This past weekend, I was fortunate to attend the book signing of one of my favorite bloggers, Courtney Allison of French Country Cottage.  I’ve never met Courtney and just started following her this year. However, she has inspired me to learn more about photography because every single thing she posts is stunning.

The photos in her first book are truly drool worthy.  It was such an opportunity to meet her since being a relatively new blogger, there is so much I don’t know.  I am always grateful when others share their knowledge. Having the book signing at Patina Farm was an extra special gift!

On our drive in to the farm from Santa Barbara, we passed a sign that said, “Flowers Ahead”. We pulled over to this sweet unmanned flower stand and purchased a few bunches of lilies to give the hosts. They were only a $1.00 per bunch and the money was left in a box ~~simply on the honor system.

Here we are at the entrance of the event. Janie is a dear friend who is an artist and an expert in anything to do with home decor and antiques. Janie also has the best jewelry!

Patina Farm is the home of Brooke (@velvetandlinen) and Steve Giannetti (@stevegiannetti)~~a design/architect duo that continues to impress the design world.  Their 5 acre farm was designed and built by them~~including cherished pieces they have collected around the world. The color palette is neutrals and soft pastels both in the home and garden.

This area, just off the kitchen, is the cover photo of their book, Patina Farm.

Fresh flowers were in every room.

Here are more house details. It is very apparent why they call their lovely home “Patina” farm. There is an abundance of textures and finishes.

Bowls of fruits and vegetables were in abundance.

Courtney was signing her book in the shade of an enormous oak tree.

I cannot recommend her book enough.  Drawn to a French country look, Courtney’s home is filled with wonderful decorating ideas and stories.

The property at Patina Farm is on different elevations.  Pebbled paths lined with lavender and rosemary lead you to secret spaces.

These fun wooden mushroom statues can be purchased from the Giannetti Home store or giannettihome.com

Steps lead you down to the donkey barn, greenhouse, shed, vegetable garden, rose trellis and lavender maze.

The guest cottage is set above the small pond and boat dock.

Brooke and Steve Giannetti were such gracious hosts.  They served light appetizers and lavender lemonade, with or without sparkling wine.

I was so happy to finally meet some of the bloggers I just know through the internet~~Karen from Sanctuary Home Decor.  I am disappointed to know I missed meeting Julie Blanner and Slim Paley, but respect and admire all the work they do.  It was also such a pleasure to meet the agent who provided all the guidance to both books~~Jill Cohen.

Being with others who love beauty and simplicity fed my soul.  We also met a group of 5 women (Debra, Cindy, Beth, Melissa and Tori) who traveled from Northern California together in celebration of Cindy’s birthday. Within minutes, we became fast friends and I hope we keep in touch!

It was a very civilized way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  Rubbing elbows with a house filled with talented individuals is inspiration at its best!

Even the cat seemed to enjoy it!

Have a wonderful week!

P.S. All the photos were taken by me….I think I see some improvement!

It is that time of year when the temperatures are shifting ever so slightly lower, that I am inspired to add a few fall decor touches to the living room. I recently went to Trader Joe’s to buy pumpkins for my living room mantle and they had NONE. They had not shipped yet from the warehouse and no pumpkins were to be had in Phoenix.

As a result, I will show you the living room fall decorations sans fireplace mantle. Hopefully that will happen in the next week or so. The challenges of living in the hot southwest!

The living room colors are mostly linen white and French blues accents, with a richly color Oriental rug. Orange is a complement to blue so I sprinkled in some, along with white and neutrals.

Thankfully I have a rather large selection of fabric pumpkins, and placed a few on the sofa table.

The horse sitting on the table behind the sofa did need something for this time of year, so a sprig of artificial berries did the trick.

My pumpkin painting has the appropriate colors for this room.  Completed a few years ago, it was one of my first autumn paintings.

The coffee table’s English terrarium received a fall theme~~adding books, fabric pumpkins and some berries.

A blogger I follow, Courtney Allison from French Country Cottage, just released her first book. It is truly spectacular! I am getting ready to attend a book signing by Courtney~~cannot wait to meet her in person!

Perhaps the oldest piece of furniture I own, is a Hepplewhite Secretary, dating from 1790-1800. The glass doors are designed with 13 panels for the original 13 colonies. The lower portion opens up into a desk with beautiful inlaid wood cubbies. I purchased this many moons ago when I could barely afford anything. But I knew this was a special piece and have cherished it for decades.

The shelves are glass and edged in wood. There is a strip of lighting both on the inside top and bottom of the shelves. If you look closely you can see the electrical wire on the right hand side. The light illuminates through the shelves and creates a warm, magical glow.

A few pieces of my English autumn china grace the top shelf.  Windsor Ware Harvest Fruit by Johnson Brothers has the fruit center and Tonquin by Royal Staffordshire is the other. I would love to keep adding to this collection so if you see any in your travels, keep me in mind!

Here is the view with the lights on.

The soup tureen is Indus RSR, an English brown transferware pattern from the 1870s.  It’s missing the ladle but I love the pheasant pattern.

The pumpkin soup tureens and apple plates are from Williams Sonoma.

The wooden beads with a heart I purchased from Painted Fox.  I have no recollection where I got the birds, white pitcher or brass box.  The painting was a gift from my friend and art teacher, JoAnn Augur. To see another post about my art classes, click here.

With a hint of cooler temperatures in the morning, I am getting more inspired to add fall touches to the rest of the house.  Can’t wait to share them with you! To see some fall decor from last year, click here.

The first day of autumn is September 22nd. However, now that we are nearing that date, I can finally embrace fall decor, in spite of the heat here.

In August I visited a store filled with fall decorations. They had artificial fall trees that were quite attractive.  I miss the beautiful autumn colors of New England and wanted to purchase two of the trees….until I saw the price tag ~ a whopping $350 each! So what does a typical Yankee do? Take lots of pictures and try to re-create them for far less money.

We’ve had several storms here in the last few months and lost many tree branches.  I picked through the debris pile and found these.

I trimmed off the side branches.

And ended up with six trunks. This view is the back of the old original barn-looks like it’s time to repaint!

Using a fast drying cement, my husband secured the branches into two buckets. Cement is a good choice for the bucket because it will secure the branches, but also weight them so they don’t tip over.

Look at the ingenious way he stabilized the branches while the cement dried.  This short piece of decorative railing was left over from my last historical restoration. I hope to use it somewhere in our yard or garden.

The bases were sprayed with black paint. Remember to tape off the trunks with blue painter’s tape so they remain a natural color.

I purchased a few bunches of fall leaves from Michaels when they were having a buy one get one free sale. Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying much attention to the leaf style so I ended up getting both maple and oak leaves. I suppose you could mix them on the same tree but I chose to be a purist and make one maple and one oak tree.

Using a small drill bit, drill holes into the trunks.

Remove the stems from the artificial bunches using wire cutters and expose the bottom of the wire.

Insert the stems into the holes that were drilled in the trunks.

Keep repeating until the trunks are filled with leaves.  We used a liquid glue to secure the branches.

After the glue dries, the branches will easily bend to the position you want. We used some blue tape during the drying process on those branches that were floppy.

When the top was finished, I used moss and a few artificial leaves to soften the base.

Here is my maple tree:

And here is the oak:

I can’t wait to share with you how I will incorporate these fall trees into my autumn decorating! I know the trend is to decorate with monochromatic colors (white pumpkins, white gourds), however, I LOVE the oranges, reds and browns that this season brings.

Happy Fall Decorating!

We are fortunate to head to the mountains for the holiday weekend. Typically that means rest and relaxation, but instead I am tackling a DIY project~stenciling a wood floor.

The weather this particular afternoon was chilly and hailing…very conducive to working indoors. To see more of our mountain cabin, click here.

The space needing improvement is a landing on the interior steps to the second floor. Where the stairs make a 90 degree angle, the landing is covered in an oak/pine veneer? The overall look is rather cheap, compared to the adjacent chunky, floating steps.

Determine the Stencil Design

In keeping with the old adage, if you can’t hide it, make it a focal point. In attempts to cover this area, I decide to stencil the wood floor. The “Forest Floor Damask” stencil from Royal Design Stencils is $49.95 online.  The stencil is 22″ x 22″ which will require about 4 full repetitions and 4 partial stencils to fill the space. I also did not pre-treat the floor~~just wiped it clean with water.

Select Your Paint Colors

Honestly, the hardest part for me was determining what color paints to use.  I considered using just one color, but decided to take on the challenge of multiple colors.

Since the theme is Forest Floor and the cabin IS in the mountains, I select shades of nature in browns and greens. I am using small sample paints from a local hardware store.

Measure and Secure

Since this stencil is a random pattern, I place the first stencil in one corner of the landing. If the stencil design has a border or a block design, I would measure and place the stencil in the visual center.

Starting with  two main colors, I add white paint to each color to obtain various hues. Using plastic disposable cups is perfect for mixing paint. I secure the stencil to the floor with blue painters tape.

Apply by Dabbing

In order to keep the paint from bleeding under the stencil, I tap the excess paint off the bottom of the brush.  The paint is applied by dabbing, not stroking the paint on the stencil. Note: Make sure you use good stencil brushes. Mine are from Royal Stencil Designs. There are sold out, however, you can purchase other stencil brushes online here.

I paint the “branches” in a shag bark color. See below for the Sherwin Williams colors used.

Sorry for the shift in light in the photos but we added industrial lamps so I could better see my work space.

Next, I paint the larger leaves in a pine green. Doing the very first stencil is a bit intimidating as I wasn’t completely sure what color would go where. But it is typical to feel this way but go with your instincts.

The orange flower color is a combination of yellow, sienna, raw Sienna, alizarin red, gold and copper acrylic paints (from my art supplies). Make sure you mix enough paint to complete all the flowers (or make good notes on the color of paint and quantity you are using).

The stencil has guide marks in the border to help align the design.

Four complete stencils cover most of the landing.  Look at the very unattractive edge at the top of the photo.  I will cover that later with a solid 1.5” painted border.

Stenciling the Edges

It is a bit difficult to bend the stencil to get the partial stencils painted on the edges but securing it with the blue tape helped.

Add a Border

Lastly I add a solid border on all four sides. Please make sure your stencil paints are completely dry.  You can then tape the border size you want with blue painters tape.  I also use the blue tape on the walls to protect them from any splashing paint.

Here is a photo I took the next morning.  Again, it’s hard to capture the actual colors due to the indirect light.  The brown tones look blue here.

Apply Protective Layer

I will add a matte finish protective coating over the top during our next trip to the cabin.

All in all, I was pleased with the end result.  If you have a floor or wall that you aren’t happy with, you may want to consider stenciling it. Now, instead of an eyesore, I have a piece of original art!

Have you ever stenciled a floor? To see my prior floor stenciling project on a concrete floor, click here. And I recently completed a DIY project stenciling a bathroom tile floor, which can be seen here. Stenciling is an affordable way to upgrade a floor, wall or backsplash.

Thank you for visiting Life at Bella Terra.  If you love old historic homes, please sign up and follow my blog.   As a fan of Before and Afters shots, I try to include many of them in the houses I restore. You can also find me on Instagram @lifeatbellaterra and Facebook.  I so appreciate you following me and look forward to  your comments and feedback.

Have a wonderful week!

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

Stencil:  Royal Design Stencil Forest Floor Damask

Paint:  Sherwin Williams Latex Acrylic, SW 3001 Shagbark and SW3037 Shade Tree.

I am not the most current on trends, but I find the concept of e-commerce subscriptions fascinating. My first encounter was Stitch Fix, nearly five years ago.  Stitch Fix, is a company that mails you a monthly box of clothing and accessories.

The items are hand-picked by Stitch Fix’s 3,500 full- and part-time stylists, who work with the company’s team of more than 80 data scientists to suit customers’ tastes. Stitch Fix charges a $20 fee for each box (which goes toward any purchases the customer makes). Clients pay extra for the clothing they keep, and can return what they don’t want.

My daughters and I subscribed after filling out a lengthy style questionnaire.  It was fun to see what a design consultant who had never met you or knew what you looked like, would select and send.

Since the company was relatively new, some of the styles weren’t to my liking so I cancelled. The company has since evolved and expanded, including a line for men and children. I may give them a try again, as I am not fond of clothes shopping.

Katrina Lake, 34, is the founder and chief executive of Stitch Fix. The company brought in $730 million in revenue in its 2016 fiscal year. Katrina was 26 years old when she founded Stitch Fix in 2011….very impressive.

I have used Stitch Fix for gift giving and it is easy to do so. You can print, email, or send a gift card in whatever dollar amount you want.

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One of my favorite bloggers is Sharon Santoni from My French Country Home.  She has created a quarterly Subscription Box that I recently used as a birthday gift for my sister in Connecticut.  The theme for the August box was French kitchen and not only was the box beautifully wrapped, the items inside were spectacular. And it was mailed from France! My sister was delighted with the high quality of items and presentation.

Here are the contents of the August Stylish French Box with further details on a few of the items.

Artist Celine Chollet features a blue-shuttered house in Provence.

Marseille soaps by Marius Fabre: These soaps from Marius Fabre come from a family-owned business in Salon de Provence that still makes their products in the same way as their great-grandfather did a century ago.

A stoneware pottery bowl by the Manufacture de Digoin: Fabricated in the Ceramic Valley, deep in the Burgundy region, this bowl will impress you both with its durability and the craftsmanship that went into its creation.

Three copper cannelé molds: These adorable copper molds are used to bake cannelés, a traditional Bordelais pastry.  Or insert tea candles for a French-inspired deco piece.

An antique teacloth: This brocante item is one that you’ll find as functional as it is pretty. The red-on-white pattern is traditional of this type of linen blend teacloth.

A book of recipes: All come straight from Sharon’s kitchen, made with wholesome, seasonal ingredients.

There was also a beautiful copper candle, an apron and chocolate fondant included in the box. For more information on My Stylish French Box, click here.

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It’s been hard finding good flowers here in Phoenix during the latter part of summer.  Nothing exciting is growing in the yard, and our local retailers have meager pickings. Motivated by my desire for a different selection of fresh flowers, I signed up for a monthly delivery from The Bouqs.

Their farm-to-table flowers come from eco-friendly, sustainable farms around the world.  You can cancel anytime so I thought it was worth a try.

I set it up so I get Farmer’s Market flowers on the 12th of each month. They are (were?) having a 20% off and free shipping sale which pushes me over the edge to order.

The Bouqs also has a gift option online so it is very easy to send a bouquet to someone you love.  I will let you know the quality and quality of my flowers when my first subscription arrives on September 12th.

There are many e-commerce boxes available–from beauty to art to supplies.  On a recent post (click here to read) I shared my subscription to Paris Letters, which has been a delightful experience for someone like me that appreciates getting a fabulous letter in the mail.

If you are getting a subscription box, please let me know what it is and if you love it.  With the holidays approaching, having e-commerce at our finger tips expands our gift giving options.

Excerpts and photos taken directly from My French Country Home, Stitch Fix and The Bouqs.

My husband and I spent the weekend in the mountains of Arizona.  It was SO peaceful and quiet.  Since my life is rather frenetic and busy, there is not much down time. It wasn’t until I was the midst of serenity and stillness that I realized how much I miss the absence of noise.

For me, the mornings there are the best. With the dawn, the sun light streams through the trees and the day starts anew.

There has been so much rain lately.  The 3.5 hour car drive was glorious~~lots of green and plenty of wildflowers along the way. Thank goodness for all the precipitation as it has helped reduce the threats of forest fires.

One of my favorite places to have my morning coffee is the small screened in porch off the kitchen.

I purchased the day bed a few years back and it was in sad shape-chipped white paint with rust spots. Chippy, shabby chic paint is all the rage, but back then it looked decrepit to me.  I spray painted it a mossy/sage green.  The day bed actually pulls out to a full double bed, hence the two base cushions.

Cushions were made by the experts and I. through trial and error, made all the other pillows.

I found this rattan chair in a local second hand store. I do need to create a lumbar pillow for it, but it’s the perfect place to read on a chilly day.

The small bistro table and two chairs was made by a New Mexico artisan passing through who sold it to a local store.  I’ve never seen another one like it.

Beyond the porch you can see our wood sculpture in the driveway. We lost a very large Ponderosa pine tree due to beetle infestation. Instead of cutting it to the ground, we had a local artisan turn it into this.

The lantern in his left hand is solar powered and lights up at night. The ball at the top of his wand is a globe that changes different colors. It, too, is solar powered.

The weekend wasn’t all R& R and we completed a small project while we were there.

There is a side porch that has been unused for a few years.  I had purchased an old pine table many moons ago and brought it up to the cabin envisioning fabulous dinner parties.  Guess how many dinner parties I have had so far? One! Yep, just one…during the 4th of July weekend this year.

Here is a before picture of the porch…..truly underutilized.

And here is what it looks like now! It needs some other elements (rugs, art?) but this is a good start.

My husband hung outdoor lights over the table.  The furniture is protected with an overhang, which is perfect during those mountain thunder storms.

I am finally able to use these fun bistro chairs and outdoor furniture I purchased to stage my last remodel (the Willetta house).

Now it’s time to entertain!  Unfortunately we just don’t get up to the mountains as much as we would like.  Maybe Labor Day????

I am still feeling the after effects of the weekend’s solitude. Sending you some peace and quiet.  I certainly need more of that in my life.

Tree Carving Artist- Trent from the Burly Bear, Pinetop, AZ

Chairs from Wayfair

Coffee Cup- Anthropology

Red Outdoor Furniture: Lowe’s