DIY: The “What the Hell Were We Thinking?” Moment

In case you haven’t heard, the husband and I are now on Day 15 of #OperationTearOutOurWholeHouse. What started out as “free” kitchen cabinets, has now turned into new floors, new granite counters, new paint, new sink, and a new half bathroom (with more to come, I’m sure).

Oh. And mulch was delivered today. Like that’s even on my radar right now.

Over the weekend, we reached what I like to call the, “What the hell were we thinking?” point. I mean, seriously. What the hell were we thinking?

Lesson. Learned.

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Minty Awfulness

When I posted this photo last week, I called the color of my kitchen “minty goodness.”

I’m going to be honest. I was really trying to convince myself that I loved the color, and was hoping for validation from the interwebs. To everyone who said you loved the mint – thank you. At one point I loved it too (like, when it was on the paint chip).

Too bad at night, what was a tolerable mint turned to a dreadful lime green.

The longer I looked at it, the less I could stand it.

Ok, I hated it.

My kitchen is now a lovely shade of Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter…just like the rest of my house. I’m boring.

Lesson #1: Stick to what you know. Non-trendy people shouldn’t pick trendy paint colors.

 

Granite Disappointment

Since we were informed that it takes 3-4 weeks for granite counters to be installed, we needed to get an order placed like, yesterday. If you’re planning on ripping out your entire kitchen with a 6 month old, and think you won’t miss your countertops, you would be sadly mistaken.

So, we went to the granite store (?) and picked out a slab. Took home a sample, loved it, placed our order. All was well.

Then said “store” calls to say the only have one slab of that particular granite, and we need just slightly more than that for our tiny kitchen. You know, since the measurement of our kitchen changed over the last 12 hours or something.

I hauled my 20 lb. baby PLUS a huge hunk of granite to another warehouse to find a similar slab. And guess what I found after an hour?

It doesn’t exist. And I need to lift weights.

Lesson #2: Always make sure there is more than one slab, and always use the stroller.

 

Add One

I thought putting in our floors would take one day. It took two.

I thought we would need one Bagster. Maaaaybe, two. Three Bagsters later, we probably could have used another one.

I planned to pay one time to have my Bagsters collected. Then the website charged me twice.

When the customer service lady informed me that I wouldn’t get my $254 back for 3-5 days, I might have used some choice words.

Lesson #3: Make a plan and just triple it. Budget, smudget.

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Are we insane? Don’t answer that. But seriously, what DIY stories do you have? Please tell me repainting your kitchen for the second time in a week is normal. If you have survived something like this before, please also tell me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

There is, isn’t there?