I'm Floored

I mentioned last week that things are heating up at the house. It would be exciting, if I'd been better prepared for how things progress in a renovation but there doesn't seem to be much logic in it- just a lot of hurry up and then wait. Nothing happened for almost a month so it would have been nice if our contractor had let me know what lay ahead but it didn't happen. I'm very much a to-do list person and would have reveled in getting things checked off but I'm not so good at last minute change. It doesn't help that It's not as easy as going to one store and picking out what you want, as seen by my previous posts. Either what you want doesn't exist or it is out of your price range. Add to that the fact that our lease ends in less than two months and I'm waking up at 5am every morning with a choking feeling of panic and a racing mind.

On that note, the item we were just informed needed to be chosen this week is the flooring for the kitchen and the bathrooms. There are many options in flooring: wood, stone, and tile. Within each of those are many options, almost too many to count. Thankfully, we eliminated wood because while it is easy to clean it can be easily damaged in a kitchen. That leave stone and tile. Plenty of people love marble and travertine--shiny stone floors but it's too fancy for my taste so porcelain tile is the way we're going to go. 


Last weekend we found these options:

 These are two options with some vertical patterning. Looking at them against the wood we're using we decided it looks too busy.

Three more options from a different store. All of these places are happy to give you samples which is great. I know, you're saying, "What's the difference here?" Photography can only handle so much but the one on the left is a lightish green, the one in the middle is a bluish grey and the top right is grey.

This was a very good price but ultimately we decided it was too busy because we're likely to go with a granite countertop and too much patterning can conflict.

On Sunday we found a store with a great deal of selection and even something in our price range. The only problem? Warehouses are not open on weekends so despite choosing Manhattan Mist as the perfect shade of greenish grey neutral to go with our cabinets and potential countertop we could not find out if it was even in-stock.

Yesterday I found out that it is not in stock and would take a week to arrive. So, what I hoped was finished had to start all over- more driving and more stores.

Here is where I was at 11am. This was my third store of the morning and this is just one wall. Choices are not the problem but finding the RIGHT choice is. You think choices are a great thing but at some point, they are not.

And here you have it: Green Mist. The perfect depth and tone while remaining neutral. More importantly, it is in our price range and in-stock. Even this was a close call- they only had 200sf left and we need 192. Less than 3 hours ago we bought it.

Great news, right?! Yes, for this one thing but now it is on to soap dishes- build a tiled niche in the shower or use one that juts out? And the infernal fireplace which has become such a nightmare I wish we had never even touched it. Sorry, but I am now past the point at which remodeling is enjoyable or fun. Hopefully, my sense of humor will be back soon...