Bathroom Remodeling: My Husband is Going to Kill Me

The vanity I bought today. I love it!

I've been a bit manic today. The mice in my brain have been running their wheel harder than usual trying to straighten out the loose ends of my bathroom remodel that starts tomorrow. Tomorrow! I've been on edge, frustrated, and in "hurry up" mode, none of which pleases my darling husband, who has had to put up with me all day.

It got going a couple of weeks ago when a good friend, who is also a contractor, offered to help and took me on a long stroll through Home Depot to look at bath fixtures. I then took the resulting list, logged on to the Internet, and proceeded to tear my selections apart. An elaborate spreadsheet was born and quickly populated with items, prices, numbers and locations. I optimized what could be ordered online with free shipping and a discount, and what I should get B&M coupons to buy.

Now half this stuff is in my garage and the other half is on its way. The guys will be here in the morning to start on "demo" work (tearing my bathroom apart) so the new pieces can go in. We're basically gutting both bathrooms in the house and getting rid of all the 70's-era fixtures, and the awful shower that previously won a prize in a "dirty shower" contest.

My husband tried to be patient while I kept blathering on about tile and towel bars and bath rugs. He's one of those guys who cares how his house looks but would rather not be too deeply involved in the process. I try to inform him enough so he won't say, "Hey, what the hell is that?" when something shows up, but not so much that he's overwhelmed. He picked a nice paint color today, and I needed him there at Lowe's to help lift the vanity we bought.

Before we left to go bowling tonight, I was deeply involved in selecting towels on the Macy's web site. I mean deeply, obsessively involved, considering various permutations based on factors including color, brand, user reviews, size, shape, price, texture, design, material, whether they'd work in one or both bathrooms, whether I should get bath rugs or tub towels, etc. I'd love to just walk into a store, pick up a towel and say, "This one looks OK," buy it and move on with my life without examining and reexamining every little aspect of the towel's potential future existence in my home.

These decisions made me a big ball of stress today. I had to relax and spin down at the bowling alley, and now I'm feeling much more zen about the whole thing. I know the bathrooms will turn out beautifully and we're both excited to see the transformation. Assuming my exhaustive planning pays off and the guys come through with their usual great work, we'll have two nice bathrooms to enjoy - and I believe my husband will keep me!