I want to update you on some work we (Parker) got done this week for One Room Challenge Week 2, and also fill you in on the issue I mentioned last week that we had/have with our floors. If you want to see a summary of the project, check out week 1! Let’s start with progress. Parker worked on the fireplace all week. And I think we finally have our final design. I think we are officially taking the fireplace all the way to the ceiling. We also changed the bottom part a little bit to make it a bit skinnier. So here is the final design.

The mantel and fireplace-surround no longer wrap around the wall. I like this less-chunky look. The only thing I am still unsure of is the side view. Notice that the brick comes lower on this side than it does on the front. The reason for that is the current placement of the light switch. Parker says it would not be easy to move. However, he did move the electrical on the front of the fireplace this week.

The sunroom fireplace is pretty much ready for grout/mortar, caulk, and paint!

I think it is going to look so great once it’s painted! I love that we are bringing in some of the same features you see in the mudroom woodwork.

The fireplace has the same inset as the sides of the shelf and cabinets and the cabinet doors.

Here’s where we are with the great room side of the fireplace

The design of the mantel is a little bit different on this side because this side can handle a little more height. We are waiting on the crown molding to come in to finish off the mantel. We were able to do the other side because we had that crown left over from the mudroom. The rest of the crown should be here Monday. There is a black line on the above picture that shows you where we will attach it.

Now, on to the floors. Last week I let you know that there was a story about the floors that  I would fill you in on. I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it last week because I really didn’t know how it was going to end up. We still don’t know everything, but ultimately I think its all going to work out.

Parker picked the floors up on Tuesday last week. As he was bringing them in, I could see a couple of inches of the floors in the box. I started to panic that they looked different. I said, “what if these aren’t like the sample.” Parker said he was sure they were fine and opened a box to prove it. As we layed it out on the floor to check it out, we both knew it. They were not right. They were textured. Our sample was DEFINITELY not textured.

I think you can see the difference in the pictures. I have no problem with texture. In fact, I think the picture above is quite pretty. However, with the aluminum oxide finish that is on most floors these days (rather than polyurethane), that texture can have a whitish appearance  when the sun glares off of it. With the color of stain we chose, the floors were basically taking on a black and white grainy look when the sun shined (shone?) on it. NOT what we had in mind.

How could this have happened???? We checked the box, and it said the same thing as the sample. As we tried to figure out what could have gone wrong, we honed in on the word “brushed.” Our sample had said “brushed,” which was interesting because we paid to have the sample made for us, and we didn’t ask for it to be brushed. We asked for Matte. When we got the sample it was labeled as Matte Brushed. I found that weird, but I thought that maybe in order to get Matte it had to be brushed? Or maybe they misunderstood and thought we wanted brushed? Whatever the reason, I liked it, so I didn’t care that it was “brushed.” Parker also thought it was weird that they sent us a “brushed” sample, and even thought that it didn’t look brushed. But again, he didn’t think that much of it because there are different ways to brush wood and different flooring companies seem to do different things. And again, he liked it; so he didn’t think too much of it. But as he looked at the floors we had just picked up, he said that they had the appearance of what he had previously thought “brushed” meant, and that our sample must have been labeled incorrectly. Of course, we were panicking that we were going to have to live with these floors that we didn’t like. We are the people who hate our floors. We want to stop being those people! I don’t want to talk about what’s wrong with our floors anymore. In addition, if we wanted to just be okay with our floors, we could have spent less money. We spent more to get what we really wanted. Now we had okay floors for “love them!” money. A big fat BOOOOOOOO!

The same day we got the floors Parker went back to the wholesaler to show them the difference between the sample and the actual floors. We weren’t able to get answers right away. We were really worried that they might try to convince us that they were the same as the the sample. As the week has gone on, we’ve been in contact with the flooring store several times who has also been in contact with the manufacturer. They agree that the floors we got are different than our sample and that the sample was mislabeled. They want to make us happy. Thank goodness!!! So, we will be getting the correct floors. However, we are still working on a timeline. Our plan was to lay the floors the week after next. That is not going to happen. However, it does look like they are going to put us at the front of the production line for the new floors. So we may not end up too far off from our plan.

However, I was REALLY hoping to have this project done before I go back to work in November. I am super bummed that isn’t going to happen. I also hope that this doesn’t affect us getting the house ready for Christmas. There is a lot of trim work to do after the floors go in, so everyday counts. We are looking to have the fireplace ready for paint by the end of next weekend. That is really pushing it, but fingers crossed!! We haven’t probably been working as fast since we know our timeline is shot. We would also like to get the bathroom tiled prior to the wood floors going in so that we don’t have to worry about getting grout on the new floors. So lots of fun projects still on the horizon.

I hope we have a lot more to show you next week!! Let me know if you have any questions! What are your thoughts on the floor situation??

Jalene