Kitchen Renovation and Playroom Clear-out

We are entering that dreadful time pre-renovation when we have to start making permanent & definitive decisions and purchases relating to our kitchen reno.  I hate it.  It's totally a first-world problem, but I am filled with anxiety and dread about every decision I make.  They are all costly and for the most part, a permanent part of our foreseeable future.  We plan to live in the house indefinitely and I highly doubt we'll ever undertake a renovation of this magnitude in here again, so I want to make timeless and wise decisions.  Once it's done we can no longer say, "What were they thinking when they did that?!" - because we will have been those people not thinking.

Today was the very first major decision.  We went and bought two of the three new appliances we need.  I feel very confident with the fridge purchase, but a little bit uncertain about the stove.  The reason the fridge purchase is so weighty and necessary now is because unlike stoves, there is no "standard" size for refrigerators.  So in a complete renovation like ours, the fridge size will determine the cabinet size & placement.  No pressure or anything.

This is only the start.  If you are interested to see a glimpse of my vision for our kitchen, check out my Kitchen Renovation board on Pinterest.  You'll probably be able to tell very quickly which direction we're going.

Part of the preparation for the renovation is to clear out our existing playroom, which will become what it was originally intended to be, a dining room.  This is what has gotten me fired up tonight.  I first had to clean my 6 year old's room so that I could start incorporating some of the toys into her bedroom space (which is terribly small in the first place, just shy of 10x9 feet.)  Cleaning my kid's bedrooms & playroom always ends up making me so mad about how much stuff they have and how spoilt they are.  Today was no different.  After I finished the bedroom, I headed down to the playroom to try to winnow down her collection of toys.  She doesn't seem to understand that she doesn't need two of everything; two doll strollers, two doll beds, and literally 20 baby dolls (she likes babies). I'm not sure how I'm going to talk her out of some of these toys and we don't have many options for where else to put them as we have a moderately sized home: 1132 sq. feet with only a 1/2 size basement due to our house being a 3-level split.

I know I shouldn't complain, preparing for a big renovation is really a luxury, but a stressful one nonetheless, filled with buyer's remorse and self-doubt, at least for me.

Our playroom when it's clean, which isn't very often.