A Bit of Sunshine

Typically, we enjoy sunny, sweater weather during the winter in Phoenix. I can’t recall a winter season being so gloomy and rainy~~don’t get me wrong, we love and need the rain, but it’s rare having several days of heavy, gray, overcast skies. The weather for the next 5 days will continue this pattern so I thought I’d share some sunshine pictures of the yard I took last week. Unlike other parts of the United States, winter is our “green time”. Some of the trees have lost their leaves, but for the most part, our landscape is colorful this time of year.

The orchard is abundant with citrus. The tangerine tree is so heavy with fruit this year and each piece is delicious.

We have lemons and grapefruits and a wide variety of oranges.

The previous owners planted a kumquat tree to celebrate a wedding anniversary. Now we get the benefit of this sweet/tart little fruit. A few years ago I made kumquat marmalade. It was a complete hassle trying to get all the numerous seeds out. I’m not sure I’ll admit it was worth the effort, but I’m certainly willing to try again! Or if anyone has a good recipe involving kumquats, let me know.

The garden is filled with lettuces, endive, cauliflower and broccoli. Tomatoes are still green but hopefully we will be picking those once the weather warms up.

Next to the vegetable garden is the flower garden and a perfect place to sit in the late afternoons.

My husband built this obelisk for me. It’s painted a French blue and has its place in the garden. Look at that cobalt sky!!!

The geraniums (which we brought down from the mountains a few months ago), are loving the cooler, damp weather.

And of course, here’s Cooper. He’s my constant companion following me around the yard on this gorgeous day.

Wherever you are, I am sending some sunshine to brighten your day!

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Restoration update!

So much has happened at the Willetta house restoration. To read the first post on this historical renovation click here. Perhaps the most noticeable change is to the front of the house. When I purchased it in August, the entire house was covered in aluminum siding. Here is the front of the house with the aluminum siding still on…well, some it anyway. Notice the big piece hanging down from the underside of the front terrace!!

We tested a small part of the back of the house and took off a few strips of the aluminum. Underneath was the original 3″ clapboard siding. I held my breath as we tore off the aluminum siding. I had no idea if the clapboard was still under the entire house, nor did I know the condition of the clapboard, which I assume has been covered for decades. Albeit dirty, the clapboard siding is in relatively good shape.

Yes, every window had security bars. We removed them and recycled all the aluminum siding and the metal bars.

We also removed all the original shutters on the front of the house. I have never seen this particular cut-out design on any shutter to date – not sure of its origin.

The pigeons over the last 20 years, have enjoyed roosting on the shutters. It will take a big effort to change that behavior! If anyone has any suggestions on how we can rid ourselves of these birds, please let me know. The shutters were painted black on one side and dark green on the other. An interesting way to change the look of your home!

The shutters on the first level cover the French doors that lead out to the terrace. Since the front of the house is south facing, the shutters are a brilliant way to keep the sun off the windows in the afternoon. The louvered door below was removed from inside and is resting on the exterior….and eventually ended up going home with one of the workers.

Most of the shutters were in relatively good condition and only a few needed to be completely replaced.

When we removed the aluminum siding from the underside of the porch ceiling, we found a great deal of water damage.

We needed to remove the blue ceiling and found even more damage to the structure underneath….cha-ching. After all that was removed and replaced, what a big improvement!

Here’s what it looks like today. I used a Sherwin Williams paint called Atmospheric for the blue and stayed with white for the house. Shutters have been painted black and re-hung. All 6 columns have been repaired.

Notice the beautiful craftsmanship in the detail at the roof line that is hard to find today. There are two different sizes of crown molding-some of it missing, some of it rotted. Fixing it was challenging. This nearly 100 year old structure is no longer square plus we needed to rent a lift in order to have the carpenter work at this height.

So as of today, here is the front of the house (with a new roof). We are waiting to paint the front doors/entrance when all the construction traffic dies down. As you can see by the piles of insulation, the rough-in of the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC are complete. Drywall starts at the end of the week. More to come!!!!

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Happy New Year-2017!!

Am I the only one, but doesn’t it seem like the turn of the century was just a few years ago???? Happy New Year~~wow, 2017!

Yesterday, we celebrated New Year’s Eve with a late afternoon dinner with family and friends. We began the day with a walk to the Fiesta Bowl parade, which starts just down the street from us. Thankfully the rain held off until after the parade..

We returned home and started our feasting with an apple cider mimosa~~ which surprisingly was quite yummy! My son made mussels in white wine and dunking soft French bread in the broth was the best part. A small charcuterie tray kept us satisfied until dinner.

I chose a gold-theme this year for the dinner table~~mostly to match the Champagne Cake made by my son (he loves to cook and takes full advantage of it while home from college!!!) The chargers are from Lesley Roy.

The dishes are simple white with a gold edge from Pottery Barn. Flatware is Wallace Napoleon Bee (with gold accents) that I purchased from Horchow.

The dinner menu was Chicken Breasts Sauteed in Apple Cider (from the Nordstrom Family Table cookbook), brussels sprouts (cooked the Trader Joe way with maple syrup, olive oil and pomegranates) and a simple kale salad with mandarin oranges and pine nuts.

Ah, dessert…..the Golden Champagne Celebration Cake.

The cookbook, Layered, by Tessa Huff, is dog-eared as we have used it so much lately. The goal is to bake every cake in the book and we are well on our way. A pure, buttery, vanilla cake with champagne buttercream~~with gold sanding sugar was truly spectacular.

Wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year. I hope 2017 is filled with joyful moments with family and friends.

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Favorite Apps

I am probably not the most technological savvy person so I have to chuckle to think I am recommending apps to you! However, I do have a few that I use and love. You may already be familiar with them, but if not, here they are:

Waterlogue This app takes any photo and turns it into a watercolor.

You also have the option to do your photo in black and whiteI took this photograph of my daughter, Elisabeth while she was walking in the rain this summer in the mountains.Here’s a Waterlogue image of our rental cabin in Pinetop, in the White Mountains of Arizona. I took the watercolor image and had note cards made which I use as thank you notes for our guests.My next favorite is 1 Second Everyday. I learned about this from Elisabeth, who had a school project using this app. This app allows you to record something for one second every day. So I decided to record the things that I love or those things that make me happy. It’s a video library and there are so many ways you can use it.

1 Second Everyday App

Here is the link to my 1 Second Everyday video.

Next, I have a love/hate relationship with this app. Lose It! app helps with monitoring all your food/nutritional intake plus their website is filled with workouts, recipes and guides to help you lose weight, eat a balanced diet, and get support throughout the process. A dear friend of mine recently lost 40 lbs. and attributes it to this app. We will definitely be using Lose It! after the holidays!

Lastly, my favorite one is Headspace. I have never been one who meditates, but I must say, that this app is really spectacular. The voice behind Headspace is Andy Puddicome and I honestly admit that I’m in love with this man’s voice. It is velvet, warm butter, a soft blanket all rolled into one. The minute I hear it, I instantly relax. As the New York Times says, “Andy Puddicombe is doing for meditation what Jamie Oliver has done for food”. The first 10 sessions are free and then if you are hooked, you can subscribe. I wish I did this more, but I must say that when I turn his voice on in my head, something wonderful kicks in…

Do you have a favorite app? Please share!

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Holiday Home Tour

Welcome to our first Holiday Home Tour at Bella Terra! This house was made for holiday decorations. Having a red front door already sets the Chrismas mood!

At the front entry, my husband put up the lighted trees that are situated on both side of the front door. This year’s wreath is a simple one and the plaid ribbon is used throughout the house. I added magnolia leaves and different greens for texture. Plaid ribbon from Costco.

I kept the entry classic with garland up the staircase, beveled fleur-de-lis mirrors on the steps, and I changed out the painting near the petticoat table with a Christmas themed one.

The “teddy bear” tree used to be upstairs outside the children’s bedrooms, however, I thought it would be fun to put it in the corner of the entry as it is scaled appropriately.

In the dining room, the deep mantle over the fireplace is the perfect place for our snow globe collection. Every year, each child gets a snow globe and an ornament until they turn 21. So if you do the math, my son is 21, my daughter is 19 and my youngest is 15. My husband keeps saying, “Enough with the snow globes!!!”. I only put out 20 of them this year but I love how magical they look with the lights under the snow.

The living room mantle is deep like the dining room, and I added garland, white lights, large balls and plaid ribbon. Here’s a “before the tree” picture.

The tree is a real evergreen and my back is still aching from putting on the numerous strings of lights. But the fresh tree smells so good!

When the children were 2 years old, we had a local artist, Virginia Cook, capture their childhood moments in an oil painting. Beneath the paintings, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care…..

For those of you who have been in my kitchen, it never looks this clean!!! Thanks to the magic of photography, all the piles are cropped out! Typically I decorate all the windows, but due to lack of time and energy, the decorations are limited to the pastry rack and around the stove.

Years ago, I decided to hang holiday art and take our regular paintings down during the holidays. Simple posters were framed and then each painted with brushstrokes of gel matte medium (found in an artist supply store) to look like original paintings. Here’s one with Santa cooking in the kitchen!

Between the dining room and kitchen, is the breakfast room. Nutcrackers we’ve collected from our travels are displayed here.

The most lived-in room at Bella Terra is the family room. Since our pets freely roam this room, I decorate with non-breakable holiday pillows and wreaths. For more on this room, see a previous post.

The back porch, with the outdoor heaters, is the place we entertain during the winter months. A vintage tablecloth adds color to the dining area.

The guest cottage gets a simple lighted wreath, as the cottage colors are already festive.

My husband hangs the wreath on the well tower each year. It, too, is lighted and has a festive glow at night. My dog, Cooper, who is huge, looks so diminutive in this picture…

I’m still learning so much about taking photos. Many thanks to professional photographer, Adam Peter , for taking most of the pictures above.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed a bit of the holiday here at Bella Terra!

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Spooners

This is such a great time of year to pull out the stops on holiday entertaining and decorating. I love using spooners in different ways. So what is a spooner?

A popular collectible today, the spooner or spoonholder, provided as much symbolic value as function for Victorian society. The prominently displayed spoons were a clear sign of ready hospitality, as well as a status symbol for the increased affluence among the expanding middle class who could now afford silver spoons, or at least a good facsimile. Spooners are narrower and more cylindrical than sugar bottoms or open sugars – perfect for holding flatware (they don’t tip over).

Along with the majority of other Victorian conventions, interest in spoonholders had almost vanished by the 1930s. They are fun to find and collect. Spooners come in a variety of designs and colors. Some spooners are ornate, and others are simple. This one has simple lines with a footed stem and a scalloped rim.

Here is another with much more details in the glass and the unique handles.

This spooner is beautifully etched with a wheat and barley pattern. The lovely details are also on the handles.

What I love about spooners is that generally no two are alike. They can be useful in so many different ways and lend an elegance to any display or table.

If you are considering collecting spooners, it’s important to differentiate spooners from open sugars, sugar bottoms, goblets and tumblers. Spooners usually range in height from 4″ for those with a flat base to 6″ for those with stems.

We will have a few spooners for sale on our online store. They are an affordable way to return to a graciousness of the life nearly a century ago.

Happy Saturday!

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