Abundance Craziness (aka Construction Update)

I know, weird title, eh? But that's how my thoughts went yesterday after spending just ONE hour at a local (national chain) appliance store (Pacific Sales). The abundance of choices just for style of faucets and such is astounding. Add the finish selection, wondering which brand is best, or at least acceptable based on a budget that is only governed by "reasonable cost", wondering if we buy such and such faucet today, what sink will look best and/or fit, and then that has to tie into the counter material, backsplash, flooring, wall color. You know what? I am OVERWHELMED. I don't handle too many choices very well. Give me option A, option B and maybe option C and I can handle it much better than having all these other options. Add to that the over-eager salesperson hovering over my shoulder and yakking, and yep, I was feeling a little 'crazy' last night. I was ready to say cancel all contracts, and we'll live with these torn up walls and a porta potty and haul hot water from the stove to a plastic tub for bathing. OK, deep breath, breathe! Actually, I did do the hot water from the stove thing once for about a month when I lived in a mobile home and the hot water tank went out! And my grandmother always did that in the one house before she remarried and moved.

Marty did sit down with me after he went to the gym, and we looked through the catalogs and the photos I'd take while at the store, and narrowed it down to one that we both liked. I don't think with that many choices, there's any more of a 'perfect' one than if there were only three, it just made it harder. A part of one choice may be preferred but it would have a part we didn't like. So it'll be what it is, and we will be happy with it.

I have today, and tomorrow in which to purchase the shower valves (and faucets) and same for the sink. Those components come first before other work can progress. Mr. Contractor would like them available should he be ready (as planning to be) on Monday to install them.

While at that store, I also took the opportunity to quickly browse through the kitchen appliances, the toilets, the sinks (bath & kitchen). I was blown away at costs. It was a rude awakening to say the least! I don't care for stainless steel, too institutional for my personal taste. SS was the first kitchen sinks we saw as we rounded the corner and I glanced at the cost: $1703.00 WHAT!?! Seriously??? Oh my, maybe I should start looking for a JOB outside the home!

This sink is a possibility.

But I like this one better, and this one is shown with the faucets we like, only we would get brushed nickel instead of the oiled bronze look. Brushed nickel supposedly 'hides' water spotting better, and we have very hard water here with lots of spotting factor! We're buying for two bathrooms, so maybe we'll get both sinks.



And as of about an hour ago this is how the two bathrooms looked
Downstairs: the bright area is where the newly framed in window will go, and the left side of that black-lined area is where there was formerly a narrow exterior door (prior owners had an above-ground pool so we suspect they had installed the door). And you can see the initial framing for where the all-new-to-this-bathroom shower will go :)



and, upstairs - this shows where the tub was, attempting to show where the water traveled underneath. It seems pretty spread out and Mr. Contractor 100% believes it was all due to the breakdown of the grout between the tiles allowing water to go through (even though there didn't appear to be gaps or holes, it was loose) and saturating the WRONG TYPE of wallboard that had been used behind the tiles to the point of being like a sponge. I was also going through a case of "buyer's remorse" last night as to the whole project. We're spending thousands of dollars (more like 10s of) all because of a 'leak' issue, setting aside the fact that the house needed to be upgraded from it's primarily 1966 workmanship (tract home, slapped up quickly from my understanding). Had we been able to figure out that the leak was simply from tile/grout issues and opted just for repair, it would have been a whole lot less expensive!

On the bright side of all this, and helping to ease my concerns of cost over runs, NO MOLD was found, and even the plywood beneath the tub was still intact and not showing signs of rot so will not have to be removed or cut and no other structural damage (not included in contract) was needed to be remedied. Praise the Lord for that huge favor!



Off to other things...