Welcome to "Bella Rose Cucina"

Greetings Blog friends. The last several weeks have just flown by here in my cottage villa while my dear guy and I have been very busy bees with our kitchen remodel. I have shared the process in past posts, and by now, I am sure you are tired of it already. Believe me, I am tired too and so glad to be finished and enjoying the fruits of our labor.
This project has been lots of work, but so worth the extra efforts to get to the final result. Inspiration for this update came from my childhood and happy days spent in my mother and grandmother's kitchen.

My family and I have always been kitchen people. We spend many wonderful hours around the kitchen table, visiting, dining, having tea and sharing our lives. When I was growing up, my mother's kitchen was the heart of our home and the place everyone wanted to be. That same traditional gathering has stayed with me over the years and it seems everyone congregates in my kitchen too. Great memories have been made right here in my cucina!
Now, this 20 year old, 12 X 22 foot kitchen has a new face and ready to tackle many more years of happy times with family and friends.
Thank you for stopping by as I share with you Bella Rose Cucina~~~~~

The above pic is the working kitchen side. The other side of the bar is the breakfast nook.


The french doors above to the left go out to the formal living area.


Stove area surrounded by a brick hearth. Cabinet above is accented with a gorgeous rose print, grapes, and vintage wine bottles from my grandpa who was a wine maker.
The basket was my grandmothers from childhood and very old. It is filled with vintage rolling pins. To the right hangs a unique wine bottle from Spain. The rose wagon framed over the stove top was an inspiration when I started this project. It is surround by a different framed back splash tile to set it off. I may add a soft teddy bear brown to these tiles later. For now, they are a very light ivory that picks up the ivory in the granite and contrasts with the black specks and light pinky salmon in the granite. The wall inside the stove top area is textured and painted chocolate curl. I am in love with this yummy color. It really anchors the room along with the black island and hood fan cabinet above.

The following pics include the island which I painted black and added little feet at the bottom to look like a free standing furniture piece. The chandelier above fills the space with much needed light. It is on a 3-way dimmer and the light globes are soft ivory petals. The non reveal sink was a must for me with no divided sink. It is about 10 inches deep and is one of my favorites. The cutting board was a gift from my fabricator and I love it by the sink.




Looking over the bar to the breakfast nook.

This area for the table has evolved over the years, but in it's previous life, many years ago, it was a banquette window seat for the backside of the table. Not pretty in our view, so it was the first thing my guy and I removed and finished with dry wall when we moved in. Now there is plenty of room around the table and the bay window overlooks the yard and pool. The french door to the outside is around the corner in the familyroom/library.



The pedestal table is hand painted with my fruit design painted 10 years ago. I inherited this table from my mother. It dates to the late 1800's. I painted and lightly distressed the bottom of the table and chairs with pecan sandie, also used on the built in hutch.

The sheer curtains are a soft ivory with lots of ivory embroidery on the panels. The valance tops are also embroiderd and finished with light pink roses trailing across the hemline.
Same Breakfast nook, two looks!



This dutch door goes to my laundry sewing room. My talented hubby built this many years ago and it is so charming to the kitchen.


I'll end my little remodel tour with a few pics from around the room. As you will notice, I kept the blue willow cobalt blue for my accent along with chocolate curl and a touch of pinky salmon with lots of rose accents.








Thank you for sharing in my remodel project. I am so glad to be finished and now in the studio painting my heart out for Easter with lots of bunnies and pretties on the way soon. But, our redesign journey does not stop here. We are going to update a guest bathroom next and my laundry room. Then I'll be done, I think, for now, maybe, oh~~ then there is the outside, and gardening, more painting and and and~~ okay I am a hopeless decorator. But I am in love with decor and it sure keeps me busy!! LOL

Have a wonderful day and thank you so very much for taking a moment to visit my Bella Rose Cucina. Your comments always warm my heart. Thank you also for all the dear birthday greetings. Love to you all! ~~~~La Dolce Vita!! (to the sweet life)


Blessings and Blue Skies be Yours Always.
Celestina Marie

RE-VISITING A TUSCAN TEA PARTY

Greetings and welcome back today for A tuscan tea. This afternoon is a dark raining day here in the lone star state and perfect for a cozy Tuscan tea served in my Tuscany Style dining room.

The table today is set with a tea set from Italy given to me by my grandmother when I first got married. I always admired it's shining beauty displayed in her china hutch when I was a little girl. Can you imagine how thrilled I was when she presented it to me. Made with 14k gold etching, and very delicate in nature. This set has eight demi cups and saucers.

I have also included another tea set from 1945 that was also given to me by my mother and is another great treasure with it's hand painted wild roses.

Today's menu is Cream cheese and spinach finger sandwiches, mini quiche Lorraine and Florentine tarts with Raspberry lattice cookies. Our tea assortment is orange tangerine, black cherry and royal raspberry.

The plates on the table are a English rose pattern in shades of antique rusts, sage, dark pink on a antique ivory background. The napkins are held with sugared clusters of Tuscan grapes. I have added the comforts of my big cozy stuffed pillows that detailed large cabbage roses in rustic colors that tie in with the Tuscan theme of tea today.

To entertain us, I have placed two brass violinists on the table along with a sweet ceramic rooster for a bit of whimsy. I have background music filling the air of Italian classics.

Thank you for joining me for a tea party from the past. It was so special to have you and I hope wherever you are your day is perfect and includes a cup of tea.
See you soon.
Blessings,
Celestina Marie

BREAK OVER!!!!!!

Hello~~ Hello~~ I am so glad to be back and my break over. I have missed being here very much. I look forward to visiting you soon along with sharing what I have been up to this past month.

It seems I have started a pattern of redos and redesigns each year after Christmas. Once the holiday decor is put away, I get the design bug to freshen and decorate with a new look. This year is no different. I was going to rest my painting arm. Was going to catch up on all the unfinished projects waiting for completion. Was going to just be still for awhile! Not going to happen with me.

My Best Guy and I had plans to paint and redesign the master bedroom and bath. So with design board ready to go and inspiration upon us, we began.

While BG worked on the high places, I did the cut in work on the walls below. It is a large room and the ceiling took a lot of time and paint. I used a soft creme for the ceiling color but kept the sky in the center that I added a few years ago. The walls are a Tuscan Italian Sage and is the color I use for my leaves when I paint roses. It is soft, calm and goes gorgeous with what else, but PINK!
Yes I incorporated very pale pink with this redo. So much of the accents are iron in an oil rubbed bronze and the pink is very pretty with it. Vintage copper and pink is lovely together with the black furniture along with the cottage accents of linen lace for the windows.

The quilt has a square of the palest pink that is very soft, but yet there. Bringing in pink roses really works in a vintage old world way.

Here are a few more accents from around the room.

The gorgeous iron and crystal chandelier is very cozy over the sitting area, and another just like it, hangs over the jacuzzi tub. I used crystal accents throughout along with the vintage copper.
One discovery with paints I found, was to use black diamond metallic mixed on the palette with vintage bronze. The result is perfect to reflect the oil rubbed bronze. I used this technique on drawer pulls and took them from the dated brass to the new look of Tuscan style.

Now the master bath was also painted and I will share those pics along the way as the workman start to replace the shower walls and floor. All this begins next week.

Here are a few more pics from around the new room.





This embroidery rose is all along the quilt frame. I love the handmade vintage style.
On the bed is a pillow that was an inspiration from the beginning. Handmade by the talented Tammy of A Stitch in Thyme. I love it!

Now it is back to work and creating. I have lots in the studio to complete and bring to my etsy shoppe along with finishing a few customs from way before the holidays. But in the meantime, I want to add how the start of the new year has been a blessing to so many, even though, there has also been so much heartache in the world through disaster. As we keep our hands busy and our hearts full. Let's remember those that are struggling whatever it be. Our prayers, thoughts and help remain with the people of Haiti. And here at home, let's remember those that are sick, loss of jobs, and those that have passed on to a better place with our Lord. Thoughts mean a lot, but thoughts are nothing without prayers.


So happy to be back and excited to be creating full steam!! Blessings and Blue Skies to you all.
Hugs, Celestina Marie

SOMETHING BLUE ~~ SOMETHING NEW

After the holidays, along with other redos, I decided to add cobalt blue in different forms to my Tuscan style kithen. Blue willow dishes have been in my family forever and I brought them out for use and display. Opened cupboards by taking a few doors off to showcase. Taking doors away really open the space and actually make a room look larger. Here are the results of adding blue to shades of rust and sage with an anchor of black.





















WHAT'S NEW FROM THE STUDIO
Here are a few items I have been working on.
"Tusan Poppy Field Neighbors" I painted this design on the oval wall tray a few years ago and now brought it to the large canvas.


Finished Jelly Jars coming to my Etsy Shoppe along with a request for black with pink roses.


Lastly I have brought back an old favorite hand painted on "International Cafe Coffe cans. I have designed with these for years. They are so fun and can be designed in so many ways. For this one, I painted the can and embellished the snap on lid with fabric and flowers adding trim. So many uses for these little sweeties, from using for gift giving to storage of creating supplies. Perfect for tea bags or sugar packets even displayed on the dressing table or vanity

Hope you have a great week and till next time Blessings be yours!
Celestina Marie