So last time we visited the subject of the new home we all got excited about the possibilities. Paint swatches in hand we went to the house expecting to see the cabinet offerings and other finishes to politely agree they were fine and move one. What ensued was actual mayhem. My sister was appalled, my realtor cringed and my husband had to ask “Can we get another choice?”. Turns out the builder not only changed the offered color from grey to old lady that lives alone by herself oak and cherry wood tones but they weren’t even modern! Not a tiny bit! We did like any good Millenial would do, we went to the showroom validated our choices and decided that after all the Walnut colored cabinets were not only modern but of good quality. They even have self closing drawers. Yay!
This is the problem with building a house via the internet: pictures are worth a 1000 words but they can be misleading. The cabinet place had bad reviews in the past because of this. After clarifying the layout and making a few changes we realized that the adult thing to do was to fight for our preferences politely. After 1.5 hrs of walking around and negotiating certain changes we have the house we want. There’s still a couple of items left to discuss like the landscaping and the chandelier but these are tiny compared to the structural and layout snafus. Now that we are back to trusting each other we have a clear path to make the house and the budget the most optimal enginerd paradise.
The fun part in all of this for me has been learning how to resolve conflict effectively. Between selecting lights, trim colors and floors, we have had to interface with a lot of vendors and showroom staff. We have heard many pitches and explanations about trends, what works and what doesn’t, while making sure people understood that we weren’t interested in just modern looks and styles but on an industrial chic aspect as well. We love to tell people that we are engineers and we are very proud of our accomplishments. The intent is to have guests walk into our home and immediately know who we are, who they are dealing with. Now in our mid thirties we have grown into more sophisticated and wiser members of the nerd kind. Our goal is to prove nerdy can be classy and sexy.
The next three weeks will go by in a flurry of packing boxes, meeting buyer demands and making some more for our new home. As we stock up on lighting fixtures, trinkets for the new home and say goodbye to our lovely house, we move into a new book in our lifelong series. Eleven and a half years ago we embarked on a journey that would see us win some and lose some big battles. Going forwards we have found a nice piece of land to make into a safe haven with many opportunities to expand our horizons, break down walls and eventually have a place to entertain our family and guests while providing a safer environment for Zach. Home is where the heart is and hopefully it will find itself more at ease and content in the Château. 😀
Mrs. Enginerd - Nerd Whisperer 