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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

For the most part I eat rather healthy.  But on occasion I will indulge if the additional calories are worth it.  I won’t eat a junky dessert, but I will always say yes to a piece of homemade pie. And of course, with a scoop of homemade ice cream!

All summer long I’ve been wanting really good ice cream.  Not store bought, but the kind we used to get from a dairy farm, like Buttonwood Farms in Griswold, Connecticut.  All of the ice cream places nearby never have my favorites ~~pistachio and rum raisin.

This weekend I endeavored to create my own, homemade ice cream in the flavors I love.  We own the Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream & Sorbet maker. This is a worthwhile purchase! I have only used it to create the fast version of vanilla~~ a mixture of whole milk, heavy cream, sugar and vanilla. Viola! 20 minutes later and you have homemade ice cream. It is a very easy way to make your own ice cream.

However, in order to make pistachio and rum raisin I stepped it up a bit and used a custard based version requiring eggs and heat.  Since I do not think I can put two recipes in the same blog post, I will feature the pistachio recipe today.

I started with a recipe from Epicurious.com, but adjusted it after I read all the comments (whole eggs vs. yolks, vanilla bean vs. almond extract, salted vs. unsalted pistachios, etc.).  Ice cream only requires a few ingredients: eggs, heavy cream, milk, sugar, pistachios and almond extract.

I used salted pistachios, that we had to shell.  The only fun part about this is was competing with my husband to see who could shell them faster.

Finely grind pistachios and sugar in a food processor~~making sure you don’t turn it into nut butter.

Add the nut/sugar mixture to the milk and heat.  The recipe says to bring to a boil….I heated it until it was steaming with just wee little boil bubbles. Remove from the heat. Add the almond extract.

Whisk eggs and remaining sugar.  Here is where I altered the recipe~~I added whole eggs, not just the yolks (according to the comments whole eggs make the consistency creamier after freezing).  However, I was a bit surprised when I added the last egg and it was a double yolk-er…What to do?  I just left it and proceeded with the recipe.

This is the important part.  You need to mix the eggs in with the hot milk mixture, however, you do not want to “cook” the eggs.  I slowly added a little of the hot milk mixture while whisking the eggs.  I continued to add more milk, making sure I didn’t create cooked scrambled eggs.

Gradually whisk all the egg mixture into the hot milk mixture.  Cook over low heat until the custard thickens and sticks to the back of the spoon-about 9 to 10 minutes.  It’s important to stir constantly during this thickening process.  DO NOT BOIL.

Strain the mixture into a large bowl.

Chill until cold (about 2 hours)  I did this by placing the bowl with the custard mixture inside a larger bowl filled with ice and then placed both bowls in the refrigerator.

Remove the custard from the refrigerator and add heavy cream and chopped pistachios.

Process mixture into an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Transfer to a container and freeze.

The ice cream had a very creamy consistency.

You can adjust the amount of pistachios as you like~~however, the more the merrier for me.

Have you ever made homemade ice cream? Making ice cream from scratch sounds a bit daunting, but it’s hard to ruin anything that has cream, sugar, and eggs in it. To see another ice cream recipe (Rum Raisin), click here.

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

Pistachio Ice Cream Recipe adapted from Epicurious.com

When we first remodeled Bella Terra, the original intention of this room was to be a computer/TV/hang out room for our then 2 children.  But God works in strange ways and I became pregnant with our 3rd child in the middle of our 3 year renovation.  Of course the doctor had told me that it was highly unlikely I would get pregnant (my “advanced” age) coupled with my last pregnancy ending in a miscarriage.  Surprise!

This room had several problems~~large plaster cracks and a floor that significantly sloped to one side. The wood flooring was mismatched and in poor condition.  When we pulled up the floor boards, the joists were random heights, contributing to the non-level mess. Structurally, the corner of the house had settled. It was painted mental institution green.

Since every single window had to be replaced in the house, we took this opportunity to change the larger northern window to a smaller, fixed one. The original window led out to the top of the porte cochere and I envisioned late night escapes done by mischievous children.

Here is the renovated room prior to flooring.  It was painted a soft peach to match the Ralph Lauren florals I had chosen for her crib and bed~~perfect room for my new little girl.

When Elisabeth became a teenager, naturally she wanted a room change.  I still remember the day when she asked, “Mom, can I paint my room orange and blue?” Hmmm.  I asked what shade of orange.  She promptly showed me International Orange~~yes, that super bright, come save me in the middle of the ocean emergency color.  Groan.  But I have a fond memory of MY mother letting me paint my room a ridiculous shade of purple when I was that age. I smiled and said, “Sure!”

We agreed to painting two of the four walls orange, but two would need to be white~~for balance and a visual break in color.

We painted the room ourselves~a mother/daughter project and she was so proud when it was finished.  I admit I was hesitant at first, but the color is SO cheerful and happy.  There is quite a bit of painted white trim (baseboards, door/windows) which is crisp and clean against the orange.

Here’s the view when you step into her room.  The bed has assumed a few different positions, but this is her current layout (which gives her more friend space). The rolling cart acts as a night stand and is from IKEA.

When she graduated to a full size bed, I purchased the fabric headboard from Joss and Main.

There is always an abundance of stuffed animals on the bed. 🙂

The original room did have a closet, but during the renovation (pre-new baby), I reconfigured it to be used in the adjacent room. So we needed to add closet space.  We created these built-ins from the kitchen design department at Home Depot.  The white finish adds balance to the orange.

All my children LOVE to read and collect books so a bookcase was added to the side of the closet.

Across the room is her desk/work station. She has a cork board area and spaces designated for supplies.

A large world map mounted on a metal board provides magnetic ways for her to display trinkets and memorabilia.

As a Christmas present I painted a picture of Sox, her beloved dog.  Though not planned, I’m glad the blue works with her color theme.

I hope you enjoyed this brightly colored room! It reinforces the notion to take risks with paint color!

Paint Colors: Sherwin-Williams Manual Knockout Orange

Dunn Edwards 354 Van de Cane (white)

Large Pillow fabric:  Joann’s

Striped comforter fabric:  IKEA

Rug:  IKEA

Pencil containers:  IKEA

Pears and Women in black top paintings:  Artist – me

Beach painting:  Artist: my daughter

Lamp: IKEA

Custom Windows:  Marvin Windows

August is like the Sunday of Summer…..unknown

I am finally back in town.  As much as I love to travel, transitioning back home is a bit of work. Luggage to unpack, bills to pay, dead plants to discard, laundry to do~~in addition to the mental shift of getting back into the swing of things.

My latest adventure was to Washington, D.C. where I helped settle my oldest in his very first post-college apartment. He starts his new job soon and is embarking on a wonderful journey in our nation’s capital. His apartment is in a fabulous, hip section of the Navy Yard, close to the Metro and numerous restaurants.

But he needed everything-sofa, bed, dresser, desk, television console, coffee table, kitchen island, and assorted 1st apartment things.  Thankfully, IKEA is an affordable option and was only 30 minutes away.  However, we opted to assembly everything ourselves. What were we thinking? Who knew a sectional sofa came in so many pieces?

Here is the apartment on Day 5~~the good news is that we (my son, his roommate, and his mother) worked well together and got it finished! #loveIkea #hateIkea #exhausted

We are experiencing exciting weather in Phoenix.  It is our monsoon season= rain/wind/flooding.  We’ve also had a few haboobs ~~ intense dust storms.  Bella Terra is looking quite tired this time of year due to the heat and the unpredictable weather. The minute the yard is picked up and cleared, another storm blows through.

The wind has been so strong that part of the hen house room came off and a garden obelisk toppled over.

My middle daughter has moved back home and is living in the guest cottage for her last year in college. She surprised us (long story) with this sweet little bundle.  Meet Hemingway. He has his own Instagram account….Hemingway, the GSD. (German Shepherd dog).  After our initial shock, it’s hard not to love him. #puppylove

My youngest daughter has already started her senior year in high school.  We are knee-deep in the college application process….sigh.

August is one of those months.  It’s part of summer but no more summer vacations.  Routines and schedules are back.  Traveling is over.  But it’s too hot here to really do anything exciting. Temperatures will not cool down for another month or so.

I’ve been reading ALOT and must share these two books with you.  They are part of a trilogy but I haven’t gotten to the 3rd book yet.  Recommended to me by my friend, Rick (who always has the best book suggestions), I cannot put this series down.  If you like fast paced, espionage thrillers, these are a must read.

About the author.

Jason Matthews is a retired office of the CIA’s Operations Directorate.  Over a thirty-three-year career he served in multiple overseas locations and engaged in clandestine collection of national security intelligence, specializing in denied-area operations.  Matthews conducted recruitment operations against Soviet-East European, East Asian, Middle Eastern, and Caribbean targets. As Chief in various CIA Stations, he collaborated with foreign partners in counterproliferation and counterterrorism operations.

Summer = Strawberry Shortcake.

I have fond childhood memories of picking strawberries at Malerba’s Farm in Norwich, Connecticut.  Unfortunately, this time of year, there are NO places to pick strawberries in Phoenix.  It is too hot.  However, the local grocery stores have California-grown berries that actually taste like strawberries. I researched a good recipe on the internet and found this one from Two Peas & Their Pod.

Preparing the strawberries is very easy.  Hull and slice or quarter the berries.

Sprinkle the berries with sugar and stir.  As the berries sit in the sugar, they will macerate and get juicy.

As you know, grocery stores offer those spongy individual cakes for this, but nothing beats a homemade biscuit. The prep time for this recipe is approximately 40 minutes…and well worth it.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and baking powder. I like to use unbleached all purpose King Arthur Flour.

In order to have flaky biscuits, it is critical to cut in the butter correctly.  You will want to mix it sparingly, allowing for chunks of butter.

Add the heavy cream and vanilla and mix until just combined.

Lightly knead the dough together to incorporate all the crumbly dough pieces. Do not over mix.  Press the dough into the circle, about 1-inch thick and cut into rounds.

Place the biscuits on the baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Brush with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.  The recipe calls for turbinado sugar (which I didn’t have), but I used coconut sugar instead. My guess is any sugar will do.

Bake the biscuits until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.  Let cool completely.

Cut the biscuits in half horizontally.  Spoon the strawberries over the bottom of the biscuit and add a dollop of whipped cream.

Fruit is nature’s candy.  Enjoy it all this summer!

Strawberry Shortcake recipe by Two Peas & Their Pod.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:24]