houses are complicated :-)

We want to make some improvements in our kitchen. The immediate prompt is floor tiles that are coming loose and becoming trip hazards, and hey, I never liked that floor anyway. The (laminate? formica?) counters are also getting pretty beat up. And I want better lighting. In other words, the cabinets and appliances are fine and we want to replace the rest. That should be a one-stop job, right?

Yeah, no. We did get a bid for the whole thing from one contractor (who came recommended), but it was full of "install customer-supplied X" and we are not interested in getting caught between "this isn't the right thing" and "we bought the things you told us to buy" and meanwhile things are in limbo while you sort it out. Also, it's hard to estimate the full price that way. We wanted to hire someone, choose materials, get a real price, and have that contractor take care of it.

It ended up being three different jobs. The counters are supposed to be installed in two weeks (they came a couple weeks ago to do "templating", i.e. the detailed measurements). This will supposedly take a couple hours on the appointed day, which seems fast to me but they're the experts not me. Meanwhile, our flooring is on order and will supposedly be a one-day job once stuff comes in, maybe in a few weeks. We decided to get through this and then tackle the lighting (and then, finally, paint).

I'm looking forward to the changes, which will be revealed one at a time.