New construction Home Hiccups

Nothing is perfect. 

Especially when you come to building a home. Sometimes good just needs to be good enough. Get that into your thick heads people. Convey and describe your ideas in a very detailed manner, but just know that one persons understanding may not be the same as yours. And even after all the details have been hammered out. (Construction pun) Things will still break. 

 Not saying set your expectations low, but with a custom home the subcontractors will be working with unfamiliar brands and products. There’s not always instructions included. Really. So some things will have to be figured out on the fly. 

Here’s some of our fixes/uh-ohs/well craps.

Backsplash Tile 

I found some AMAING beveled subway and I wanted it everywhere. I didn’t plan on the beveled edge looking funky when cut. So Edgar, my tile guru told me to get some pencil edging. What the hell is that Edgar? I don’t know. So I walked into Home Depot and bought subway pencil. That turned out to be the wrong size. Still saw the ugly thick cut edge sticking out. So now I drive my butt back to Home Depot and exchange for a thicker pencil marble tile. And I choke as I spend $200 on a “quick fix” but you have to do that some times. And after all… I saved mega $ by doing subway instead of fancier marveled/mirrored/designer backsplash. 

Crank out windows

I wanted to stick my head in my pillow and sob big tears over this one. My windows BENT. Some contractors left the windows wide open and the oklahoma heat cause those suckers to BEND. I was beyond pissed. Thinking I picked a faulty product. But my amazing builder reminded me that companies will stand behind their products. So we called- and they agreed to replace after construction was finished. 2 weeks after move in we got brand spankin new windows. Yay. Problem solved. Or not. One of them was cracking. And now with the changing seasons the small crack is now a mega crack. But still… the company will fix it. So in 4-6 weeks I will get my third new window. And I’ve only lived here for 2 months. 

Master faucets

I really wanted this huge white bathroom with wall mount faucets. Little did I know that would involve cutting into my tile and Sheetrock about 5 times. But the end effect is so so worth it. 

We had one faucet leaking behind the tile and in front of the Sheetrock, so the plumber came back and fixed that of course. Then one of my fancy vintage “hot” handle was cracking, so I got that replaced. And now one of my cold handles came off. Yes. OFF. So yay. I get to wait for the husband to be off work to fix that. Cause I’m afraid to call my plumber. Again. 

Light fixtures

I love my lighting. I feel like the ultimate bargain shopper cause I shopped around to find deals. They all function appropriately. The installs however… Were not easy. You’ve already read about my Restoration Hardware Saga. And now for the stuff we did to ourselves…

 We found some awesome vintage barn lights on vacation in Nashville. But they didn’t come with long enough extensions or a large enough mounting box. So in steps mr. Fix it husband. Thanks man. Extra down rod, extra light box, lots of distressing, and bam. Lights. THAT DIDNT TURN ON. So we had our electrician come out and add another breaker switch. Just for he high voltage lights. And then added a $50 dimmer. Just for the hella bright bulbs. And then one month into life at the real life ranch. The hella bright bulbs blew out. So now we’re back to not burning our corneas even without dimming. Lesson learned. Just buy regular bulbs with a converter. 

Fireplaces

Hunter was so excited for fire. It’s a man thing I guess. We got the blankets and the wine and the cheese and got all sat down. He couldn’t turn it on. The fireplace. Geez. Get your mind out of the gutter. We couldn’t find The on switch. So we called engineering brother. He couldn’t do it either. Even with throwing his 3 degrees at it. So we call fix it Granddude. Grandpas can fix everything right? Not even he could do it. Then I remember… instructions. So I go dig through the mountains of paperwork from the build and find something that finally explains how to do it only to discover… our fireplace was never connected to a gas line. 

I did call the plumber on this one. 

Surround sound 

Husband won this one. He said I would love it and dangit. I do. And I really love it when it WORKS. 

I am a very tech savvy person. But this is intimidating. It’s as tall as I am and there’s lots of blinking and whirring. It controls EVERYTHING. Which is great. But I’ve also been stuck without internet/tv/music for a day or so until the technician could call me back. Now that we’ve been in for a month and we’ve had our “adjustment” (I kid you not- that was the term mr.genius used) things seem to be flowing better. I can actually listen to music in the bathroom while blasting cartoons in the living and possibly have a shower in peace. 

Just know that moving in doesn’t solve all your problems. Sometimes it’s just the start. So keep everyone happy. Keep being kind. And things will get fixed a lot sooner than later. 

#reallife. 

marti