The lifeblood of our household revolves around the kitchen, especially the coffee/tea counter. In the mornings, this portion of the kitchen is crowded, with each family member making their favorite beverage. For my daughter, it is tea in all its forms-loose leaf, tea bags, compressed blocks that require specific water temperatures and steeping times. For the rest of us, life begins around the Nespresso machine and the numerous flavors of coffee pods.

This is a rather hectic and cluttered part of the kitchen.  The good news is that everything you need to make coffee drinks and tea is here~~mugs, teacups, flavorings, toppings, timer, etc. But it’s rather messy nearly all the time.

Large glass containers hold tea bags and Nespresso pods, which take up too much space but I haven’t come up with a better alternative.

The counter is angled between the Dacor gas range on the left and the SubZero refrigerator and freezer on the right.  Though the picture doesn’t capture the color accurately, the granite countertop is a dark green with sage marbling and flecks of cranberry.  The hand made tile backsplash is from Waterworks.

I’ve been pondering how to make this area more efficient.  So I cleared everything off the counter and started from scratch. I’m not a big fan of having lots of appliances on the counters, but in this area, the three machines (Nespresso machine, electric teapot, and milk frother) are used multiple times every day.

I found this tiered tray at my favorite garden destination, Whitfill Nursery.  They converted a small adobe home on the property as a store and offer unique garden and home items.  Painted Fox also has a very nice selection of tiered trays online.  Initially I thought it may be too wide, but it seems to be able to handle our favorite coffee cups, flavorings, tea supplies and toppings.

I have a few favorite cups, which I refer to as my “happy” cups.  For some reason they make me smile (a great way to start the day) and all of them are from Anthropologie.

We will test drive this new coffee/tea station design and see how it works.  I am pleased I have one less cluttered counter!

I have always liked the look of a French Bistro Chair. I recently had all the staging furniture removed from my Willetta house restoration (see post here), primarily because it was an added expense every month. The house has such beautiful bones,  and it shows well whether it is furnished or not. I did keep the kitchen table in place, but I needed some chairs~~and thought it was a great idea (excuse!) to finally purchase some French bistro chairs.

I have been eyeing the ones at Serena & Lily but couldn’t justify spending the amount they wanted per chair (plus their handling fees). In addition, I was looking for ones I could use both indoors and out.

As a newbie blogger, as you can tell, I don’t have any advertisers or sponsors.  The good news is my blog posts are not cluttered with ads. If I am recommending a product or service, I am not receiving any compensation at all from the vendor/supplier.  I just believe when you find a good bargain or a great product, it’s worth sharing.

In my online search for this retro chair, I happened upon a GREAT price at Joss & Main.  I ordered 3 sets (6 chairs) in the grey/white. They are called Sawyer Patio Chairs. 

For 2 chairs (yes, 2!)  the price was $219.99 (approximately $110 each) with free shipping.  They come in Blue, Blue/White, Grey/White, Red/White and Yellow/White.  I believe they might be currently out of stock on all except the red/white ones.

The manufacturer is Safavieh and in searching them online, I discovered you can buy these chairs at several locations~~Hayneedle, Overstock, Wayfair and Target.  I also discovered that you can get them for less than $219.99, however, most at the lower prices had limited color selections or were out-of-stock and no longer available.

Here’s what I like about them:  The frames are aluminum which makes them lightweight; they are stackable; and the woven wicker is waterproof and weatherproof. Plus they are VERY comfortable and a bit playful.  Their dimensions are : 18″ wide x 21.6″ deep x 34.6″ high.  After the Willetta house sells, I am planning on using these chairs around a pine farm dining table which is outside on our deck at our cabin.

I ordered these chairs on June 21 and received them on June 28th.  The ordering process online was fast and easy and everything arrived in perfect condition. Perhaps with some more research I could have found these chairs elsewhere for less, but I am very happy with my experience with Joss & Main from start to finish. …worth spending a few extra dollars.

As I write this, we are currently up in the mountains.  The wind has shifted and we can now smell the smoke from the fires.  We pray for all the fire fighters who are spending their holiday weekend battling the numerous fires in Arizona.

Be safe and have a wonderful July 4th holiday.

 

 

 

 

Today is my birthday! My husband asked me what I’d like to do today and I said I wanted to go BACK to Blackberry Farm. A year ago was a BIG birthday for me and it’s hard not to reminisce about the fabulous surprise birthday trip to Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee.

Traveling to Blackberry Farm has been on my bucket list for years.  Situated on a pastoral 4,200-acre estate in the Great Smoky Mountains, Blackberry Farm is one of the most intimate luxury hotels and as a result, can be challenging to get reservations.

My sweet husband secretly worked behind the scenes for nearly 8 months to coordinate and organize the birthday of the century.  Initially I thought we were meeting our college son for a family weekend. I should have suspected something when my husband happily agreed to make the travel reservations (not something he has EVER done).

The biggest surprise was that my husband planned all of this.  He has never been a birthday person.  Truly, for the last 22 years we’ve been married, birthdays have sort of come and gone without a lot of fanfare.  It was a little hard for me to understand at first because I am the type of person who wants to celebrate everything, and in a big way.  But, out of respect for him, I’ve kept his birthdays low key and haven’t expected much for mine.  So I truly had no idea he was capable of or had the desire to plan something this extravagant and then to keep it a secret for so long.

We flew into Knoxville and spent the first 2 days with our son who is a student at the University of Virginia. Family and friends, who came in from all parts of the country, surprised me at dinner on our second night and then we all celebrated for two more days in this beautiful place.

Blackberry Farm has an amazing spa (best pedicure ever!), horseback riding, fly fishing, archery, hiking, wine and food tastings, classes, and entertainment. All the food grown on the farm is used by the incredible chefs and nothing is served out of season.

I can’t even begin to describe the level of service.  We’ve been to fine hotels, but our experience at Blackberry Farm was more than that.  We felt like we were in someone’s beautiful home, treated like favorite family. To share this experience with people I love was more than anyone could hope for on a special birthday.

Scott arranged for our group to meet Blackberry Farm’s master gardening legend, John Coykendall. We had a Farmstead tasting tour where we learned all about the garden and heirloom seeds while tasting delicious food and beverages made with the ingredients from the farm.

Another blessing was having my siblings and their spouses there.  The last time we been together as a family was for our parents’ funeral in 2015.  It was so nice to be in such a lovely setting  for a happy occasion.  Gathering together at the end of the day was fun and hearing about everyone’s adventures at Blackberry Farm.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, Scott presented me with 3 beautiful leather binders, filled with birthday letters and wishes from all the wonderful people I had met over the course of my life.

So even though this year will be a quieter celebration, I am deeply grateful for my wonderful family and dear friends.  I am one lucky gal!

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At the Willetta restoration, we created a large closet off of the dining room by enclosing a portion of an old adjacent storage area.  The purpose of this room is to become the silver, crystal, linen and china closet.  I’ve always wanted a separate space to store my “stuff”- large trays, candlesticks, tablecloths, dishes, silverware and entertaining items.  This 6′ x 7′ closet will be PERFECT for the new homeowners to do just that.

The challenge is that the floor in the new closet is concrete and is flush with the dining room floor which is hardwood.  Adding new flooring on top of the concrete doesn’t make much sense as it would have create an awkward transition.

What could I do to make the floor feel more formal, like the dining room, without adding tile or more wood? After pondering this for a few days, I asked myself,  “How hard could it be to stencil/paint the concrete floor?”  So I googled “how to paint a concrete floor” and watched the YouTube video by Annie Sloan, entitled How to stencil a concrete floor in 10 easy steps. 

The video is set to catchy music and yes, in 10 easy steps, Annie Sloan creates a beautiful floor.  So easy peasy, right? To make it even more convenient, you can buy the entire stenciling kit from Royal Design Studio Stencils.

The stencil that is used in the video is the Anatolia Wall Stencil.  However, the packaging below shows the stencil using 2 colors only (which in retrospect would have been MUCH easier!).  In the video, there are five different colors. The stencil dimensions are rather large at 21″ x 21″.

Within minutes, I purchase the stencil kit online and figured nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right?

The kit is complete with the stencil, the paint, the brushes and the top clear coat.

I’ve never stenciled anything elaborate before so I didn’t realize you needed special brushes, but thank goodness they came in the kit.  However, there wasn’t any information on what brush to use with what color.  I had 4 colors and 5 brushes.  No problem, as I thought I could wing it.

Starting the Stenciling Process

When the kit arrived a few days later,  I didn’t see any instructions in the box.  So I called Royal Design Studios and asked where I could get a copy of the instructions of the floor that was created in the video.  They told me that there weren’t any written instructions.  Yikes.  So, my smart painter, John, suggested I do screen shots of the video and print them out.

So armed with 20+ pages of instructions and my stencil kit, I began painting the floor over the weekend.

First, I taped off the baseboard (which hasn’t been painted) with painter’s tape and painted the floor Old Ochre Chalk Paint.  The paint is a very warm white and rolled on rather well–velvety in a way.  I used a foam roller as recommended in the video.  The paint dried very quickly, however, I waited until the next morning to do a second coat.

After finding and marking the center line of the room, I placed the first stencil at the doorway and put the right edge of the stencil on the center line.  You can see here that the concrete floor is flush with the dining room hardwood floor.  I used green Frog painter’s tape to secure the stencil and protect any paint from spilling onto the hardwood floor.

Since the paint brush sizes weren’t designated to a specific color, I would use the largest brush on the bigger parts of the stencil and then work my way down.  The first color was Olive~~I’m so glad I printed out the steps as it’s a bit confusing trying to determine what color goes where on the clean stencil.

Next came a color that required blending of a pink and yellow paint–I will refer to it as salmon. The stencil brushes have a blunt cut, so I gently dabbed paint onto the stencil.

At this point, I have completed the olive and salmon paint colors. Notice the paint and the paper towel in the photo below.  It is important to dab off any excess paint on the paper towel before applying to the stencil.

Yellow paint next, then followed by the blue.

The chalk paint dried very quickly so I didn’t need to wait to proceed with the next stencil.  It was relatively easy to line up markers on the edge, re-tape the stencil to the floor, and repeat.

The first few stencils seemed to take an eternity, because I was proceeding cautiously.  With the colors now on the stencil, I didn’t need to refer to the notes anymore so the process went a bit faster. By the end, I was able to complete a tile in 30 minutes. Mid-way through, I washed the stencil off with soap and water, as the dried paint began accumulating.

The center portions of the floor could accommodate the entire stencil, however, when I got close to the baseboards, only a partial stencil would fit.  It was a little tricky because it was hard to keep the stencil in place, even when secured with the tape. This step requires patience.

All in all, I painted this stencil 16 times to cover the 6′ x 7′ space.

With the stencils completed and the paint dry, I now paint the edges with a 2″ border of the olive paint to complete the look.

Finishing the Floor

In order to protect the floor I finished it with 2 coats of the clear floor lacquer provided in the kit.

I am so happy with the results! In retrospect, this was labor intensive and I was so sore from sitting or kneeling on the hard concrete floor for hours on end.  From start to finish, I would say I invested 10-12 hours of labor, not counting the drying time. However, this project was well worth it.

I always love to do something unique and personal to each of the homes I restore/remodel.  This historic Willetta home now has an original piece of art by me. To see more about the Willetta restoration, click here.

Here you can see the proximity of this storage area to the formal dining room. The floor is so pretty you can leave the door open!

I hope you have enjoyed watching the transformation of this special room. If you love Before and Afters or restorations of historical homes, I invite you to browse my website. If you like what you see, please sign up to get my weekly blog posts! You can also find me on Instagram @lifeatbellaterra.

It is very easy to get into the habit of doing the same thing over and over again-especially when something is tried and true.  At the holidays, I attempt to switch things up a bit and create new ideas out of common things.  As Susan and I were getting more treasures out of the barn, we came across several pieces of milk glass and decided to create a simple holiday arrangement/centerpiece.

We started with a tray.  This wooden tray was in the mud room, filled with papers that I hadn’t gone through in quite some time.  After wiping off the dust, we were had our base piece.  Any tray that you have laying around will do.

Next we chose this dish towel as it is a nice holiday red color.   I like the texture and pattern, but again, any towel, napkin or piece of fabric of your choosing will do. Placing it at an angle creates interest. Probably should have ironed it, but once it is covered, who will know?

Next we added a combination of artificial greens and some fresh clippings from the yard.  Getting different textures and shades of green was the objective.

We also added some ornaments.  We found these large glass orbs on one of our shopping trips and I love the vibrant color.  Any ornament will do. Next we took a few pieces of the milk glass and filled them with white roses and red berries.  Using different container shapes adds multiple heights.  The all-white color theme gives it consistency.  You could use coffee cups, glasses, any container ready to hold water and flowers. Also, the rule of thumb is to have an odd number of pieces-not sure who’s rule it is, but it seems to work!

Lastly, we added a taper candle in a milk glass holder for height and dimension.  This was a simple, easy and yet festive arrangement that would look great on any table.  The milk glass containers will be available soon on our online store.  Please let me know what everyday items you use for centerpieces!  Happy creating!

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