Mr. and Mrs. Upgrade

We had our appointment at the design center the other day to pick out all of the interiors for our new house. Having never done this before, we really didn't know what to expect. We were immediately in for an awakening when we quickly realized that we'd just been transported to upgrade nation. Everything that comes 'standard' on our house is flat out nasty. I honestly cannot think of any reason any sane person would get the standard things. Even if it is about money, I don't think a logical person would be willing to buy a house just to make the inside look like a pile of well, to say it nicely, crap. So, this upgrade thing being the case, Tim and I were faced with conversations like this:

Lady with no personality (showing a product that I could go dig up in a garage that holds everything from 1980): "This is what comes standard"
Jenn (thinking to herself, stunned speechless): "She cannot be serious. This must be a joke. I wonder if I should laugh. Probably not. She seems awfully serious. That is the most god-awful thing I've ever seen in my life. I wonder what her secret is to keeping a straight face...oh yes, probably the no personality thing. Omg, I swear if Tim expresses any sort of likingness to this THING, I am going to seriously consider applying him to 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy' because obviously everything I've taught him has meant nothing."
Tim says (in not so many words): "I don't think we like that."
Jenn (thinking to herself): "Thank GOD. I feel like dancing. He is not all that defective when it comes to style. I wonder if I made a face, though... I probably did. Oh well."
Lady (goes into some weirdo trance): "Well, then, here's upgrade number 2 or you can get upgrade number two in a different color or style but then it's upgrade number five. Or for $20,000 you can get upgrade number 12. Or you can do an upgrade 4 with an upgrade 8 tacked on but then you'll pay the upgrade 9 price. Or here's the same color with a different style in an upgrade 10..."

Imagine doing this for THREE HOURS STRAIGHT for every large and minute detail that composes the interior of your house. It's insane.

But, regardless, we did end up getting some pretty cool things and are really excited to see the finished product. Here's generally what we got (probably about half of the stuff we picked will be a surprise for us when we move in...we were so overwhelmed by Ms. Personality Upgrade and we had to make so many decisions that we really only remember the big things we got):
1) We got cherry wood cabinets throughout the house...you guessed it! An upgrade, of course. And we added handles to the cabinets...yet another upgrade.
2) We got blackish granite countertops for the kitchen (probably our biggest expense along with the cabinets)
3) We tiled our entryway, kitchen, laundry, and bathrooms. And the tile was an upgrade from the carpet and WITHIN the tile group we got upgrade 3 or 4 but we COULD have gotten a bigger sized tile and that would have been an upgrade 6 or 7. See how maddening this can get?!
4) We only ended up putting wood in the office (it was $17 a square foot! So, even just doing the office it is $2,300). We were going to do the whole front room, too, but that would have been $8,300. It seemed dumb because then we would have had to pay an additional deposit, we didn't want to deck our house out so much that it wouldn't appraise, and why spend so much money on something you don't plan to be in forever? So, I'm happy with the decision even if its less wood than I originally wanted.
5) We upgraded our carpet and the pad. It's a dark taupe color. I like it.
6) We upgraded our sinks, faucets, door handles, and lighting fixtures. They are cool. (Can you believe the standard for these are BRASS? Ugh. SOOO ugly!!)
7) Oh yes, and we got an upgraded microwave, dishwasher, and stove (black and stainless steel).

I'm happy with our decisions... I think it will be perfect for us! We spent about what we thought we would which is always good. So, now the only two other appointments we have is for the mortgage and the landscaping. And then we can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride until move in day!