Home Depot Hell

I'll admit it, as a female home owner, walking into Home Depot scares me. There I am, walking down the canyons of plumbing supplies, lumber and tile all the while looking up for direction from the hanging ceiling signs just like a lost tourist lost in Manhattan. I mentioned this to my neighbor the other day, and her response was, "Well, those places aren't geared towards women, anyway."

I don't think that's necessarily true, since I did notice that most of the Home Depot employees were women. Ok, maybe not most, but enough were women to make me quasi-comfortable asking for help in the plumbing aisle. The problem is--when I walk into a place like Home Depot I'm totally overwhlemed. I forget what I'm there for, usually purchase the wrong product and give up on my lofty homeowner remodelling goals. The problem this time is that one of my goals is a goal I want to get accomplished on my "hiatus": Remodelling my bathroom. To accomplish this, I have realized I need to embrace my fear of my local Home Depot.

Needless to say, I haven't made much progress with this goal. Honestly, I don't even know where to start. And my bathroom needs some serious help... (I could post pictures here but I'm too embarrassed!)

Ok, that's not entirely true. I think I have a contractor. He's a neighbor who sits on my condo board and I figure since I know where he lives and know most of the condo board members, I'm "safe." (This is another fear of mine--dealing with contractors, mechanics, and other general service industry manly personnel. I just know I'm going to get ripped off. Chalk it up to paying an extra 10% because you simply don't know any better... but, I digress.)

Back to the plumbing aisle...I literally was amazed at how cheap showers, vanities and faucets are at Home Depot. My jaw dropped. Why can't I do this work myself then? While I was standing there, I got a momentary "You can do it!" burst of self-confidence. How hard could it be to rip out a wall-to-wall vanity, pull down tile and slap down some grout?

Then I got vertigo. Faucets started spinning, tiles started blending and the decision to remodel a simple 12 x 12 bathroom became totally overwhelming. So what did I do? Slowed down my breathing and searched frantically for an exit to my Home Depot Hell!