Uh, yeah, it's been a while, huh? How's it going? Thanks for checking back in.
We've gotten a little wrapped up in the house-hunting, house-buying, home-improvement thing, and the wedding plans are at a standstill. However, all that does tie in with the wedding/marriage theme I've got going over here.
Want to get to know someone before the wedding? Buy a house together. I highly recommend living with the person before the wedding to really get to know them. But when you buy and decorate the place to live prior to the wedding? All sorts of revealing. And stressful.
We have had "discussions" about exterior features, faucets, lighting, carpet, paint colors, appliances, drapes, ceiling fans - you name it, we've looked at it, talked about it and discovered we differ in our decorating tastes. I had no idea he didn't like Tiffany glass, and I love it. He likes neutral paint, I like color. It took us two days and 49 emails to pick out lamps for the living room.
We discovered, while discussing alternatives to the mauve and cream marble swirled single-sink vanity top in the master bathroom (which we both agreed was oooo-glee and we need two sinks) that the vanity cabinet is a size not normally carried in the stores, and surprise! It won't accomodate a double-sink top because the existing drawers would be in the way. Of course - we can't be normal, you know. Nothing is ever standard. Gah.
So we started the back and forth discussion - do we buy a new custom cabinet the same size for a hella huge price? Do we take out the top drawers to fit a double-sink top on the existing cabinet? Or do we go with a smaller cabinet, and open up some space on either side? The more I thought about it, the more I was leaning toward a smaller cabinet. I thought it would open up the wall, as it was a solid "counter against tub wall against shower stall," with no break in the visual line. Adding about six inches on either side of the vanity would make the sink look almost like a cabinet set against the wall.
I found a nice one online, reasonably priced, that looked like a sideboard, and it was finished in a nice cinnamon color, which fit in with our new paint and flooring. He was resistant at first, but the more I gently explained it (instead of going with my first instinct to pout and stomp my foot), the more he started to come around. I was quite proud of myself for finding a solution that we could both agree on AND that didn't cost half our budget. Go me! All that HGTV is paying off!
But then I started second-guessing myself - what if this doesn't look like what I have pictured? What if we install it and it's ugly? What if he hates it? He's trusted me with this, and now I'va failed, so I won't have any more say about paint color or flooring! He's going to resent me every time he brushes his teeth, we won't be able to move past this, and then we're going to break up! (I might be a bit dramatic, but you get the point).
In the end, we decided to take out the top drawers so we can just put the new double-bowl sink on there. We have plenty of storage even without the drawers. I agreed, it saves money and time, and the vanity that's in there is fine for now.
But! If we do further upgrades, we'll use my idea! So hopefully it's still in style when we can afford to do the rest of the upgrades.
Tell me your decorating stories....
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Our home USED to be all sorts of different colors: white, ultra white, navajo white, oxford white, eggshell white, and antique white were a few of our favorites.
Then we took a leap and put a cranberry color on the walls of our library (there are only 2, each only 4' wide, so it was a good small place to experiment!). We loved it!
We chose Ralph Lauren Manila for our bedroom and later for our kitchen (it's now discontinued). Then we added a sage green wall for contrast in the bedroom. Then (gasp!) a pale taupe for the living room...
Last year we added a 2nd floor onto our lakehouse. The spare room, we both agreed, would be "my" crafting space so I could choose whatever color I wanted. (By the way, cottage white is the neutral of choice at the lake!)
So I thought, and I agonized, and I looked at magazines and pictures on line, and I narrowed it down to 3 colors: a green, a blue or a pink. (Yea, I know - big variety)
When I asked him for his opinion (mistake #1), he told me I couldn't put a color in there 'cause we didn't know what furniture was going in there yet and what if it didn't match... And to make things worse, he said it with attitude in the lumber aisle at Home Depot.
So I marched (literally!) over to the paint counter and bought yet ANOTHER gallon or two of cottage white.
And now he's very apologetic and offering to repaint it whenever I want him to...
Only I still don't know what color I want!)
Ooo-glee is now my new favorite word! I laughed out loud when I read that! I agree that double sinks are a must in the master bath! We really notice it now when we stay in a hotel that doesn't have one since we are so spoiled by ours. I have to say that when it comes to decorating, Matthew and I were exactly on the same page! I was so surprised! When we sat down with the builder to tell what kind of cabinets, flooring, etc. we wanted we both ended up picking the EXACT same things. We weren't doing it just to be nice to each other either. We figured we'd have a serious meltdown when it came to decorating, but believe it or not, we didn't fight once about it. As you put the term "infighting" well that came during the packing and unpacking phases. ha.ha. Our house is VERY neutral with a eggshell colored paint on the walls and canvas paintings to add color. We have maple spice cabinets and a brownish beige counter top that will eventually be replaced with granite. I'd love to show you pics of our house. Let me know if you want to see the inside of it. I think we tend to be more "neutral" though like Craig, so you may not want to see them. ha.ha.
I'm coming in late to the game, but Paul could care less about decorating so I usually always get my way--the wallpaper in our bedroom is very victorian looking cabbage roses--and our bathroom is done in Mickey Mouse. We don't have a master bath, just one bathroom in the entire darned house, but I think it is cute. And I've got pictures LOL.
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