There's No Turning Back Now

Well, it's official. Everything has been ordered and paid for. Well, paid for in a financed by loan and credit card kind of way.

I went into Lowes last week and sat down and made all the final ordering of everything for the kitchen. The cabinets were the easy part, as they had already been measured and selected. Same with the countertop. The week before, I had gone in and looked at stoves, microwaves, etc., so I had an idea of what I wanted in terms of those items.

I mete with the kitchen designer at Lowes, whose name is Sharon, and would be highly recommended for anyone in the area looking at the same thing. She has been great throughout the entire process. Very nice and friendly (of course she is, she's probably getting commission), and very helpful in a non-pushy, stress free kind of way. She was impressed at how easy the final stage of ordering was since I had already made up my mind on what I wanted.

The two of us walked around and I showed her which oven and microwave I wanted. Then I decided to get a new dishwasher too. Turns out, if you buy a new dishwasher and the old one gets recycled, you get a $125 refund from the state of Missouri. That pretty much covers half the cost of the dishwasher, and they were going to have to pull out the old one anyway, so why not? Also picked out the type of kitchen sink and the kitchen faucet I wanted. Then came the flooring. I had an idea on two kinds, and after holding the cabinet up to them for color comparison, it was an easy selection.

Then came the fun part. I had to fill out an application for what they call a Lowes Project Card, which is basically a loan through Lowes. They approved me for up to $10,000, which I used quickly for the cost of the whole entire project. Then came the credit card, as I still owed about $3,800. (More on the cost thing in a future post). Can you say ouch?

All in all, the whole thing is underway. It's over. Not more extra money for me. And no more living debt free (not counting the house and the car). But now everything is over. No turning back now as the wheels are in motion. Now comes the fun part. Waiting for it to all get here before they can get started.

Everything Measures Up

So I've finally made that next step in the kitchen remodeling project. The contractor come out and do the official measurements for the project.

There were three contractors that came out and measured the kitchen and discussed what was going to be done. Andy was the guy in charge, Barry was the electrician, and I don't remember the name of the third guy, but he didn't talk much and I think was there to observe. It's safe to say there was a lot of talk with fancy construction words that went right over my head. I had to several questions to try and figured out what they were talking about but it all made sense in the end.

In talking with each other, they did make a lot of comments about how "easy" certain things would be, and how "that'll work out perfect" on other areas. The whole time I was thinking, yeah, that means once they get into it, they'll find it's not so easy and doesn't work out so perfect and problems will arise that will cost extra money. I know how that works. Especially in this house, where it seems nothing seems to fit right or go together right whenever there has been work done to the house. I did found out a few extra bits of information that could be beneficial.

For example, if I purchase all the products for the job at once, along with the labor for installation, there is no tax on the actual products. So the new stove, microwave, kitchen sink, that are part of the project, do not have tax on them because of the installation. Andy even suggested that I could get a new dishwasher since they'll have to pull the old one out anyway, and there would be no tax on it. Any new lighting I get - which will happen - would also have no tax. Whatever paint I decided to go with I could get now and have no tax on that either. That might be a stretch on the paint though, as I might go with waiting until everything is installed so I know what color to go with, but we'll see.

Now I have to wait for Andy to turn all the information in, then it's off to Lowes to meet with the designer again and hammer out the final details. The new lights are something I had not thought about but will have to go and pick out as well. And then the debate on a new dishwasher. Depending on the price, I may go for it - why not? When you're spending close to $10,000, what's another couple hundred, right?

So now the project is officially on the track to getting done. There's no turning back now.