Living life one incredible day at a time...

Living life one incredible day at a time...
DECORATE * RENOVATE * CREATE * APPRECIATE

About Me

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Greetings Friends, Family, Fellow Blogging Community!! I'm a 30-something year old music teacher and enthusiastic self-taught decorator, who loves to spend time with my tremendously talented and handsome one-of-a-kind husband, Jon, our two amazing children, Clara and Carson, and my wonderful loving family and friends!! I love all things creative and artsy, including design, music, dance, art, scrapbooking, you name it!! I decided to commence this blog in order to create a fun and creative on-line journal showcasing the exciting adventurous journey of the Botbyl family, and in order to keep in touch with and hopefully inspire other individuals, like myself who love to share a wonderful life's design consisting of love of family, friends, and creative living!! Please leave me a message/comment if you decide to visit my blog, or add yourself to my list of "followers" so that I can visit your awesome blog or Facebook!! Look extremely forward to hearing from you!! Have an incredibly amazing day!!

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Doors, Floors, Chores, Galore!!

Just want to start out by wishing all those amazing Dads out there a Happy Father's Day! I know I'm a couple days late, but I hope all of you enjoyed memorable quality time well spent with your daddies!
  We are in the process of a kitchen remodel – a major kitchen renovation, including gutting, tear down, and everything brand new! Super exciting! With the busy-ness of our schedules and the end-of-the-year anxiety and craziness, every second available to us outside of work, we’ve dedicated to quick trips to Lowes and Home Depot with two super energized boisterous toddlers, occasionally carried piggy-back or upside down through the flooring isle. 
Clara, my little decorator, has recently taken interest in collecting paint samples - wonderful! Nothing like hastily digging through a shopping cart full of downright obnoxious brightly colored paint samples just to line up your purchases at the register.
And you never know - One minute your lovely child can be calmly collecting paint samples, the next minute, they randomly drop all their samples into a heap on the floor because they suddenly spot a bathtub that they wanna jump into. And there you are running after them, and the more you call their name, the quicker they run. Hysterical laughter follows, along with you promising chik fila, target, or “Ol’ McDonalds wif a pwaywand” if they can just behave while mommy narrows down flooring. My husband reminds me that this is all part of the adventure of renovating with toddlers, only to discover that Carson’s agenda includes bouncing up and down on Jon’s shoulders, whacking him on the head several times while Jon tried desperately to secure Carson’s flailing arms. Adventures indeed.
Now to the current condition of the kitchen, and our plans giving it new life. Here is the before, prior to us having cabinets and floors taken out, followed by a couple photos of the space after the cabinets have been removed, and the lenoleum covered with a sub floor.
We are going with creamy ivory cabinets with a brown glaze pictures below:
We are opting for warm rustic wood tile floors, and a granite called St. Cecelia Light, which brings in browns, creams, and a little gray. This is the 1st time we’ve put in a kitchen from scratch, and it’s difficult envisioning and designing each element at the same time, especially when you're not always seeing these finishes lined up together. Our vision is to create a warm modern rustic farmhouse kitchen. Both floors gorgeously rustic, but we decided on #1: The depth and warmth of its hues, plus the softer, less predictable wood grain movement made this one our favorite!

 
The next photo is our powder room off...actually in...the kitchen. We just purchased a vanity (below) and toilet. The vanity is a rustic gray, which is difficult to tell from the picture. We would like to add subway tile behind the vanity to give it a modern edge. As you can see, the powder room is dinky, but has a super tall ceiling. It measures 45 in. wide, which doesn't leave us much room for a vanity and toilet so we needed to be extra careful in choosing.
 There are my two cherubs, one, a surprised look on his face, the other, playing with two indecent baby dolls she just got for free at a yard sale down the street. This was taken right after Carson tried to eat part of Clara's new chandelier, and I yelled "NO" so loud that the neighbors are wondering what the heck is going on over here. That's when I quarantined everybody them to the front porch and decided that these adorable angelic faces posing on the porch swing was snapshot worthy. 

God Bless, and Happy Tuesday! Hope your day is filled with wonder, whimsy, inspiration, and happiness! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Lose ends...thoughts on change...and today!

It's 5:20 am - I can't sleep. My mind races, unsettling feelings. It's change. Change always makes me feel this way. As another school year closes, we tie up lose ends, I think about life. I reflect on where we all started, where we currently stand, all the amazing blessings God has bestowed upon us, how change has affected us...shaped us...molded and edited us...how far we've come...

I cautiously creep out of bed, ever so careful, not to wake my sleeping beauty...(her pink silky pajamas, messy bun piled on top of her head) who crawled in bed with us around 3 am, after muttering something about her covers feeling too warm, hoping to be embraced by open arms, a welcoming smile, and a "Sure, hop into bed with mommy" which was exactly my response. Although I don't want to leave her, maybe I'll have better luck downstairs on the couch, my warm taupe blanket stretched over my feet as I curl up.

I head downstairs. A subtle light peeks through the foyer window reluctantly, the cat follows me...with assertion and feline confidence. I fill a glass with cold water, and slowly crack open the sun room door. A cool charismatic breeze dances in...the aroma of cedar and morning crispness. (Pretty sure this is the 1st time I'm using the word...crisp-ness..is that a word?) The cat follows the breeze, curiously seeking adventure beyond the confines of her comfortable yet uneventful dwelling (uneventful until the children fill the space).

I suddenly feel inspired (like a child, waking up early before a vacation) yet uneasy in my skin. I feel itchy to exercise, to paint, to be super productive, creative, unconventional and sentimental at the same time...I feel excited, as if something amazing will happen today.

I want to feel whole, to be perfectly happy, to be important...to feel connected. I want to write...about life, about everything, about relationships, about love, about change. As humans, we seek change, but are afraid of it. Change is difficult, uncomfortable, makes us feel uncertain, uprooted...but with change, we are made better, wiser, more adaptable, more empowered, ever so closer to our true selves.

We must embrace change...growth...progress...embrace the unconventional and uncertain...trust in our creativity and individuality, release thoughts of fear, thoughts of losing something...trust in God...and look forward with robust confidence and optimism...and just...go for it (whatever the "it" may be) with 110% intensity and determination! With that, I wish you all the prosperity and happiness that today has to offer! Let's make today a GREAT day! God Bless!
It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_change4.html
It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_change4.html