Is it normal in a house renovation to spend your time worrying whether you've chosen the right things ?

[woodforthetrees]

It's been a 10month long haul and we're coming to the end. The builder is putting the kitchen in at the moment. the units are in situ and the work surfaces coming later this week. i wanted to be overwhelmed with excitement when i went up to see progress after work ( we're not living there) with the kitchen but all I'm worried about is whether it all looks ok. I've got cream gloss and I think the colour of the units looks more cream than off white which is what I'm sure it was in the shop. Maybe I need to see it all finished for the finished effect. The walls were already painted and I have a splash back going in later in the week...
I went up this morning as I was worried that the wall in dd's room was the wrong colour....worry worry worry . Is this normal !!???

Yes - every job I have done - from a cloakroom to full house renovation - I have a period of doubt - think rooms are wrong sizes, wrong colours, configuration wrong etc and it always turns out fine! You will be overwhelmed when it is all finished and you are in it.

I feel permanently anxious at the moment and the kitchen is such a big expense wet get wrong..

I'm not sure I worry about getting it wrong, but I do always get to a stage where I don't give a toss any more I just want it over. Perhaps that will be next .

Maybe that's it . I think I just want it over with and to get in and sort us all out. it's not quite finished so we'll be living with the builder a little while longer !!!

We've just spent 18 months renovating and I have had exactly the same worries. If you buy a dress you can see exactly what it will look like before you part with your money, but with a kitchen or bathroom you don't see it finished until it's too late to change your mind!!

I wasn't so worried about our kitchen, because I had a kitchen plan drawn up, and could visualise it quite well, but the bathroom was bought from several different places; thank goodness I liked it all once it was in.

Remember it will "come to life" once you paint it, put curtains up etc. and accessorise it. We went for red accents in our kitchen and it totally lifted the room.

I have done this so many times woodforthetrees - when we extended a few years ago I was very fearful as we had to choose so many things before we even saw the building.
It all turned out at least as good as we hoped and in many cases much better.

I'm terrified - so much money will be spent and it is all down to my vision and I have such high expectations of how I want it all to look....I am in a constant state of worry.

Oh I'm so glad I'm not the only one - my indecision is colour - I paint a room, don't like it and end up painting it again - in the end I just go safe with off whites, but really don't want it looking so similar everywhere. I think I'm driving my husband mad!

I I think as well I feel a little pressured - a friend of mine has just had her extension done which is almost the same size as our new room downstairs. She "only" had one room to consider over a long period of time. I had a whole house to plan and consider (it's been a major build) - two bathrooms, tiles, kitchen, walls going up and down, complete re-wiring, decoration in a shorter space of time - the whole schebang with a sort of one man band builder (brilliant though) who needed us to make most of the internal decisions and order stuff too. Her extension looks fabulous (but her kitchen did in fairness cost twice the price of mine) and I suppose in a sad way I keep thinking that I should have spent more time and considered things a bit more and will it all look a bit "blah" and oh and oh and I MUST RELAX AND STOP WORRYING AND be more confident that it'll be ok and BREATHE !!!!>>>>>>>>> I also phoned the removal guy last night and he said "oh, next week, I've got a bit of a problem with that day"....just to top off my already marvellous week. I didn't need that. The house still looks like a bomb/buidling site and I have a whole house to move within the week pretty much on my own juggling my job and the two little woodforthetrees.....
It will be ok.....It will be ok.....It will be ok

Oh I completely understand. We spent 8 months completely renovating a farmhouse (we've still got about another 5 years work to do as we're doing the rest ourselves!)

The kitchen caused me sooooooo much stress. I would wake up in a cold sweat, convinced I'd chosen the wrong colour.

In fact, once the kitchen was in, it was perfect, but I realised that the worksurface was going to be completely wrong.

At the last minute, I changed my mind and ordered a different colour worksurface. Thank goodness I did. I absolutely love it now, but the original one would have been horrible!

It really will be ok. You just have to hold your nerve, recognise when it's the right time to compromise, and also, recognise when you have to make a change, for the sake of your future happiness!