Remodel Day 8: Much Better

So, I greeted our lovely contractor Alan this morning with the ominous "You're not going to be happy with me." And it's not that he's unhappy with me but I'm certain he is understandably frustrated with me and the remodeling consultant. I explained my position--I think Alan did a fabulous job with the tile work but I misunderstand what the RC had planned and I didn't like the tile placement at all. I understand was the RC was thinking but it just didn't look right to me--the rosettes should be centered on the tile not evenly spaced on the wall which is what the RC was doing.

Fortuitously, the construction supervisor happened to be stopping by our house this morning. He is the one who is responsible for checking on construction sites, fixing any problems happened, and dealing with distressed homeowners such as me. I called work to let them know I would be late this morning and stuck around until he arrived. And I told him my position adding in at Alan's request that this was originally scheduled to be done while I was still at home and could have yayed or nayed the progress at that time but because of the delay in countertops, that didn't happen.

We discussed the options--the original thing we'd agreed on which was to have the complete tile on the bottom and cut the needed width off the top tile. The other option, which we were originally told would cost more, would be to cut the equal parts off of top and bottom of both rows of tiles. I said I would be satisfied with either one--and I honestly think either would have looked fine--and by then, I needed to head to work.

As I was driving to work, Paul called to say that he and the supervisor agreed that it would look better to cut the equal widths off the tiles. Much, much better:

Of course, the bulk of the tile had to be reordered and I haven't heard when that will be delivered so this can be finished. Because it's not loads of tile, there is a possibility that it can be overnighted. Not sure how much that will cost. . . . When this is all done, we will definitely do something very, very nice for our lovely, and patient, contractor.

UPDATE @ 5:00ish: I spoke with Alan who let me know that the tile will be in on Friday and he will work on Monday and Tuesday to finish it. I leave town on Wednesday for a conference. I just hope we have water in the kitchen before I leave so Paul will stop grousing.

Oh, and the primer coat of stucco was also applied today. It's about a 5-day wait until they can apply the top coat.