Stamps Like Champs: Decisions, Decisions

Back when Steve and I decided to build a house, I was so excited because that meant we could pick everything out ourselves and the house would be exactly what we wanted the day we moved in. Now, I can't wait for this to be over because I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed by all the decisions we have made so far, the decisions we are making now, and the decisions I'm sure are yet to come until this process is done. Don't get me wrong, it's still incredibly exciting and fun, but man I can't wait for the day to come when my hardest decision to make is what is for dinner (ask Steve, that's a struggle sometimes).

When Steve and I were on vacation in Atlanta a couple weeks ago, we heard from our new sales person, Megan (JoAnna is on maternity leave!), at Bob Ward that we never made decisions on the flooring and shower tile in the bathroom that is in one of the guest bedrooms. I remembered that on that October day when we made all the decisions, I emailed JoAnna about what our options were for that because I realized we hadn't picked anything. Up until Atlanta, I had completely forgotten about it. Megan relayed that there was a sense of urgency for us to pick something because they were close to being able to install it, but I wasn't about to pick out something without seeing it in person first. So we didn't pick anything until we came back.

When we were initially making these decisions, we were getting close to the top of our budget and the back and forth between us and JoAnna on pricing and other options was just getting too overwhelming and confusing (on my part, not JoAnna's). We chose vinyl flooring for the bathrooms to save a little bit of money and Steve would tile them soon after we moved in. The closer we got to this point in the build process, the more I realized I really wanted tile in the bathrooms and the more Steve realized he really didn't feel like installing it. We knew if we prompted the change on our own, it is on us to pay cash for the work/materials and a $1000 change fee on top of it. Since I knew they needed to order the materials for ALL bathrooms I suggested we change the floors now. Thankfully, because we had to pick for the one bathroom anyway, we didn't have to pay that change fee! :-) That's the long way of me telling you that we upgraded the other two bathrooms to tile (we do have to pay the difference, which is fine). But, Steve and I are much happier now that it's just going to be done when we move in.

Guest bedroom's bathroom - pre-grout (gray)

Hall bath - pre-grout (gray). They tiled the shower today too, but I forgot to get a picture of it.

Going back to feeling overwhelmed by decisions, let's talk about the master bathroom now. First, let me share with you my obsession with tile. I love tile. All of it. It's all so pretty to look at. When we go to Home Depot (which feels like a weekly occurrence lately between both houses), Steve desperately tries to keep me out of the tile aisle (hey, that rhymes!). Inevitably, I find a tile I like and ask where we can put it. This exact moment happened months ago when I fell in love with a tile that I thought would look awesome as an accent tile in our bathroom. The problem was, we were not allowed to supply the tile, we had to pick from what Bob Ward's subcontractor had. The options in the model are very slim. But, because we are sort of a custom build by not being in a Bob Ward neighborhood, JoAnna told us we could go to Home Depot and send her the name and brand of the tile we like and she'll see if it's available. Great news - it was!

This meant we had to pick the main tile, and I went with a marble look from Bob Ward's options. I don't know why I felt this way because I liked the marble look, but I felt like I was settling with this tile and I was concerned with how it would look with my beautiful accent tile that I found at Home Depot. I was nervous it would be too busy. I agonized over this for months and Steve constantly reminded me it was too late to change it. When Megan emailed us about the guest bathroom, she also mentioned our master bathroom selections weren't listed. I thought this was a good opportunity to revisit the decisions since I was feeling so nervous about them. Super long story short, I felt too overwhelmed with the decisions by this point that I kept the same selections I just mentioned even though I was still worried with how it was going to look.

Now that the marble look has been installed, I'm feeling much better about it! They haven't installed all of the tile yet, but finally being able to put the accent tile next to the main tile for the bathroom, I am feeling much better about that too! When Steve let me make all the decisions, I thought he was the best husband ever by giving me full control like that. Now I know he just didn't want to be overwhelmed. ;-)

One last update on the house - all of our cabinets, sinks, and appliances were delivered today. We are so close!!!

Master bath floor (all pictures before gray grout)

Master bath toilet room

Master bath hallway leading to closet (we actually had no idea this was going to be tile because it's carpet in the model home - we love it!)

My beautiful accent tile!! This will be used as a center strip down the wall between the shower and tub (shown below). The tile guy actually suggested we make it a 16" stripe instead of 12", which I'm 100% on board with. Can't wait to see it!!!