Painting on Vacation

Each year we visit the Pacific Ocean for our family vacation. This trip is especially exciting for me as I love being by the water.

Marriott’s Newport Coast Villas offers a Canvas Art Event, a class where you paint step-by-step with an artist. Since we live in the desert, I enjoy this event because we get the opportunity to paint a local seascape. Last year I attend this class by myself with a certain amount of trepidation. There is no experience necessary and all ages are welcomed. After the 2 hour class, I so enjoyed taking home a keepsake from our vacation. Here’s is what I painted last summer, called Heisler Park, a setting in Laguna Beach, CA.

This year, I convinced my 2 daughters and their friends to take the class with me. There was a bit of hemming and hawing, but you can’t learn to paint if you don’t try, right? The class was held in a light-filled room overlooking the Pacific Ocean, which, in and of itself, was inspirational.

The painting, entitled “Sailing to Catalina” was our topic. Here is the teacher’s version for us to emulate.

The class was $35.00 per person and included a prepared 11″x14″ canvas, the brushes, acrylic paints, supplies and instruction. The largest brush has inch markers on the handle which we used to determine our horizon line.

The instructor told us which paints and quantities to use. The sky, for example, was 2 parts white to one part blue.

We then used the white paint to create the clouds.

Next we added Catalina Island in the distance and added various quantities of white paint to the darker purple to add dimension to the rock.

The painting of the beach came next.

We used different shades of blue and green for the ocean.

Added waves, and then the greenery in the foreground, as well as the sailboat.

Added the finishing touches of the flowers in the foreground~~ a quick 2 hours! Our instructor, Jessica Byrne, traveled the room, lending her artistic feedback and helping each of us with our paintings.

My daughter, Julianna, decided to add a character (Patrick Star) to her painting!

Everyone was happy they attended and we each had our own artistic style!

This was a fun family experience! If you haven’t painted before, taking a group class and doing it alongside an artist is a great place to start. This particular company, Painterly Events, also provides private, corporate events and plein air (outdoors on location) classes. What a fun way to gather a group of friends/family and share in an artistic experience.

Now I am off to enjoy the ocean! Happy Saturday!

Painting/Stenciling a Concrete Floor

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.

The pattern is beautiful with all the colors

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

Stencil is complete. Tape needs removing.

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!

View to the linen, crystal and china closet

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.

All Things Valentine

February is the month of romance. I do some limited decorating for this fun holiday-who doesn’t love the colors of red or pink! As with most holidays, I am interested in its origins, its traditions and why we celebrate. Here are a few fun facts about Valentine’s Day.

1. The most popular theory about the Valentine’s Day origin is that Emperor Claudius II didn’t want Roman men to marry during wartime. Bishop Valentine went against his wishes and performed secret weddings. For this, Valentine was jailed and executed. While in prison, he wrote a note to the jailor’s daughter signing it “from your Valentine.”

2. The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.

3. In 1537, England’s King Henry VII officially declared February 14th the holiday of St. Valentine.

4. In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear this name pinned onto their sleeves for one week for everyone to see. This was the origin of the expression “to wear your heart on your sleeve.”

5. Every Valentine’s Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.

6.Based on retail statistics, about 3 per cent of pet owners will give Valentine’s Day gifts to their pets.

7. Arizona became the 48th State on February 14, 1912.

8. In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Denmark, Italy and Japan.

9. 141 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine’s Day the second most-popular greeting card-giving occasion.

10. Physicians of the 1800s commonly advised their patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining for lost love. (Now that’s a good excuse!)

For your information:

The colorful painting was done by me last year in my attempt to do a new one for each holiday.

The pets featured above are: Cooper, an Akbash (from the Anatolian Shepherd family); Sox, our pocket Beagle; Tippy and Donovan- stray cats our girls found/rescued/captured in the yard.

The heart-shaped ravioli was made last Valentine’s Day from a recipe I found online. If you have a heart- shaped cookie cutter, it was a relatively easy recipe to follow.

And if you love the wheat-etched spooner holding the tulips, you can purchase it through my online store!

Wishing you a happy and loving Valentine’s Day!

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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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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