House renovations- how do i stop overthinking every decision?

[MightyS]

Been single over 7 years.
Finally getting the house sorted.
Exdh dealt with all structural, flooring type stuff so this is a first for me.

I have a good price for flooring for the whole bottom part of the house but i'm now worried I could have got a better deal.

Everything in the house was done as cheaply as possible. Its how exdh was about everything. The cheapest, easiest and quickest way.

How do others know they are making good decisions when choosing flooring, trades etc?

How do i get some confidence dealing with this stuff?

Its absolutely overwhelming!

By recognising that your penny- pinching ex is now your ex. The best possible outcome for whatever renovation decision is not whether you got the cheapest possible deal in the whole world, it’s whether you’re broadly happy. And recognise that you will make mistakes, or some tradesman will possibly be less than brilliant, and that’s just part of life. Go with recommendations from people you trust, communicate very clearly about exactly what you want, prices etc, and nip things in the bud if you don’t like what you’re seeing. But it’s not all or nothing.

The answer is it's hard not to overthink it so you need to try and find a balance between doing lots of research and making a decision and sticking with it. If you look at flooring, sanitarywear etc at a number of places, you soon start to get an idea of what is an average price and what you like. Also, if it's one item it doesn't affect the budget too much if you spend a bit more for something you love. If it's something you need a lot of then that's where shopping around helps. For example, the perfect floor tile I found for most of our ground floor came in well under the architect's budget so I saved £1k. The bathroom eall tiles were a bit over but we didn't need many so I happily went over on those. Definitely try to get recommendations for reliable trades people as they can cause a lot of stress and cost if they aren't decebt. Good luck and try to enjoy it.

Have a vision and stick with it.

You can use Pinterest to help.

So you start with a plan - the kind of flooring you want, the color walls you want, the furniture you want. You make a realistic budget and you stick with the plan.

So therefore the question is not, is this the cheapest, it's does it align with my plan and is within budget. If it's a yes on both fronts, decision made, off you go. When indecisive go back to the plan / vision, if you don't know what cushions to buy what do they have on the Pinterest. Don't know what taps, what do they have on the Pinterest.

It's not about overthinking OP. It is about having the confidence to make decisions yourself.
Research and choose and believe in yourself. Yes, you will make the occasional mistake, we all do. Everything is changeable. Clearly EXH made many with what he did so what are you scared of?

Because you’re getting what you like and want, not what’s cheapest. You’ll look at your new floor and be pleased you made the right choice and won’t think of the cost.

Take your time, get samples and ho with something you love. Do not ask others opinions, there's nothing worse than design by committee. If it takes a while to find the right things, that's okay too.

And if you're really not good at design (not a crime, lots of people arent!) Then ask someone whose design you admire to help.

I know what I like but it's making actual choices.

For example, the flooring is being laid next week and I keep thinking I could have got it cheaper or better quality.

I don't have anyone to 'bounce' ideas off so I research everything to death and have literally years planning these projects - very much taking my time !

OP I am exactly the same as this!

I end up waiting till the last possible minute to order stuff because I just cannot make decisions and I feel like I need to look at every single option before I commit to something.

Happy to be a sounding board for you if it helps!

We are doing a bathroom just now and I am trying to do sort of mid/high range items on lower prices by offering from ebay etc and getting so frustrated with myself if I don’t get the cheapest possible price.

Okay, so are you happy with the look, feel and quality if the floor? If so, then that's the floor for you. Of course there are millions of other options, there always will be. But it sounds like you've done your research and you just need to trust yourself.
I hope it becomes a happy and empowering situation for you.

Trust the process it sounds like you’ve already done a lot of research on the flooring. I think you’re probably nervous about the outlay and given that in the past ex dh made the decisions it’s understandable that you are worried.

I’ve literally just finished a room in our house and I used Chat gpt for every aspect I wanted to make sure that the finished room looked right first time because I’ve made plenty of mistakes in the past. I’ve also used pintrest for ideas by using these I’ve so far loved every room we’ve done.