Home building is mostly compromises

… with the first and foremost goal of making your household members happy. And possibly getting the things you want. ;)

When DH and I started looking at buying another house, we looked at several options, considered a thousand and one scenarios, and started enumerating the things we’d want to have in our new home. I wanted a bigger lot, DH wanted a serviced lot, DK wanted the new home to be close to his school and friends. It took us months, over a year even, to scour for something that will meet all major criteria we have. Thankfully, we found this little corner in Kanata Lakes which ‘somehow’ meets everyone’s “must”. There were compromises done but the very thing that struck me was what DH said:

The new home should bring us all closer as a family, will allow us to share our blessings with family and friends, and improve our quality of life.

But making compromises does not end as soon as you pick your corner. It’s just the beginning. And it’s all good because really, it gives you the chance to show your loved ones how far you’d go (and let go of the things you want sometimes) to make them happy.

My side of the counter. Mirror will be replaced. Paint wall will be replaced as well to match the tiles.

I mentioned the grief we had of not having at least one working sink in our second floor bathrooms last week. It was quite inconvenient to have to go to the washroom/powder room downstairs to do simple things like washing our hands and brushing our teeth. Well, finally the most-awaited sinks came in last Friday. I would have wanted everything installed in all the bathrooms ASAP. But DH and DK’s toys “arrived*” last Saturday. So what’s it going to be – let them play with their new toys or install at least 2 of the sinks? Well, we had both in the weekend. DH a.k.a. my Handyman installed the sink in DK’s bathroom first and the one of the two in the master ensuite. Our countertop looks funny with the big hole on the other end (where the other sink will go in) but I’m okay with it. I think it’s the most beautiful countertop I’ve seen. As for the guest bathroom, well, it just has to wait for now.

As soon as DH finished installing the 2 sinks, he started to open his long overdue Christmas-slash-birthday-slash-Father’s day gifts. They were setup just in time before the world cup finals started. DK was kind enough to lend us his TV since we still do not have the TV for the family room.

Christmas-slash-birthday-slash-Father's day gifts

I was happy looking at them nestled in the couch in front of the TV, waiting for one of their respective teams to win. They both rooted for different teams. And I say “waited” because DK fell asleep shortly before Spain scored :(.

Blind no more

You know how sometimes too much light can blind you? Well it’s not the case here but I can’t think of a subtitle. teehee. I just wanted to say, the roller blinds for the family room and kitchen windows were installed last week. We now have nice natural lighting in both rooms that can be controlled. Not as glaring sans roller blinds.

Our nook in the kitchen

We got them from one of the Benjamin Moore stores. It’s their new house brand and the price is quite reasonable. It’s almost half the price of the leading brands. In terms of quality and materials, it’s comparable to the leading brands. The only disadvantage is that you do not have as many choices of colours and options. In our case, I instantly liked this specific colour and material (slate grey) of the house brand and couldn’t go past it. So it all worked out.

Roller up close

* They actually had to do a short trip to the US to pick them up from one of the UPS stores there. The toy company does not ship to Canada.