Too many decisions

I took yesterday off work as a vacation day. We went to the city to make house decisions and get costs. What an exhausting day! We had 4 places we wanted to go. One was cabinets, the building supply place, flooring and a place that sell generators.  We decided to call ahead the day before to the cabinet place and the guy we were supposed to ask for at the building supply place. Wanted to make sure they had time for us sometime that next day. I called the cabinet place first, as it was on the way in, the town just before the city. I got her voicemail (of course!) and left her a message. I waited like an hour, hoping she'd call back and I could nail down a time with her first before I called the builder supply guy. Nope. So, I called him up to see what his schedule was like the next day and he said he was pretty open all day. Cabinet lady never did call back.

We decided to stop in her place on the way in yesterday morning and see if her showroom was even open yet or someone there to talk to. It was, she was the only one there, and with a customer, so we just kind of looked around and waited. She didn't even tell the customer she was working with "just a second" and come over to us to at least say "hi, I'll be with you as soon as I finish up here". We kept waiting. She was with them in one of the two showrooms, so I walked into that one, just to see if she would at least acknowledge me. Finally she did and said she'll be with us asap. We waited some more. DH just can't stand on his legs for that long and nowhere to sit. About that time her husband walked in (I guess he does the installing and other construction work) so we did get to chat with him a bit, but he wasn't too knowledgeable - mostly he just filled the time until his wife was done, LOL. Finally, after like an hour of waiting (she kept saying she was just about done) we got to talk to her. Cabinets are hard to pick out. Too many door styles and then what kind of finish and then what kind of wood. Anyhow, she is going to work up like 3 different "levels". Hopefully one is within the allowance the builder gave us. We also asked her about the price difference between laminate countertops and granite. She said laminate is like $36/sqft installed and there are some granites that start as low as $40/sqft installed. Hmm. Well then we're going to look at granite.

Then we went to the builder supply place. Thankfully that guy was available right away. We spent about 2 hours with him, I think. Doors, exterior and interior, windows, and siding. I had already emailed him a pdf of our plans, so he had actually printed them out big and used them to mark notes on. He was awesome and very helpful in steering us in things we would like and would not like.

Next stop was granite place the cabinet lady recommended. Well, the remnants start at $40. Stuff I liked was at $70. BUT, remnants sizes work great for like a bathroom countertop and we saw several we'd be happy with, saving money there and not much mor than laminate. At least we know the costs now.

Then we went to the flooring place. DH has been really wanted hardwood floors. Our friends put in "engineered hardwood" in theirs. I was under the mistaken impression that the engineered hardwood was better for durability (scuffs, scratches) than regular hardwood, but I guess it's not. Since we have 2 big dogs in the house, the salesman really recommended laminate. Which is what I really wanted in first place. I want maintenance free! We were able to show DH that there are high quality laminates, now pretty much waterproof, that is much better than the cheap stuff we put in our old house. He showed us one that is exactly what I was looking for! That was easy! For the 2 bedrooms and office we are going to carpet (not decided on masterbedroom yet) he suggested maybe using their remnants, too. We can get that very cheaply and save some money there, for sure. I'm not picky, as long as it's decent quality and a neutral color, for those rooms.  We also picked out some tile, that looks like stone, for the foyer and will use vinyl in bath's and laundry room.

By then it was 3pm and we were STARVING. Stopped at a mexican restaurant and DH has been craving carne asade for a year now. Haven't had any since we moved. It was really good and we will definitely eat there again, during city visits.

Our last stop was back at the masonry place we were at a few months ago and got samples, as we never got any pricing. It's all the same price per sqft, but depending on the style/type there is more labor involved in one style vs another. He gave us two names to contact for mason labor, so we can get the labor costs.  We are having the worst time trying to decide on a style for around the front bottom of the house and the fireplace. We came home with yet another sample.  We didn't  make it to a the generator place. Next trip.

Oh and the dr. office got a 30 day supply of his med now to the pharmacy, so we were able to pick that up, too.

We got home at 5:30. Poor doggies were in the house for 8 hours, but they did ok.  Today I am swamped at work trying to catch up for one dang day off.