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While Raul, Nathalie and the rest of the construction team were working to remove tile, hang cabinets, install wiring, and smooth the floor, Jane and I were running around to Home Depot, The Granite Place and Lowes stores looking for light fixtures, ceiling fans, a garbage disposal, and quartz for counter tops.
We circled Orlando with stops in Kissimmee, north to Millenia, past Winter Park and east to Lake Nona.
We spent three days making these store runs looking for just the right items. (Alexa: Play, ‘Travelin’ Band by Creedence Clearwater) I was beginning to think Outdoor World Stadium was a franchise after we passed it the third or fourth time. Several times we bought items at one store before finding something better at the next store we visited. There were no easy decisions. There were many, many decisions. My eyes were crossed.
For example, I didn’t know there were eight thousand different types of back splash. The styles include, hexagon, square and rectangle. The material comes in individual pieces and one-foot square mats. The material has names like; ‘Coastal Skies Mosaic’, ‘Molton’, ‘Italian Fossil Foil’, ‘Driftwood Hexagon’, and ‘Travertine Constellation’. There were so many colors and patterns that I eventually couldn’t tell the difference between the various examples Jane showed me.
It didn’t take long before I was replying to Jane’s queries with, “I support you.” I really do support her. I just don’t know what might look better on the wall in our kitchen.
Oh, there were a few examples I definitely detested, and I said so. Jane didn’t always appreciate my response to her questions. After all she is the designer and I think she expects me to be a designer as well. However, I’m the labor or wallet for the labor not the design guy. She revels in the hunt of shopping. I’d rather look directly into the sun than go shopping. Some of our communications would have made for some great HGTV suspense. We may have looked like Hillary and David on “Love It or List It” or Tarek and Christina on “Flip or Flop”.
Well, I hope not as bad as Tarek and Christina. Maybe we will get our own HGTV show! I’ll just be glad when we are not making decisions about colors and shapes anymore.
We visited so many stores that when I was returning items, I almost couldn’t remember which store went with which item.
Turns out the quartz Jane picked is the most expensive kind in the entire world. Even Raul was surprised at that price. However, cost is not the question for this project. Having the kitchen, she has imagined and reimagined and imagined again for five years is the question.
Sometime in our running around we also purchased a new iPhone for Jane to replace the one she bought the year she graduated from high school.
We have been back to T-Mobile once already and recruited Sarah to work with the phone trying to make the email work. I think we are having difficulty because something didn’t transfer from the antique we traded in for the new phone. I keep saying, “It shouldn’t be this hard!”
Anyway, the dust is settled from the floor work, and we moved back in after four days in the motel. Our bedroom looks very much like a motel room with a coffee pot, tea kettle and microwave sitting on the dresser while silverware is nestled on the antique dry sink in our pool side room.
After the electrician finishes sawing holes in the ceiling, we will remove the plastic covering on our furniture and begin to feel more normal. Well, we will feel as close to normal as we ever do.
I have complete confidence in Raul to make the kitchen look fabulous. I have no doubt that Jane will be tenacious in getting satisfaction from Home Depot on the doors. As soon as this project is completed, I am confident that Jane will begin on the next one.
Oh, this one isn’t finished yet. More to come.
See you next time.