Another Unreachable Wall

Construction on the Villa del Vigneto is moving along, but it's moving along slowly - thus another short post. But I did accomplish a few things. I've moved from the kitchen into the dining room, where the "unreachable" back wall presents the same problem that I had in the kitchen. Furnishing that back wall before the ceiling goes on has been my focus. 

These glass-fronted cabinets have been packed away for a long time, but they still look very new.  Too new. They need to grow much older in a short time.

I aged the cabinets with fine sandpaper and dark stain in select spots. I didn't want them to look shabby - just well used. Then I had fun filling the shelves with an assorted collection of objects. 

These ornate pedestals were in a box of things that I found at an estate sale; I'm not sure of their original purpose. They may have been intended for use as plant stands.

However, I had a different purpose in mind, but I needed to shorten them and cut out the center dowels. The pedestals will show up a little later in their repurposed form.

This is a 6" square of loosely-pressed cork. I was searching for something that I could use to contrive a marble tabletop; this seemed to have potential.

I cut the cork into a rectangular shape, then rounded off the corners.

I painted on an overall base coat of Antique White and pounced on Frosted Cranapple and Light Cinnamon. (That sounds very autumny and good to eat!)

I used plain white paint for the veining, following some of the natural lines in the cork.

The top seemed a bit plain, so I found a beaded chain and painted on a thick coat of bronze.

After I glued the beading around the edges of the tabletop, I sprayed the whole thing with several coats of polyurethane. 

The final step was to glue the tabletop to the pedestals, which have become (voila!) the new table base. I did, of course, forget to take a picture of the right-side-up version.

For a long time, I had been looking for two urns to place on the tops of the two dining room cabinets. I hadn't come across just the right thing, but I wasn't concerned; after all, there was lots of time before I would be ready to furnish the dining room. Then suddenly, there wasn't any time left - I needed those urns now! That unreachable back wall had to be finished. So off I went to Hobby Lobby, where I found two drawer pulls that might possibly resemble pottery or porcelain and were the right size and shape. I bought them and came home to look around for something that would serve as the lids, since I had my heart set on lidded urns. And amazingly, I remembered that I had seen two things a week or so before that I couldn't identify, and when I asked Robert what they were, he said they had been left behind by one of the men working on our new kitchen. He didn't know what they were for. I saved them in a plastic bag. 

So the two mystery things have become (voila!) the lids for the urns.

I painted the urns and lids a deep green and added gold and white to highlight the pattern...

...and the lidded urns are ready for the dining room cabinets.

After I added a lamp to the table, the back wall was finished! (Except for One Other Thing that I need for the table, but I have a little more time to find that Thing.)

Another view of the dining room back wall.

I did find some time to continue cutting the walls (and doors, windows, and arched openings) for the villa's upper level. I feel as though I'm in a race against the onset of cold weather. I do NOT want to work in the garage in the cold! But I still have all the stuccoing to do, which requires much drying time. And of course MUCH SANDING! Will the mild weather hold? Will I be out there turning blue and numb with cold? Will I shelve the whole villa project until next spring? Stay tuned.

One of the things that delayed progress on the villa this month was a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Robert was enrolled in a three-day cooking class. He is now well versed in the art of cooking red chiles, green chiles, corn tortillas, and chile rellenos. YUM!

Our visit happened to coincide with Albuquerque's annual Hot Air Balloon Festival, so we enjoyed the sight of hundreds of balloons floating high over the Rio Grande Valley, watched over by the Sandia Mountains to the east of Albuquerque. 

The blue, blue sky made a perfect backdrop for the colorful balloons

We brought back a souvenir - also colorful. We found this windmill at an Albuquerque antique shop. It's now anchored firmly in Robert's small garden at our Sandhills home.  We're hopeful that the rapid whirling motion of the blades will help deter all the critters who want first dibs on our garden vegetables. (I know, I know; wishful thinking!) But it's a fun thing to have, anyway.


I hope you all have a Happy November.

A Tale of Two Kitchens

Just when I was almost ready to install the villa's lower-level ceilings, I made a disturbing discovery. I realized that when the ceilings were in, blocking much of the access to the back walls, I would be unable to reach in far enough to arrange all the tiny accessories that I needed on shelves, cupboards, and on the walls. My two previous styrofoam houses measure several inches less in depth than the Villa del Vigneto, so furnishing and accessorizing those rooms after completing construction hadn't been an issue. This was a new problem, and the only solution was to delay the ceiling installation and move on with accessorizing and partially furnishing the rooms. 

I decided to begin with the kitchen, since there were all those shelves waiting to be filled. Fortunately, I've been collecting kitchen things since before I began construction on the villa, so at least I was prepared for the premature "moving in." 

I had forgotten that I had SO MUCH STUFF packed away - all of it tiny, most of it slippery - and each piece required being secured in place with a dollop of sticky wax. That took much time and patience, and of course I loved every minute of it!

Well, I wasn't completely prepared to move in! I had all the pieces of kitchen furniture that I needed; but the hutch was unfinished, the table needed a different finish, and the icebox was damaged and needed new handles. I mended, refurbished, and refinished the pieces as necessary.

Here are the same furniture pieces after their make-over.

I found these very shiny chairs (the shine doesn't show so much in the photo) at an estate sale, but I can't remember where I bought the chopping block.

I aged the chairs and the chopping block along with an unmatched chair, a pie board, and a cutting board, but I forgot to take "before" photos of the last three items.

I first intended to only partially furnish the kitchen, but so many of the things would have been harder to secure (all the wall-hung pots, for instance) once the ceiling was in place. I finally decided just to do the whole thing and hope I don't make a mess of it when I install the ceiling. So I spent more time sticking down many more tiny things. (And I was still having a good time!)

A view of the hutch wall. I found the green platters in September during the annual Nebraska "Junk Jaunt" - 300 miles and 3 days of garage sales, including vintage, primitive, and antique items. The platters are slightly larger than scale, but I couldn't resist them. 

The sink wall and shelves from above.

A top shot of the hutch and the icebox...

...and of the range wall.

As you can see, the villa kitchen is very rustic and has not been modernized in keeping with the rest of the villa. Rudimentary plumbing has been installed, and electricity was recently added, but the old wood-burning stove and the outdated icebox have remained, at the insistence of Magda, the old cook who has been with the family for many years. Magda is an excellent cook, and if she chooses to nurse along the temperamental stove and deal with the regular deliveries of heavy blocks of ice, then so be it. Magda is a highly appreciated and valuable asset to the family; no one is willing to thwart her culinary preferences!

And so we will leave Magda to perform her wonders in the villa kitchen, while we move on to another time, another place, and another kitchen. 

Some of you may recall that I spent some blogpost time bemoaning the inconvenience of our real-life kitchen renovation. It wasn't even much of a renovation; the original kitchen is only eleven years old, so it wasn't necessary to change any of the appliances or cupboards. But my husband, like Magda, is the family cook, and an excellent one. Like Magda, he is the ruler of the kitchen; and I am not willing to thwart his culinary preferences! 

Robert's main preference was to have more preparation space. Our original countertops, shown above, consisted of a standard height counter abutted by a raised bar-height counter. Robert found that the raised portion prevented his "spreading out" as he worked. He also preferred to have more seating around the counter, since that's a gathering spot for friends and family while he cooks.

After the renovation, the new quartz countertop is not only flattened out but is slightly curved on the seating side, and is also 18" wider at the widest point. The end of the counter was also extended to allow room for two additional seats. Robert likes the backless stools as well; the space appears less busy. 

Another view of the four "old" bar stools. Our grandchildren (and sometimes adults, too!) were constantly banging the backs of the stools together as they swiveled. For my part, I was just thankful and relieved that there was still space to retain the loveseat in front of the window; that's my favorite corner to sit and sip wine when Robert is cooking. The space was intended for a "breakfast nook," but I prefer the loveseat to a table and chairs.

The six new stools swivel to adjustable heights, but they swivel so quietly! The color scheme for our very open floor plan in the kitchen, living room, and dining room is sage green (as you see on the walls,) deep red, and eggplant. We used an eggplant color to paint the new cabinet base. 

This is my "other" corner. Since I'm the clean-up lady, I admit that I spend as much time here as on my comfy loveseat. Robert is usually, but not always, a tidy cook. Sometimes it's a challenge to keep up with him. The above photo shows the old countertop.

This new view hasn't changed much; the sink is now under the countertop, which does make clean-up easier. The new faucet is taller than the old one, and the counter is now less cluttered and provides more working space. We moved all the coffee apparatus into the adjoining pantry, which now holds our coffee bar. 

Here is the old pantry - actually a mud-room sort of coat closet that I could sometimes keep organized. I sometimes lost control.

The folding doors on the closet were always at loggerheads with the door into the kitchen. 

The entire closet was torn out and the kitchen door removed. The above photo shows the new plumbing for the bar sink. Electrical outlets have been installed for the coffee makers.

All the old wire shelving was removed from the upper portion of the closet as well.

And at last we have a new coffee bar, which saves much space on the kitchen counters. There is also ample space to store many of our large pieces within easy reach and in plain view. No more searching, rummaging, and shifting objects around to reach what we need! The tile backsplash was made from tiles that were left over from the original construction in 2005. We knew the number of tiles required would be very close to the number available - but when the backsplash was completed, there were TWO tiles left over! Too close for comfort!

Whew! What a lot of work to create/renew two kitchens at the same time! There's a surprising amount of effort involved in planning, organizing, watching, and waiting for first one thing and then another, whether the kitchen is life-size or miniscule. But the important thing is that all the effort was definitely worthwhile: both Magda and Robert are happy in their respective kitchens, and their culinary creativity is unthwarted. So I'm issuing a standing invitation for you to come visit either kitchen, whatever its size, and whatever its place in time or space. I promise you a memorable meal!

The Entrance Courtyard of Villa del Vigneto

At last! I have found a name for my Tuscan villa-fattoria. I was reviewing some photographs of a table setting that I assembled for a dinner party last spring, and suddenly all those grapes and vines made a clamorous bid for attention. I realized that I had overlooked the obvious; the villa has a grape motif on the living room fireplace, and there's a grapevine fresco on the dining room wall. A grape arbor shades the loggia, although at present the arbor is invisible except in my mind's eye. In the natural order of things, it seemed only fitting that the Villa del Vigneto, the villa of the vineyard, should be the official name of this farmhouse-turned-country retreat. So thus it is. 

During all the days of August, I've accomplished only two things on the villa: I did some simulated "repair" work on the exterior stucco walls, and I made a stone path from the front entrance gate to the front door. This is, as a result, my briefest blogpost ever. Possibly in September, our kitchen remodeling will be Finally Finished, I'll reclaim my garage work space, and I can begin work on the second level of the villa. (If I can remember what I'm supposed to be doing!)

In one of my storage bins, I found these rectangles made from Sculpey for some abandoned project and decided that I could use them for the border stones in the courtyard pathway. I cut the rectangles into individual stones.

I experimented with several stone patterns for the pathway. You can see some of the repair work that I made on the stucco walls. The pedestals and the birdbath shown here will probably not be used in the finished courtyard.

When I knew that the border stones would work to outline the courtyard path, I applied some joint compound to make the pieces look more stone-like.

The white border stones are ready to paint with a darker finish. The cork coasters, prepared with joint compound and various paint colors, will be cut into rough squares and rectangles and used for the flat stones on the courtyard path.

The white Sculpey border stones have been painted to resemble real stones.

I practiced laying the square and rectangular flat stones so that I could get a sense of how they would fit together. It was necessary to cut some of them to fit in awkward spaces.

The border stones have been laid and glued down in my chosen pattern. I started laying the flat stones from the entrance gate forward to the front door, using Elmer's glue lavishly.

Laying and glueing more flat stones, working around the circle.

The stone path is in place.

I used a sponge brush and eye shadow to darken and age the stones.

Using a toothpick, I applied glue in some of the cracks between stones, then spread model railroad landscaping material, "coarse turf," liberally over the glue. After patting the turf down firmly, I waited for the glue to dry.

When the glue had dried, I used a soft brush to sweep up the excess "moss" from the cracks and continued sweeping carefully until just the right amount of moss remained between the stones.

Finally, I aged the stones a bit more, using different paint colors.

More model railroad landscaping material, "fine gravel," was used for the courtyard. I spread a generous layer of glue onto the courtyard, then spread the gravel evenly and pressed it down firmly.

The courtyard is finished, and I have repainted the stucco "repairs" with the same color of paint that I originally used for the exterior walls. I have a vague plan to use other paint colors on the walls and simulate more repair work until I achieve the look of aged and layered stucco. (More experimentation!) 

I placed the remaining border stones along the right edge of the loggia to outline the trunks of the grape vines that will grow there, up and over the arbor, providing a pleasant, cool shade for dining al fresco.(You can see the vines if you close your eyes tightly and VISUALIZE, VISUALIZE, VISUALIZE.)

During a long lull in Project Kitchen, and to avoid the necessity of washing EVEN ONE MORE dish in the bathroom sink or making EVEN ONE MORE micro-wave meal, we escaped for ten days to Bison Hill, our Nebraska Sandhills home, which comes with a FULLY FUNCTIONAL kitchen!

From the east deck of Bison Hill, we watched the moon rise over the Calamus Reservoir.

And the moon was just setting in the west the next morning, almost in time for sunrise.

The cattle on the ranch to the west of Bison Hill show no interest in either the moon or the sun. Their 

only interest is the green, green grass of their Sandhills home.

May all your September days be good ones - from sunrise to sunset; from moonrise to moonset.