The Layout. The contrary, unspeakable, dadgum, crazy, why can't I make this work, layout....

We are moving forward with our kitchen renovation doing what I know is unfathomable to most observers, still contemplating changing things, and I know it will probably get harder than the layout, but I can't fathom it right now.

I'm sick with envy of you all who have it all down pat, decisions made, KNOWING what you want and what will look and work best. I'm OCD and can't make decisions.

Just saw this is "4 the lucky one's done".

Nevermind.

Being on the "other side" I thought that I was going to melt down when we hit the 80% complete mark. I was sick of making decisions even though I knew exactly what I wanted, sick of making sure the work was done to my standards, sick of living with my mother (but that's a different post) and just sick of the process. Of course we were building an addition - which is equal to "building additional stress".

But I have found out, since our contractor finished at the end of May, the hardest part is that last 5% you have to do yourself! Once the contractor left and we got back into the house, we missed our social life so much that we put our work on the back burner.

Sad, but true.

I'm almost completely done. BS was finished yesterday and just need paint.

Hands down the layout was the hardest part for me. Lived in this house for five years pondering the layout of my oddly shaped kitchen with a major traffic pattern running through the middle. When the KD came over and I told her some of my ideas, she tweaked one of them and came up with the perfect solution.

This remodel went incredibly smooth thanks to having a great company handling the work. The hardest part for me was when the kitchen was mostly done and I was ready to move back in. Because we'd redone the hardwood floors in the house and had to move most of our furniture into two rooms, I was very overwhelmed with the amount of work to be done. Finally getting back to normal and feels great.

I enjoy picking the materials and colors. That part is totally fun. :)

Doing the layout was fun - but I love playing with graphing paper and a sharp pencil. The choosing of backsplash and colours was easy as I left that to the KD. The hardest part was simply starting - deciding to spend all that money (kitchen was part of a whole house reno) on where I lived. The mortgage was already paid off and we were getting another one - that was the hardest part. Basically, I'm frugal and I hate debt.

But, boy oh boy - it was worth every penny and every sleepless night and every bit of angst.

Michelle - go with your gut....you will not go wrong then. Research, learn, talk, listen....do whatever you have to but in the end...go with your gut.

What the heck? I keep clicking on this thread, interested to see what people find the most challenging because it says there are 27 follow ups.

Now, after refreshing, closing the page, reopening, refreshing, and doing it again, at last count, this post would be #8.

Why the discrepancy?

Must have been deleted as was getting to be a heated discussion.

These are the ones that answered the OP questions.

Every step was the hardest for me. After each terrifying decision, there was another around the corner. The 2nd time around seemed much easier, I felt I knew what I liked better, and having just gone through it 2 years earlier things were still fresh in my mind. That being said, the next one will be a breeze!

I am not quite finished yet, as I am ABB. However, I doubt that the backsplash will be the hardest thing!

For me the most difficult task was laying the floor. This turned out to be much, much harder than I anticipated. It took me two full days of hard labor to put down the underlayment, one easy day to lay out the heater wire, two hard 15-hr days to embed this in thinset and cover it with Ditra, one easy day to lay out the guidelines for the tile pattern, four back-breaking days to set the tiles, and three hard days of grouting. Not at all what I imagined when deciding to lay the floor myself.

I agree with Bee: the decision-making was hard. One real advantage of DIY was that I could wait until I had truly made my decision before proceeding.

After I was done, the hardest part was coming up with an alternate plan or two that would have worked just as well or maybe better.

Pal: that sort of happened to me, too, but by a different metric. I realized, long after the fact, that there was another layout that would have functioned almost as well. But it would have been about $4k cheaper.

Honestly, I have no regrets. And I am not an extravagant person. (Just currently TKO!)

The backsplash was definitely the hardest decision. For me, that's more the star of the kitchen than the countertop. It's what I'm drawn to first.
We're basically done, just need to find the right counter stools, window treatment for one window and a new paint color. I'm tapped out on making decisions for a while so I'm dragging my feet on these last few things. We're putting some new windows in the living room and having the outside of the house painted now so that's a diversion from the kitchen.
I know I need to post the final pics...gotta find those stools first!

Backsplash for sure- cabs I knew exactly what I wanted, we only had one true layout that worked with the constraints of our space(even that we had to get a bit creative with) and when I saw the granite I picked, it was the it is the ONE moment when I saw them take away the slab I was looking at it was like someone stealing a piece of me! Thankfully the next two slabs were just as great:) backsplash killed me- I must have looked at a million samples, held up the whole reno for two weeks and when I finally decided I hated it, really hated it for weeks until we realized the grout was seven different shades of beige, sand and dark brown! Now that it's fixed, life is good.

Backsplash! ....and pendant lights. Weird hard choices but they were the worst!

The beginning and the end were the hardest.

We've been in this house for 14 years, somewhere around there. I was so use to the old kitchen but knew it had to go. I'm a penny pincher, and hated parting with the $. When we finally bit the bullet and jumped in, I felt physically sick until I began to see the new space taking shape.

Then towards the end, decision fatigue set in. I have not even looked at the color of my walls ... I don't have the slightest interest in figuring that one out till maybe next summer. This site has certainly helped me to see that this type of exhaustion is common. Very reassuring!

When I saw the title my answer was going to be the floor and then the backsplash. But reading the other posts I need to add the layout was tough and changed several times. I was doing this myself and then getting feedback from the GC eventually when we finally settled on one. Picking the GC was tough too since you are putting a lot of faith into that decision and a big part of how things go is in their hands.

Honestly I don't think there is an easy stage during something like this. The easiest for me was the countertop. Once I saw the Cambria Canterbury I was in love. I tried to take it one step/one decision at a time. It was still hard and I don't want to make another decision of any significance for a long, long time. I was surprised the flooring was the hardest part but there are so many options between type of flooring and then the color/pattern on top of that. So far I am happy with everything. The tile for the backsplash is sitting waiting for the GC to install this - hopefully next week. I had the tile narrowed down to 2 because I couldn't take looking anymore. The designer where I got the Cambria came over to see how it turned out and I asked her opnion on the 2 tile options and went with her choice. Window treatment goes in today but counter stools are delayed until the 23rd. I'm drained!

For me, it just like 1929 Spanish says. I was prepared for the havoc of building an addition and the chaos in our lives, thought I had it all planned. I was okay while things were moving full steam ahead. But when we were about 80% done and we could not proceed to step B until step A was done and inspected, I started to loose it.

Now, at the 95% mark, I have just lost my drive to follow up with the tile guy who owes me 2 boxes, the electrician who hates coming here, etc. I don't want to think about paint colors (even though DH is forcing me) and looking at bs, stools for the island and farmhouse tables that are ridiculously expensive is just beyond my capacity right now. I love my new kitchen and I know I need the finishing touches, but I'd rather go to the beach than make annoying phone calls and shop till I drop. I just need a break.

That's GW for supporting me along the way.