Living an HGTV Show

Whoever says that building a house is fun, obviously has never built a house. As I touched up paint for what felt like the millionth time today I said to Barrett, "We are NEVER doing this again." I thought about it for a minute because I will be the first to admit that I have no idea what our future holds, so I amended, "If we ever do this again, we will NOT paint, shelve, trim. We will do nothing ourselves. We will simply write a check and tell some lovely people our preferences." Barrett laughed, and agreed.

Seriously though, this past year has been ROUGH at times, heartbreaking at others, and always full of tremendous blessing. We get that, we really do. I would like to think that building a house is a bit like being a 3 year hold handing a stick figure idea to a professional. You get a never-ending stream of reality served to you daily. Those grand ideas? Think a bit smaller. You will hear (repeatedly):

• "We can't do that on your budget."
• "I can't make that work with your floor-plan."
• "The sheet rocker, electrician, painter will be here tomorrow (translation-really in 3 1/2 more weeks)."
• "We went over budget on this item."
• "We can't color match that."
• "The price of materials has gone up."
• "We went over-budget."
• "That recycled glass counter-top you wanted? (or is this just me?) Yeah...not even close to in budget."
• "Oh, the paint we said you could do...yeah we messed it up (AGAIN) while doing <insert task here.>"

Seriously, not sure the actual point of having a budget as even though we thought we were being careful, we went about 30-40% over budget, and came up with a few things (spa and backyard anyone??) that simply now have to wait. It is frustrating.  I feel like "budget" is just more like a loose guideline, much like the speed limits in Mexico. 
FRIENDS fans...the line is a dot to you. (See video clip below).
The Line is a Dot


 Our almost done, beautiful home still has many things to fix, touch up, and complete. For someone with a type A++++++++++++++ personality, perfectionist, and high functioning anxiety, I am so ready to be done. As in, no more fixing required (just for awhile?). Being in a constant state of transition has been very stressful. 

I love to watch HGTV shows, but sadly, I do not like to live them at all. That being said, I love our home. I truly do. Being 99% done, there are some things I would do differently now, but I am happy with the overall product and so, so ready to relax.