It's very normal, and we are in your same boat! Waaay over budget even after making serious cuts.

Never assume! Always write everything down so there is no miscommunication, and see samples first!

Our first mistake was decking. The pool deck was rotting and needed to be replaced. We got talked into pressure treated wood instead of the more expensive and much prettier Trex type stuff. We didn't see a sample of the wood and they had used it for structures with a couple boards laying on top, and we feared that they would use that horrible stuff on top, so we called to stop it. Of course, this was on a Sunday, and by the time they got the message on Monday, the whole thing had been finished. So now I'm looking for area rugs to cover the thing. You can't walk on that splintery stuff with bare feet, and everyone walks on a pool deck bare footed!!

They built a low custom cabinet in the media room, and we told them just to put a wood top on it to match the cabinet. Should have said something like "a furniture top..same wood." But we figured they knew to do that. What did they do? Butcherblock! OMG! Too late to change it now!

Kitchen counters are not yet in, but should happen today. I'm so mad at the contractor I won't even go down there, so DH makes the trip and comes home with the bad news.

Lots of other mistakes have been made. Some small, some huge! It's just money, right? And we are all made of that!!

I'm sure once it's all done we'll settle in and forget the mistakes. I know I didn't assure you, but hopefully you will communicate better than we did.

Good luck! We move in on Saturday, so packing up now.

I hope it's normal, I'm right there with you! We are almost done too. Wiring done, walls back up, floor in, cabinets in, appliances back, etc. Just waiting for some switches, a fan, vent hood, and counters. But none of the anxiety is gone, it has all come back!

I'm hoping for all of us this is normal and goes away :-)

I've never been responsible for spending this much money before, maybe that's it? I picked everything myself from my own research, mostly here. I did my own lighting plan, cabinet layout, etc. I'm hoping once I see things really did work out things will calm down?

Thanks, both of you. For me it's both spending this much money (which, on the face of it, just seems wildly irresponsible) but then also the fact that I'm newly single and so while I have a great GC and a designer to help me, in the end, these decisions are all mine. And, that's just scary.

Of course, the fact that there's drywall dust & mud all over the place (cabinets and appliances not put in yet) doesn't really help.

Well, if the freaking out doesn't go away, at least I'll know that I'm not alone :-)