Still have no found an ID

It feels as if we have been going round in circles since April. We have spoken to at least 6 interior designers (or at least, their sales rep) and one contractor. At each meet, new ideas are thrown in, some are discarded. It has been very frustrating because everytime we THINK we are firm on what we want, one of the IDs would go, "But did you think of...."

After 3 months of research/meetups (work mostly done by Melvin), I think we are FINALLY set on what needs to be done. Naturally, I have realised that my wishlist is impossibly expensive and there is no way we can afford Caeserstone Quartz tops, blum hinges, solid doors and tonnes of carpentry. So we are going to keep it simply. Minimal, really, so that the budget hits 25K to 30K.

Melvin's task is to get the IDs we've met up with to requote based on our new requirement. We had initially wanted to redo the bathroom tiles and all, but that racks the cost up at least $2000 or $3000, so we scrapped that idea. His idea of doing paneling to hide the bomb shelter door was also thrown out the window because it would have set us back by at least $1000. I had wanted a raised platform for the bed, that was thrown out too.

In the end, it's just standard kitchen cabinets, shower screen and vanity for Master bath, standard wardrobe for master bedroom, one shoe cabinet and one tv console. grand total = $25 000.

How it can cost so much for seemingly so little, I'll never know.

I don't understand. We aren't doing much but it's so expensive. It is beginning to feel as though I may well NOT renovate the house because it's not going to look like it was renovated, if you get what I mean. We can just buy IKEA furniture and chuck it in and it'll look just about the same for much less.

Don't even feel like having house warming for the place because it really is.. nothing..much..