Tag: BBQ - Life at Bella Terra

When reflecting back on 2020, is it possible that we took on TOO many projects? Perhaps for me, keeping extra busy was a way to not focus on all the world’s problems last year. I guess the good news is that several things got done, but it feels like an exhausting year on many fronts. Here is a list of completed projects of 2020 and which ones we hope to tackle in 2021.

Italian Fountain

Our outdoor Italian fountain is transformed from ugly to pretty~the rusty spouts are replaced with new ones! See post here.

Master Closet

After the embarrassing condition of our master closet, it gets good cleaning and goes from a mess to a neat and organized space. See post here.

Dining Room

With a few great yard sale purchases, I am able to upgrade the dining room with these fabulous upholstered parsons chairs. A new coat of paint helps brighten the room, too! See post here.

Windows and Screens

Being confined to home gave us the opportunity to personally wash each and every window in our home, as well as the out buildings. Not only did we clean, but repair screens, touch up paint chips and make sure our windows are in good working order.

Back Terrace

Many new upgrades are added to the back terrace. Since we entertain a lot in this space during our better weather months, it is time and money well spent. A new tile backsplash, so desperately needed, is now pretty and easy to clean. All the upholstered furniture and rugs are thoroughly cleaned; the concrete/slate floor is treated with a sealant. Broken slate is repaired at the fireplace. See post here.

Family Room

Another room benefitting from the great yard sale scores is the family room. New upholstered wing chairs and a round table is added; a gorgeous decorative chest becomes the bar storage. To see more about our family room, click here.

Potting Shed/Well Tower

In the spring, the potting shed in the well tower gets attention. Filled with dust and spider webs, it needs organizing and cleaning. See post here. Plus I finally create a storage system for most of my wreaths. See can see that story here.

Front Porch

A lot of focus is on the front porch last year. New front door color, polished hardware, updated wreath, fresh paint on the rocking chairs and a new door mat. What a welcoming difference! See post here.

Guest Cottage

While sprucing up the front of the main house, it is time to also tend to the guest cottage. Using spray paint, the light fixtures are brought back to life (see post here). With your help and suggestions, the vintage mailbox is updated too! (another post here).

Back Staircase

Yesterday’s post is a summary on the back staircase. Though this project starts in 2019 and is completed just a few days ago, much of the work is done in 2020.

Flooding and Ghosts

2020 is a year to remember, not only for the pandemic but the series of unfortunate events we had with flooding. First a broken water heater in the basement and then the dishwasher in the kitchen. No pictures of either mess, just a blog post about Old Houses and Ghost Stories here.

Pool House Bathroom

Perhaps one of the most difficult new projects is stenciling the tile bathroom floor in the pool house. But the end result is stunning. See post here.

Closet and Storage Organization

Thanks to being part of a blog hop, the front hall closet gets completely re-organized. Nearly all of my table linens reside in this odd shaped space. See more here.

Hidden storage under the front staircase

Another storage organization project includes the hidden space under the front staircase. Slipcovers and decorative pillows are organized into bins and kept here.

Painting Furniture

Transforming an old piece of furniture into a Scandinavian style dresser at our cabin is a creative leap but with good results. To see this DIY project, click here.

Building New Things

My husband’s creativity and handiness produces a chick-nic table for our sweet hens. A fun and easy DIY project here.

Property Maintenance

Redwood staining the well tower; painting the trim

With the help of our professional painter, John Cruz, the well tower, barn and hen house get some sprucing up. To see more before and after photos, click here.

New Projects for 2021

Our master bathroom is looking a bit tired. The tile floor is the same as the pool house, bland and dated. Debating whether to try and stencil it or just demolish and put in new tile. The countertops are marble squares ~again a dated look. It might be time for a complete renovation. To see more on our master bathroom, click here.

Create a Cutting Garden

I am just receiving my seeds from Floret Farm and am looking forward to making space for an actual cutting garden. Not sure how well this will do in our climate, but it will be a learning experience.

Update our Kitchen

Since I haven’t thought this through, I’m not sure how or to what I want to do with our kitchen. It will all depend on the budget, but it would be nice to fix a few things and update others. More to come on this.

Organize the Entire House

I want to start at one corner and make sure each and every room is the best it can be. Is that even possible? I dream about a place for everything and everything in its place.

Do you have any projects for 2021? I can assure you that there will be less projects for me this year. Instead, I want to fill my year with more fulfilling and meaningful experiences~like art, friends, family and travel. Let’s hope the world will begin to open up once again.

Happy Wednesday! Stay safe and healthy!

Back in March we established the quarantine Honey Do list, which included deep cleaning the outdoor barbecue area. That led to the discussion, ” let’s tile the backsplash behind the grill”, which grew legs from there. To see more projects we are tackling, click here.

Merola Tile Monteca Encaustic 9-3 / 4 in. x 9-3 / 4 in. Green Porcelain Floor and Wall Tile (11.11 sq. ft. / case) — Home Depot Monteca Encaustic tile

In search of tiles that aesthetically fit a 110 year old home, I discovered these Monteca Encaustic 9 3/4″ x 9 3/4″ tiles online at Home Depot. While waiting for the tiles to arrive and getting an appointment with my favorite tile man, we focused on the barbecue storage areas beneath the grill.

Using Rustoleum’s garage floor epoxy kit from Ace Hardware, my husband painted the floor of both storage areas. The two-part process involves spreading the epoxy on a clean, dust free surface and then sprinkling the decorative paint chips on top. This is a big improvement over the cobweb filled space and will protect the floor from any spills.

Here is the barbecue in March before we began working on it. Notice the bumpy plaster behind the grill and the plaster relief below the windows.

Rick, my tile man, determined it was best to cover the existing plaster with tile board.

We debated whether to keep the reliefs under the windows, but it would have been challenging to lay the tile in an orderly fashion over it.

Once the tiles were applied, I knew we had made the right decision.

So here is the finished product! The area looks so much bigger and will certainly be easier to clean. The Sahara beige grout was the right choice. Rick used Raggia slate for the new window sills and trim to match the existing countertop. It took 2 cases of tile to cover this area (around $214.00 in material).

Yesterday, I cleaned the slate countertop and sealed the stone. The grill is sparkling clean after degreasing all its parts. It feels good to pay attention to an area we had taken for granted and upgrade its look and use.

Are you marking things off your To Do list? There are a few more projects to tackle on the back terrace before I consider everything done, but I am so happy with the new barbecue area.

Have a happy Saturday and a wonderful weekend. Today, we are taking our son to the airport to go back to Washington, DC. His two week visit was really spectacular and of course, we are sad to see him go. My Dad used to cry every time I would visit him and leave. Now I completely understand why.