. My antique wooden dough bowl is a good size and my go-to for creating the centerpiece of the table.

The Centerpiece

Channeling my inner Bonnie Chase, I scoured the cabin for items to use. If you don’t follow Bonnie Chase, can that woman design a table! I love how she uses unusual things and incorporates them into her gorgeous table settings. You can also find her on Instagram @bonniechasedesigns.

Meet Mr. Squirrel and his pinecones.

I didn’t want it to feel too juvenile so I looked to nature for a solution. There are many evergreens in our natural setting so I clipped a few branches to add fullness and color.

Using some wonderful dried flowers to tuck among the branches, color and texture is slowly added.

The centerpiece is now starting to look less cute and more purposeful.

The Place Cards

Let’s talk about these place cards. We attended a charitable event and our hostess, Kathy found these on Etsy and had them made for the table. Aren’t they wonderful? They come from Latvia so Kathy recommends you may want to check the shipping costs beforehand. Kathy glued a wooden pick and then stood the reindeer upright in a bed of green moss.

First of all, I wouldn’t have thought to look for something like this on Etsy. However, the selection is quite good. Here is the link to Ludoviko Boxes, the resource for this particular reindeer place card.

Without getting too carried away, I found a few more floral and fauna elements to add to the theme. At an auction house, I picked up this Ainu Hokkaido Black Bear and cub and love the details of the hand carving.

Well, today I am back in the triple digit heat and the serenity of the mountains is becoming a distant memory. I hope this woodland table setting has you dreaming of cooler days and the autumn ahead.

Please share your fun table setting ideas. I typically set a holiday table but don’t often do something themed in between. And have a wonderful Wednesday! Wherever you are, I hope you are in great spirits and not letting the weight of the world get you down.

This post may contain affiliate links and I will be compensated a small amount if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. There is no cost to you.

This post shared with:

Tablescape Thursday #619 Between Naps on the Porch

Thursday Favorite Things #450 with An Artful Mom

Inspire Me Mondays by My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia