Dumps, doldrums and delays... are we done yet?

Elliott here... In my last blog post, I promised an action packed story about the stress this project has had on our pups. Most of you have met our oh so fuzzy kids, Dooley and Graham. Dooley is the alpha, the old (crotchety) man, the protector, the non-discriminatory lover, and Lauren's favorite creature whose only known enemies are rodents, thunderstorms, and any package carrier (FedEx, UPS, USPS, and the occasional Girl Scout). Graham is the artist, the tender hearted romantic, the only remaining descendant of Disney's dwarf Dopey, and my favorite domestic Sasquatch whose only known enemies are frictionless stairs and the occasional stray dingle berry. These guys are huge part of our life, but we feel we've failed them as caretakers during this project. We started off boarding them at a local kennel (what up DDH), but that soon became economically unsustainable. After the "heavy construction" tapered off, we decided to keep them locked-up in our bedroom upstairs. Before you start judging, their pen area in our bedroom isn't exactly Alcatraz. They have more blankets and pillows than your local Holiday Inn. Anyways, a few weeks back (we're rounding out week 7 now), we came home to THE MOST foul smelling house... We had to sit in the porta-john out front to catch our breath afterwards. I came upstairs and saw that poor, poor Graham had relieve himself... several times... in their pen... and ON Dooley. It was EVERYWHERE!

I release them from their pen, and Graham begins sh... poop uncontrollably on his way to the backyard! All the while his tail is wagging (who knows why) and throwing poop on the bedroom rug, walls, stair banisters, and all over the floor leading to the back door. It was the worst rendition of Hansel and Gretel I've ever seen... Meanwhile, Lauren is rushing out of the house with the neighborhood gals to get pedicures. "Don't worry, La; I've got this." I spring into action and bath them both. You should have seen Dooley's face when we asked him to get back in their clean pen to be dried off with a fan... He now has Post Traumatic S#!+ Disorder. Graham continued this behavior for the next two days... all over the house. We took him to the ER (yes, they have those), and he was diagnosed with "Stress Induced Colitis." Seems we need to add kitchen renovations to his list of known enemies. A few pills and some tasty, expensive, soft dog food and he was good as new.

We decided to let our buddy, Mike, keep him the next week to give him a break from the action. He offered to keep Dooley too (they're buds), but I insisted that Dooley would be fine home alone... Boy was I wrong! I guess Dooley, being the wise old man, decided that leaving us a few smelly nuggets on our bedroom's carpet was his ticket out of the house and onto Mike's couch. Well played my man, well played...

On to more kitchen updates... (Lauren here)... We now have counters, beautiful, LG Viatera Rococo counters. I am obsessed. However, two weeks ago Monday my excitement was tempered with despair... 

Coming home to the new counters was amazing, Elliott and I felt like we hit a huge milestone, until I realized that the size counter we talked about was not the size that was in my house. Expectations, unmet. I was devastated. All this investment, all the thought into the design, and most importantly, the ability to eat dinner at the island top and one day have our kids eat there, at a safe distance from the cook top flame... all gone with a 5 inch miscommunication.

  

Okay so maybe a little over dramatic... but it was really disappointing. (Okay, I cried. It was a tough day and I admit I cried over a counter... please don't judge me too harshly). 

If you take a look below, you see where Elliott is pointing on the measuring tape; that is the designed length. It means that Elliott's knees hit the wall before he is close enough to comfortably sit to eat. It also means that folks are 5 inches closer to a cooktop, that when entertaining, were closer than I was expecting and intending. Caveat, Elliott is not a normal sized human; but, it is important that were able to have what we designed. Before our top had close to a 16" overhang, the overhang in the pictures below was 9.25". We had resigned ourselves to living with this despite the fact that we thought we had communicated and discussed the desire to have the "same size island top" as was in the previous kitchen layout. We shared our disappointment with the contractor and were pleased when the best case scenario played out. He is fixing it, and he is doing so at his own expense. He continues to exceed our expectations and be a phenomenal partner in all of this. We are so grateful. *sniff*

We learned some real lessons in the countertop debacle. 1). Always document your expectations and do not assume that only a conversation will suffice. We're all human, there are mistakes and it is important to be sure that what you want is communicated clearly. 2). It pays to be honest with your contractor... no matter how hard it is to tell someone that you're disappointed. To begin, it ensures that there are no secrets, and second, it enables the contractor to be apart of the discussion and in the best instances, be a part of the correction for the issue. He wants us to recommend him. We want to recommend him. And both sides know that is harder to do if the client is not happy with their end product. 

Sidebar: In case you are wondering, "who's the creeper in the kitchen?" It is our dear friends Lauren and Keith Elliott, in the form of a discounted photo blanket. They are doing a phenomenal job protecting our cooktop from dust and debris. Thank you Elliotts... we love having your creepy faces in our kitchen every day! For the record, we ARE obsessed with the Elliotts, no question, but we are not SO obsessed that we had a photo blanket printed of their cute selves. The Elliotts sent us a surprise package after being enticed by a mega clearance email offer - good job, Walgreens. It was/is hilarious and we now have a phenomenal memento of them. When we miss them... we just cuddle the blanket... yup, totally weird. 

More fun update photos ahead...

Also, please meet our, on back order, 7 trip to the tile shop, borrowing 15 tile samples, agonizing decision making, tile choice, the Walker Zanger (or as Elliott is affectionately calling "Walker Texas Zanger") cocoon mosaic tile. (http://www.walkerzanger.com/library/pdf/products/6thAvenue.pdf) See you in October WTZ!

Still to be done: shoring up the ceiling, finishing the appliance install, new counter install, plumbing snafu fix (our sink is non-operational due to a "wrong pipe, wrong time" situation), and punch list fixes. Also, the protective paper has come up unveiling the floor again and we'll share those pics in the next post. We're almost there folks!