The ups and downs of building a home

I am blessed. Steve and I had our home built almost two years ago. The home is more than we need with the great kitchen countertops and cabinets. Obviously,we picked them out ourselves. Here are the ups and downs we've had with our home since moving in.
Downs:
We wanted to pick out our own light fixtures because we didn't like the choices the builder gave us. Almost two years later, we still haven't picked out fixtures for the kitchen or dining room. Needless to say, you can't eat in the dining room after 5 pm because you can't see anything. Candle light is only "romantic" the first or second time you try it. It suddenly grows old after that. Solution: We should have just picked out freaking light fixtures through the builder because you're just going to end up paying for them one way or the other, and you might as well have some light and then sell them later if you want to change them out. I'm learning this the hard way.
After your one year walk through, the carpenters come through and find almost all of the nail pops in the dry wall and proceed to fix them. Steve and I spent a lot of money to have the house painted before we moved in. Well, now my walls are polka dotted with white spots. Apparently they do a two year walk through and do the same thing again. We are now in the decision process of do we paint the walls again or just wait. I'm dying to hear your opinions on this; do weigh in!
When you move into a newer neighborhood, everyone is doing something to get their homes lived in. My husband LOVES this and is fascinated with the newest and latest projects that are occurring. For us, most of these projects require MONEY that we don't have at the moment, which means putting it on credit. I'm not a fan of that. Unless it's an emergency, you don't use credit. Why do you think our country is in the economic mess that it's in now? Answer: Because everyone is trying to keep up with the Jones' in our materialistic society. In other words, all of the projects we have on our "to do" list will have to wait until we save our money to accomplish them. It is what it is.
Ups:
Like I said, I love my countertops! They are perfect.
The flooring is great. The carpet and tile turned out better than I expected.
I have more room than I need; Steve even has his own office which is handy for his record label that he runs out of our home, although the house is often set up like a pack and ship; everything just explodes all over the downstairs.

Solution:
Take it as it comes. This is a huge learning process for us. Every day is a journey. In the meantime, if you don't mind polka dotted walls, come on over and eat in the dark with us!