When I think that it’s been nearly two years since we closed on our property, I can hardly believe it.
On our closing date, I was just beginning to show in my pregnancy with H and now he’s ONE.
The frame is up and the roof is on. By this summer, we should be starting to move in.
But we’re not exactly getting out the packing tape just yet.
Now it’s time for all of the little decisions that make up the fun of building a house. We get to pick out the cabinets, the vanities, and the fixtures that will give our home it’s character.
It’s exciting, for sure. My Pinterest account has been getting a lot of use these past few months. But it’s also surprisingly stressful.
What I didn’t picture when thinking about this phase of our build was that life would still be going full-steam ahead.
In the perpetual Hallmark movie that plays in my mind, this phase looked more like that part of Fixer Upper where the homeowner sits down with Joanna Gaines over a cup of coffee and looks at different shades of shiplap.
Guys, it is not like that.
What really happens is that one day you get a call from your contractor (shout out to my brother-in law, for building our house), and he will gently remind you that in order for him to install your kitchen cabinets, you actually need to pick them out first.
Whoops.
I had no idea that picking out a bathroom vanity would feel as monumental as picking out a baby name. Or that, like deciding on a baby name, my husband and I would have very different ideas about what we liked.
*Cut to a scene of me sending ten different types of wallpaper to my husband–him picking one that he likes–me, telling him that I have since changed my mind about that one and it is no longer a choice. Then put that scene on repeat, but swap the wallpaper out for sinks.*
There is a ton of back-and-forth, disagreements, and compromises that occur when building a house with your significant other.
In fact, I think that pretending to build a house together should be a necessary exercise in couples therapy. I mean, it hits all the boxes for working on those communication skills!
D and I have butted heads quite a few times throughout this process, but it has also made us work on being better listeners and ways we can better express our wants and needs to each other.
Speaking of miscommunication: check out our GIGANTIC windows. When we were working with our architect to design them, we said we wanted lots of natural light. He gave us a design with big windows. We said, No no! Make them even bigger!
D and I, looking back, had no clue just how big we were asking him to make them. On the tiny paper, the windows looked just above average!
Even when he said, Are you guys sure you want them this big? That’s pretty big…, we assured him that we did.
So here we are with our big, beautiful, and extremely overbudget windows…oops again.
But hey, look at all of that natural light!
Paige is Parenting 