Outdoor Lighting

Hopper Sconce from Restoration Hardware.

This is what I've picked out but I'm waiting for a sale.

If I were a builder...

I would give my clients a calendar or list of when certain decisions have to be made. It doesn't have to be accurate, just projected. I know why they don't they don't want to be held to anything and I love our contractor but it would save him some exasperation when he calls for info at 7:30 in the morning and I have NO CLUE.



For instance. Last week the electricians needed the schematic for our oven so they could see where to place the plugs and such. Luckily we have chosen our oven. But we don't have possession of it and I certainly don't have any installation documentation for it. I had to scramble and search online to find a installation PDF matching the model number we purchased. Had I known ahead of time I would have called the appliance store and hadthem fax it to us. Crisis averted. Also in that phone call I was asked about our range hood and the size of it's pipe. Well, guess what, we've looked at some but haven't picked one out yet. So we had to scramble and buy a hood. Appliances go in the very last so I thought we would have time to shop around before we had to make decisions. I love the shopping around, researching etc. I hate the decision making part. It's so final. Luckily Ben loves that part. He loves to take my findings into account, pick something and say, definitively, "done".



The whole door thing through me for a loop too. It's a door, how many sizes can there be (turns out there are two or three standard sizes, and when you add sidelights, windows or multiple doors, not to mention custom sizes - the options are unlimited). Also plumbing fixtures have to be selected before they do the rough-in plumbing, which I think is a ploy by the plumbers to get you to have to buy the fixtures and have the finish work through them, but I thought I had at least another month before I even had to look at plumbing fixtures. Instead we had to go to the plumbers plumbing supply showroom and after being dazzled by all the shiny objects we walked out of there over budget. Had I been able to complete this process from the comfort of my own computer and been able to read reviews, cross-check prices etc. That would never have happened.



So back to the problem at hand and my solution to solve it. I've never built a house before. I don't know in what order things need to be decided and provided. But my builder has (and I've heard this has been the case for other people who have built) and I would appreciate a little warning on what is to come and what to spend or not spend my time on.

Faucets and Fixtures

We are rushing to get "things" straight before we leave for Christmas. Ben will only be gone a week and myself two but we fight so many little battles, put out fires and make numerous decisions on a daily basis so trying to foresee and forestall and problems that might arise in our absence has made busy days even busier.

Today we had to go to the plumbing supply store to pick out fixtures, faucets, toilets, tubs etc. I didn't realize this would have to happen so soon. These seem like finish options to me. And they are - but - I learned that the plumbing rough-in which will should be happening in the next few weeks is dependant upon the brand of fixtures we are putting in. So while we are not necessarily locked into the exact styles we chose, we are now pretty close to being married to Delta faucets. Ben's mom had mentioned that picking out plumbing fixtures was a tough one for her - having so beautiful many options placed in front of you but having to stay within the budget. I couldn't see how - but she was right! I had no idea HOW MUCH this stuff COSTS. And as it is with every selection we have had to make, if we were millionaires, choices would be a lot easier - the sky would be the limit. But when you see the "Audi/Lexus" of the plumbing industry but you're on a "Ford Focus" budget things are a bit tougher. Always up for a challenge however, we were able to take a little here (kids bathrooms) to give a little here (kitchen faucet) and we enjoyed the process. I had a lot of fun anyway. It's always fun with Ben because he likes to make borderline inappropriate jokes (only inappropriate considering we've never met this person and we're supposed to be adults) and make the salesperson squirm. (Although taking off your pants to test out the showroom toilets for their feel is probably inappropriate in any situation.)(He didn't really do that) The salesgals always end up loving him and by the time they've spent a few hours with us they are taking over my job as joke-laugher-in-chief (heehee). He's also good because he knows what style he likes (which 90% of the time is what appeals to me too) and while I might waffle a bit between two similar he will just pick one and announce "Done." Usually we would narrow it down to two and have her pick whichever was cheaper.

So back to the important stuff - shower enclosures and such. So to make matters more mysterious, this is not like walking into Home Depot and seeing the price and knowing exactly what it's all going to cost you. On display in their showroom here they have a "retail price" sticker on the items - which just blows your mind, then she will briefly mention the "list price" of the item so you can stay within your budget using that figure - which is a little less than the retail - but the actual figures come from the plumbers who are doing the install. Meaning that they get their own discount off of the list price then they mark it up and resell it to us at slightly below list price - maybe. And she wouldn't even give us a copy of the items we had picked out and that list certainly didn't have any figures on it anyhow, but she didn't realize that someone was keeping track.


Although he can't remember not to put dirty dishes in "that" side of the sink or to pick up his shoes so we're not tripping over them, he remembered every price of every item we picked out. We were there for two hours. I couldn't even remember the very last price of the kitchen faucet we liked - I just remember that it was shiny. And gorgeous. So when we hopped in the car (amid a blizzard by the way) he had me record the figures. The good news. We only exceeded our budget by $3,500. The bad news - we blew our budget by $3,500. I guess amid all those Ford Focus' we picked out we couldn't help but throwing a few Audi's in the mix. Namely, the Hansgrohe kitchen faucet that is just lovely. And the free-standing bathtub.