Accomplishing things is exhausting

Oy vey.

Hi internets! I'm back!

This week has been... well, just as tiring and stressful as I'd expected.

BUT!!!!!

We got so much house stuff done yesterday, and it looks like we are on track on be done and close on time! Two months and counting...

(Fingers crossed)

We did our framing walk through yesterday, and picked out where all of our electrical outlets, phone and cable jacks, light switches, light fixtures, propane hookups, etc will go. It was... productive, though slightly frustrating.

But not as frustrating as the rest of the afternoon went.

After the framing walk through, we went with the builders to the cabinet place to pick out our cabinets and counter tops, and that's when things went a bit pear shaped.

As with every home builder, ours obviously have a profit margin built into the cost of everything, and they therefore want you to stick within a certain budget so as to not compromise that profit. However, our builders' budget for certain things is incredibly unrealistic (we're pretty sure they just pulled numbers out of their butts without basing them on realistic, current prices).

On top of that, they are really pushy about their tastes (and it just so happens that their preferences in cabinets, carpet, flooring, and so forth, are also what they get the best deals on, and therefore make the most money on).

However, their tastes are so not my tastes, and we've gone a few rounds in the process of making that clear. The cabinets and flooring they kept pushing on me are blonde oak. As in, totally 1994.

She was pushing for something like these...

Ick.

I prefer darker, more updated wood, thank you very much.

We also preferred the shaker style cabinet doors over their preference for the arched, raised panel doors. It's a far more modern, updated look, and will make our kitchen up-to-date for much longer.

We chose these, only a bit darker...

So after going around and around on that, they finally backed off, and we ordered the doors we wanted, which made me happy. However, they won't include the hardware- the drawer pulls and door handles.

Really?!?

So we will have to do that on our own later on. Which is dumb. But whatevs.

The irony of the cabinet door kerfuffle?

The cabinet guy came in when we were just finishing up discussing it all, and the builders mentioned to him they need to order some cabinets for another house they're building, and he recommended the doors we had just ordered!

And his reasoning?

Because they're a more updated, modern look and more desirable to buyers!

So that little piece of vindication was nice.

After that I had to pick up the kids from school, so The Husband went with one of the builders to Lowe's to start picking out tile and fixtures and whatnot, and after collecting the younglings I met up with them.

After much debate (and more forcing of opinions), we finally chose tile for the laundry room, both bathroom floors, and our shower. We also gave her our choices for the wood flooring and countertops, and then had to go through the process of picking out a new carpet choice because apparently the cost of the padding was supposed to also be included in the carpet allowance (despite me having asked and her reassuring me that they do the padding separately and the whole allowance just goes to carpet)(grumblegrumble).

This was the point where the builder had to go, and I was perfectly okay with that because I was feeling quite frazzled by the carpet snafu. If I'm paying this much for a house, I'm sure as hell not going to settle for cheap ass carpet that's all thin and scraggly and will wear out within a month.

And that was looking like what was going to happen, until the most lovely Lowe's employee ever came to our rescue.

She took into account our builder's contractor discount, she found a carpet that is nice and thick and was on sale at the moment and that had the color we wanted, and she finagled the numbers around until both the squishy carpet and the pad were exactly within budget.

Suffice it to say, she saved me from a mental breakdown!

Thank you Bridgette at the Cheyenne Lowe's. You're my hero!

After that whole saga was dealt with, it was then off to pick out our lighting and fixtures package. The fixtures were easy peasy. Oil rubbed bronze, slightly victorian look. Donesies!

Bathroom fixtures

Bathroom faucets

Kitchen faucet

Sensing a theme yet?

And it only continued once we moved onto the lighting fixtures. Two 60" ceiling fans, five dome lights, two bathroom light bars, two sconces, two hanging light fixtures, two hanging bar lights, and five exterior lights later, we had a definite (though originally unintended) theme. 

Modern, clean, updated, though also classic. Oil rubbed bronze with warm glass. And the sconces have the leaded glass with the pop of color, that will compliment our front door, as well as the lamp I keep in the entry way.

I only hope that when all is said and done, it actually looks good. Because your brain can only handle so many decisions in a four hour period. After that it turns into spaghetti.

And I don't know if spaghetti has been known for it's design choices...