We all can! My bete noir was finding our counterop, and my then-baby (now two year-old) had to accompany me in the middle of (a Rocky Mountain) winter to visit slab yard after slab yard, month after month. It was truly down to the wire but he and I found it!

When you and your child find your flooring / countertop, it'll be even more fun because s/he'll have been part of the action.

Good luck, and it's amazing the way it all works out in the end. I promise!

Absolutely--we've all been there. I couldn't believe that I had to labor over every decision. I kept asking myself--"shouldn't something come easily in this project?" Things that I thought were easily decided--like cabinet hardware--turned out to be a nightmare when my knobs and pulls didn't match. What else? Let's see--it took 3 sets of pendant lights to find something that would work, I ordered both a sink and a faucet that didn't actually exist, my 2 day cabinet installation job took over 2 months to complete, and we spent several weeks staring at our range and trying to figure out how to make it fit into the space until we gave up and ordered a different one. Its all very frustrating, but I can tell you now that I am on the other side and actually using my new kitchen that you will eventually be done and you will be happy in your kitchen. I'm even beginning to forget some of the drama and horror of the remodeling process already and we've only been done for a few days! Good luck and just hang in there.

The shopping phase made me insane. Cabinets, plumbing fixtures (I'm doing a bathroom at the same time), tile, countertops, appliances, lighting fixtures. Each decision was a project - a LONG project - with research and site visits and samples and photographs. Each decision got second- and third-guessed (at the very least). I thought I'd have everything picked out by the time the reno started, and here I am halfway through (and waiting for replacement cabinets to arrive), and I've only just picked out my backsplash tile. (Thank god my tile guy approved my choice because I do not think I could have set foot in one more tile store!)

You do get decision fatigue. It's normal. I can't imagine how you're doing this with 4-month-old in tow! It's exhausting enough by myself!

The good news is that so far I'm really happy with all (well, most) of my choices. They were excruciating to come by, but they do seem to be coming together nicely.

Oh God, can I. I was practically in tears this morning. It takes me ages to make a decision, I dither and compare and worry. I visit twenty websites and ten stores. Then I change my mind again and again and again.

And then, half the decisions I've made have turned out not to work and I have to return items or start over.

Juggling is just the right word. Before I could actually concentrate on work today, I spent two hours on the phone with the cabinet guy about changing a cabinet, the appliance guy about returning the fridge (I can't, so I'm selling it on Craigslist), FaucetDirect because it turns out I bought the wrong faucet, and, of course, multiple times with my contractor who chides me every time he feels I've made the wrong choice.

I'm at my wits end and just want to come home from work and have a kitchen plus a home to which no one has the keys but me.

I just want my life back.

BUT, in the end both you and I are going to be happy we did it. It WILL be worth it. Hang in there.

I too am exhausted and I have second guessed every decision. I research everything endlessly only to not be able to decide anything! I change my mind only to come back to the first decision. I went round and round worrying to death about the wood choice for the cabs (did not want painted). Had a layout and then spend 3 months changing it. Went to the paint store dozens of times for the right "gray-blue" NOT "blue-gray". So far the only decision I never changed was the door style. Can't even think of countertops (cabs are partially installed). Have to get knobs and pulls to be able to use some doors and then find a cooktop(looking for 2 months now), sink and faucet before the countertop choice.
However, just looking at my few installed cabinets makes me smile and know that ultimately I made the right choice. I find that taking a day to not think "kitchen decisions" helps clear my head.

Am right there with you!! I have looked at the beautiful finished kitchens posted here recently and wonder if we will EVER get there! Tired, frustrated, tired and frustrated some more. Cabinets were originally going to be delivered this week. Now it looks more like mid-December.....will we have a kitchen for Christmas? Not sure now. Mason "mis-calculated" amount of brick for exterior work - waiting for more brick. Floor installer miscalculated amount of flooring for new kitchen area - waiting for more wood to arrive. Took tile guys forever to complete master bath and hall bath upstairs - now plumber is "on vacation" (around here, that usually means gone deer hunting). HVAC guy "in class" and can't come until next week. Painters needed more paint today so I was racing to paint store to get another gallon so they could finish a darn closet and hallway. My oldest son comes home on Tues. for his school break and will once again be sleeping on the couch in the basement b/c his room is "under construction" (which should have been finished last month). My two little guys are never sure what room they are going to sleep in depending on what furniture we need to move around so workmen can paint, finish floors, etc. At teh moment there is not a room in my house that is "unaffected". We began this project in August and were supposed to be complete by Thanksgiving -- now I just want everyone out before Christmas so we can at least put a tree up for a few days!

The decisions take me forever b/c I research to death in order to feel some sense of security that I have made the "best one". Paint colors, tile choices, still need to find marble for island, floor finishing techniques, appliances, hardware.......I started this project with a large 3 ring binder with sections for each area, all nice and neat and tidy - now I am lucky if I can find the darn thing! I really just want my house back - spending each day wondering who is going to be here and what they will be doing is pushing me way to far in the wrong direction. I am a pretty easy going person, but am beginning to lose patience with it all. ARRGGHHH - glass of "whine", here I come!

It is reassuring to hear that others feel the same way and it is ESPECIALLY reassuring to hear that those that are done are thrilled with their results.

I definitely need a day off from kitchen decisions so tomorrow Grandma is coming to watch the baby while I go to library storytime with my toddler (He is usually in preschool while I am running to all corners of the Earth with his little brother). A nice lowkey Mommy/Son day is just what I need. Thanks for allowing me to vent and for commiserating with me a little.

It'll all work out in the end and be beautiful and then I get on to the important things in life! :-)

OMG alice462-- rotfl! Not being able to find anything is the worst. My son is coming home next week and we finally have most of his room emptied out. The last time he was home we had no ceilings and insulation was everywhere and I think he was dreading coming back !

I also wanted to mention that when I feel at my worst I take a deep breath and think how lucky I am to be able to do this kitchen (even tho it is a budget diy)

A few scratches on my new wood floor, the walls I need to repaint are minor in the scheme of life. That doesn't mean I don't have melt down days, but overall I try to be thankful for what I do have and a dh who is willing to tackle all this.

now off to research more....

babbie

Oh I can ever feel your pain!! I designed this house myself and we (DH and I) have been building it ever since. Decisions were all pretty easy, until after the drywall was finished and I had to start making decorating decisions. I think the ONLY decision I never second-guessed was the quartersawn white oak floors.

Picking paint was unbearable. I have always had white ceilings, off white walls. This time I wanted color!! It took several dozen of those little sample jars from lowes before I got it right, and even then as the first swathes went on the wall, I nearly cried because i hated the colors so much. But now I love them again.

But then the cabinets had to be selected. I fell in love with the dark espresso colored ones IKEA has. But then we found a custom cabinet guy who could build them for not much more, so I went with him and chose a stain lighter than the ikea cabs, but still really dark. Then called him back to change the stain....too late, they had already started. Which is good because now that they are here, I love them.

Back splash tile caused the most current agony. I looked and looked and looked at all the pics I could find of BS. I went to all the tile stores. I finally found the PERFECT mosaic to use as an accent with tumbled travertine. I spent nearly $500 on tile. And then started doubting. I second-guessed my tile decision so much that I nearly took it back (and losing a 20% restocking fee). But then I decided I'd go ahead and use it since I knew I did love it at one time. I started installing it a couple of days ago and once again, I LOVE it.

The last few months have been very stressful and filled with doubt. We are tying SO hard to get finished up to move in for Christmas and I'm still not 100% sure we are going to make it, but I am tying. Keep your spirits up....you will see the light at the end of the tunnel before you know it.

cindy

I'm in the planning stage and really enjoying the process but also frustrated by the length of time and number of trips it takes to make each decision. The final layout is being tweaked and retweaked, but boy is it gonna be a joy to work in this kitchen!! Okay, I think I have the back splash and powder room tile picked out but then it wouldn't go with the granite, oh and NO granite so far has just been IT b/c it isn't perfect with the fieldstone wall and fireplace. And on like this with each decision...BUT it all got put into perspective this past Friday when my dad passed away after a six year battle with Multiple Myeloma. My dad loved wood so now I'm rethinking the cabinets in his memory. They were never finalized anyway since we'd narrowed it down to two different ideas. I told my GC/Kd that we will still go on the planned trip to the granite yard Saturday b/c I need some normalcy in my life. Can you imagine thinking of this kitchen and beyond reno as normalcy? It's all in the perspective. AND yes, I am doing well with the support of many folks around me including my 4 terrific brothers.

Owls4me, I am sorry for the loss of your father. I lost my best friend to that disease 18 months ago. She did not last long after her diagnosis (less than 2 years) in spite of two stem cell transplants. It's nasty disease.