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

Kickin Up Dust! Progress Report!

Never let anyone tell you that remodeling does not make the dust fly. It is so my friends. As many times as I have done these projects, it never ceases to amaze me how the dust settles everywhere. I covered everything so well, and still, my house looks like someone emptied a flour sack here. Of course I am cleaning up as we go, but the real cleaning will come shortly when we are finished and the rest of the fun decorating begins.

As the redo continues, yesterday was the granite day, and after 9 hours of the best fabricators in the world doing an incredible job, the granite is in and I love it. What a difference it makes in my kitchen. Today is tile on the back splash and grouting tomorrow. Still more dust, but the look makes it all worth it for sure.

Here are a few more pics of the progress so far.

Removing old counter tops.

Leveling the island, sink, bar, and stove top areas.



How a granite seam is joined and made to look seamless! And, we only have one seam in the whole kitchen.


This is an interesting process using weights, on each side of the seam line, filled with a special glue and tightened with an air compressor for nearly 30 minutes.
The results are amazing.

Our tile selection is a light creamy ivory with light shades of taupe. The grout will be light too. Very neutral to coordinate with the Giallo Venenziano. They look great together. I choose this lighter tile because I like to change my mind with color now and then. Tuscan Kitchens generally are known for amazing and colorful tiled back splashes, but I thought for us I would bring in that touch of color with my accessories instead. The tile will be applied on the angle diamond shape. This gives a sense of space and interest.

I nearly created a tiled mural for the stove top area, but in the end, I went with a wagon full of pots of roses surrounded by a Tuscan style frame. Here again, when I want to change the look, we are not stuck with a tiled mural that is permanent. Framed artwork can easily be changed.

Here is a little peek of the tile(no grout yet) with the granite and those gorgeous old pots filled with water color roses in shades of reds, pinks and greens. I had this print professional framed under non glare (highly recommend) glass for over the stove.



Well that's all for today's progress report. We reached 78 degrees today. Sure is a welcome change since the bitter cold temps a week ago. Look where my Miss B enjoyed the day. Laying in the sun by the pool. What a life! She looks like a lion.

See you again soon. Have a wonderful day.
Celestina Marie

HERE WE GO AGAIN!~~MORE ICE~and GRANITE?

Yes, you guessed it~ more sleeting ice and bitter cold temps with a wind chill of -5 below. Way too cold for me. Texas is not supposed to have weather like this right? Well, we do at least once a year. However this is an unusual season with 2 weeks in a row posting school closings and dangerous travel due to ice and freezing temps.
I could not resist this pic of Miss B's footprints in the sleet. She walked like she was on tip toe to potty. It was so cute and you can see from her print, not your usual dogie paw print. It looks like a little flower in the snow.



Yesterday was a beautiful day with a bright blue sky and somewhat warmer temps. Perfect weather for us to finally get out to the granite slab yard to review our kitchen counter top selection. If you've been following my remodel this season, you know we are updating our kitchen.



So off we went on the hour long trip to view natures natural material from Brazil delivered to the east side of Dallas. Our selection is Gagallo Venenziano. An Italian style look composed of natural stone materials of quartz, feldspar, mica and other colored materials found in nature and mined with this material called granite. The color is lighter in style which will serve our somewhat dark kitchen well. I just love this process and the look and feel of natural stone. Since I studied geology in college, I have always loved these natural beauties and the gorgeous colors found in the earth.

Due to the imperfections of mother nature, it must be viewed for variations in color and pattern. Any areas with flaws can be cut around when planning the counter templates. We were able to work with a wonderful fabricator who shared with us the layout and how he would work with any flawed areas to get the best fit using our chosen slabs.
We had to pick 2 slabs to cut from since we have a bit of counters to replace. So with much patients and time, we finally were able to match two nice slabs perfect for our needs. And the weather cooperated with blue skies and lots of sun.

To begin the process, templates are made ahead of time using thin wood planks, cut to model the counters. Here is a pic of the layouts and pile of patterns all ready for the fabricator.



When arriving to the granite yard, you see rows and rows of beautiful slabs of granite. These slabs range in size from 6' to 10' wide by 10' long.

Fabricators driving slab lifts, pull out the selections for viewing. Many customers were here this day to view their selections because of last weeks bad weather keeping the yard closed for viewing.

Our selection of Venenziano in 2 slabs. Love it!


The install will happen the 15th and I am now in the process of clearing the rest of the room to prepare.
While waiting, my best guy and I have used the time to do our part of the remodel. Here is a little peek of the hood fan over the cook top.

In case you are wondering,?? No, all the cabinets are not black. This is just an accent touch along with the island which I made to look like a furniture piece. Those pics will be ready later as the granite is finished and the back splash is also installed. For that I have chosen a light creamy ivory tile to pick up a bit of the color in the granite and furniture pieces.
So you can see, we are still having some fun and little by little everything is coming along as planned.


Thank you for stopping by to share in my kitchen update. Time to go back to the studio where I have lots of new treasures waiting to be completed and sent to my etsy shoppe. My studio girlyfriend, Miss B, would rather watch TV and the Animal Planet with daddy.


Don't forget to enter my Valentine Giveaway HERE! Drawing on the 14th! Good Luck!


Also, if you feel like shopping, I have a SALE going on HERE till the 14th too using coupon code HEARTS15 at checkout with paypal.



Have a wonderful day and enjoy your winter day wherever you are.
Blue Skies and Smiles!
Celestina Marie