All I ever needed to know....I learned during a Kitchen Remodel

All I ever needed to know....I learned during a Kitchen Remodel

I just have a feeling that the above title is going to be so true.  It is already starting and I might as well make the most of this learning opportunity.  Let me tell you about lesson #1.

I called up a well known kitchen remodel place to meet with their designer and get ideas and a quote.  That part is free.  I planned to meet with 3 different companies and was upfront about that fact.  The first company was in Grosse Pointe.  For those of you reading this who don't know anything about my area, I will give you a little side note.  Grosse Pointe has some really really beautiful homes and people with a whole lot more money to spend than me.  When something is expensive or over the top my kids and I say it is "Grossie Pointie".  The first designer was definitely "Grossie Pointie".  

I want a cottage kitchen, white cupboards, and a farm sink.  I want storage, storage and more storage!  I tell the designer guy this.  He asks me about the flooring.  I tell him I have been thinking about tile or wood floor.  He tells me,  "you can't do tile in this small space it will look too chopped up".  Excuse me, did you just say "I CAN'T do something".  This is my house and I CAN do anything I want, kinda scary that you don't realize this Mr. designer guy!

He starts talking to me about the kind of storage I want.  I tell him I am a pull out shelf kind of girl.  I do not do well with deep drawers which he keeps suggesting.  Deep drawers for me are like toy boxes, I put things in there and they get all jumbled up.  He says "you MUST have a combination of pull out shelves and deep drawers".  Seriously dude, again with the "MUST".

By the end of two meetings he had drawn up "his" little "Grossie Pointie" kitchen which would be like hundreds of others he has designed the RIGHT way...HIS way. He had deep drawers which he just knew I would end up loving and thanking him for later.  I canceled our final "free" meeting so as not to waste anymore of our time since I had decided against using his company.  When I returned a sample he had lent me he would not even acknowledge my presence.  

So lesson #1 is BE TURE TO YOURSELF AND DON'T LET SOMEONE TELL YOU THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE RIGHT WAY TO BE!

and maybe lesson #1b would be to watch how I word things when I teach.  Instead of words like "can't" and "must" which had such a negative response from me, how about words like "try" and "maybe".  Imagine if designer guy had said "you might want to try wood flooring to keep it simple and have it flow with the rest of your hardwood" (which another designer guy said and I totally agreed with that!)