A NEED or A WANT?!?!

THIS was the year...this was it...I was soooo sick of the tile countertops in my kitchen!!!  The color was pukey to me, I was sick of having holes in my shirts where my stomach hit the rough grout and edges...sick of a spot that Bob accidentally broke off that kept leaping out to scratch me, sick of the cracks along the grout lines and sick of the gunky seal around the sink!!  And so, after another run in with the blasted leaping broken piece, I firmly said, "That's it...I'M PUTTING IN NEW COUNTERTOPS THIS YEAR!!"  I had no guilt of being frivolous and I was ready for war if needed.  Bob just smiled and said, "Okay."  

***Silence***

What?!?!  My mind was smoking as I was processing the "Okay"....did I hear that right...that doesn't fit...uhhhh....all I could do was blink...then quietly say, "What?"  I was a little kitten...awww...you said Okay...Meeow..  And then I started screaming and jumping...then dancing...then singing!!  I paused for a while to ask if he was sure and to see if I felt any bad feelings...waahoooee!!

For years, I've felt guilt because I coveted others countertops over and over and I sneered at mine like they were evil almost every day.  I'd work out my financial presentation for Bob each year...but as I calculated the amount of money it would take to put in new countertops over completely good and functional countertops, I found that I had a daughter heading to college, a new/used car purchase for teenage drivers, teenager's accident in new car for teenage drivers, insurance increase for teenage drivers, kids wanting to go to EFY, vacations, family reunions...the list went on and on and on.  There would NEVER be money for something so ridiculously frivolous....right?  

And to top it off...Every 6 months I sit in front of my TV listening to powerful counsel from living prophets from the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints....waiting for the moment of correction to hit me...and it always does.  Here's a good example..and one I always like to go back to often...

I believe and feel strongly that every word of the counsel is truly from God himself!!  So, was I going against counsel?  Did I react to a "moment" of weakness....so far I didn't feel that way...hmmm...weird...okay, I'll start going around and finding some bids from various places.  We wanted to get demolition and tiled wall in there as well (why not??)....It was amazing to see the ranges in prices...from $3,500 - $10,000.  My favorite moment was when the people with the $10,000 bid proudly asked, "So, what do you think of that, isn't it good?"  Uhhh...what to say, what to say??....I just stammered out something like, "it wasn't the BEST quote, actually..it was significantly higher... but we'd look more into the details and get back with them."  Yeah, I was lame...but...Hello?!?!...Yeah..right!?!  We laughed the ENTIRE way home.
After 2 months of research (and visiting EVERY granite place around), we found a bid that fit into our budget and that we felt was an AMAZING miracle!!  It's definitely not worthy of any "Street of Dreams"  But, we love it!!  Through it all, we felt guided in finding great deals and had a sense of what to invest more money into and what not to. I think this decision will help add value to our home and also bring a homey feeling....no more sneering at inanimate objects!!!  And maybe I'll want to cook more -hmmm...let's not go too far - ha!

Here's the "Before"

Here are the men demolishing the tile.  I was soooo excited, I had to take a picture.  I was definitely an annoying customer!!!  I wanted to watch every move like it was a suspense movie!!  BEST day EVER!!!

And then they started to bring in the new countertops....Ohhhhhhh......excitement, excitement!!!  I had to be careful at this point because I could tell the men were getting annoyed with me hanging around and taking pictures....so I snuck in when they went out for the other counter piece....LOVE!!

And then they put up some travertine tile for backsplash.  I kept it simple because it was WAY cheaper...still in LOVE with it.  Best part of all for Bob was that he didn't have to do it!!  He was soooo happy!!

And then the finished product!!!  I am now going to work on curtains and get rid of my junk on top of the cupboards!  We'll see how long THAT takes me- teehee

The MOOD!!  We invested in some under and above cupboard lighting and are sooo glad we did!

Surprise!!...Originally the bathroom sink didn't make it into our budget...but...with a "remnant" left from the granite slab we bought, we discovered that there was enough for our bathroom as well.  Why not!?!   Here's our ugly downstairs bathroom sink.

And here it is after....WOW!!!  It's weird though because we feel like we're in a hotel or restaurant bathroom....freaky...but love it!!