Day Twelve: on which I am brought to my knees by tile...

I just have to say that making decisions about remodeling a house that *we* own is far harder than anything I have ever done related to any housing situation, ever. Case in point: today, I had a panic attack while driving when I started to think about the floor tile in the bathroom. Over the past few days I have looked at every sample of tile offered by the Depot of Homes, a reputable local tile outlet, the design blogosphere... I have poured over years of Sunset bathroom pics online and in their design books, on cottage-decor-related websites, restoration DIY resources and This Old House magazines.

And what great insights have I found?

Always allow more than one week to redesign an entire bathroom.

My parents redid one of their downstairs bathrooms a few years ago in very tasteful, modern and neutral materials and colors. I've always loved the floor tile in that bathroom, so when Dad called up to say that the discount tile source still had that tile in stock, I was pretty stoked. Then he said that it would be a custom order and non-returnable. And that they did their ordering tomorrow morning at 10 am. Thus I needed to make a decision with Matt within 12 hours.

Bring on the panic attack. I'm such a wuss.

Matt gamely joined me in a mad dash about town and thru design books, searching for alternatives. I had a nasty experience with rude salespeople who seemed to not want to answer my basic questions about ordering tile from their warehouse. We arranged tile samples all around the HD floor, trying to visualize the different natural stone tiles next to the white subway tile that we've already decided on for the bath. I was trying to find something that we both really like, as the tile Dad could special order for us was not his first choice.

At ten at night, however, we decided that it is just tile. The special order tile goes with the subway tile better than the other options we had looked at. And of all the things we have to worry about these days, tile should not have to be high on the list.

Thanks, Dad, for ordering our tile. Now we need to learn how to set it... I feel another panic attack coming on...