Mr. Magoo

As my bare feet touch the cool travertine flooring that provide a moment of cool relief I suddenly realize that what I am standing on was responsible for one of the most epic meltdowns in my life.   This epic meltdown happened to occur the very night we moved into our new adventure.  

The Travertine is really lovely.  It is a neutral palette that will provide a great background for the newly planned design.  There are so many different names to Travertine but I think this particular color is called Light Tuscany.  It now covers an entire master bathroom and a downstairs landing, hallway and bathroom floor.     While it isn't a typical flooring for a classic cottage theme it is neutral and at a $1.67 a sq ft ......yep really only a $1.67 a sq ft......how could I pass it up. When I saw the price of this travertine and realized we would be moving in less than 30 days I was quick to figure out how to take advantage of this well priced opportunity.....and thus began three weeks of pure and complete madness.

After purchasing two crates of this gorgeous stuff the first challenge would be to figure out how to transport over a ton of material a 150 miles. My husband and I don't own a truck or a trailer.  We were also in the middle of packing and coordinating a closing on the sale of our home.  But these would only be minor distractions because what was really on my mind was remodeling two bathrooms before we moved into our new home.   I love remodeling but I don't like living in the midst of tile dust and the inconvenience of having work people in my space.  Motivated by a great sale and the thought of not living in the midst of a bathroom remodel my husband and I got our tile crew to agree to stay in what was going to be our new home.    We met the tile crew at what I used to call the cabin and have now renamed to "The Cottage".    The work was to be completed in two weeks which would be perfect since we would be moving in less than three weeks.

In order to make the 150 mile trek to meet our tile crew our day had started very early.

• 6:00    a.m.   Left to pick up trailer and pick up Travertine.
• 8:00    a.m.   Off to "The Cottage".
• 10:00  a.m.   Arrive at "The Cottage"  Began to clean, unload a car full of groceries, make up beds for Tile crew.  Unload a half ton of Travertine.  
• 11:00  a.m.   Tile Crew arrive.  I walked them through the bathrooms and explained design plan.
• 12:00  p.m.   Husband and I get back to unloading that large crate of Travertine.  Tile Crew begins  demolition of first bathroom.
• 1:00    p.m.   Tile Crew provide us with a materials list.  Husband and I make the 35 mile trek to the closest store.
• 3:00    p.m.   We arrive back at "The Cottage".
• 4:00    p.m.   Supplies unloaded 
• 5:00    p.m.   Husband and I leave to make the 150 mile return trip back home.
• 7:30    p.m.   Tile crew call me on my cell to see where the salt is.   They are eating a nice chicken dinner from the groceries we left for them.    I look down at my empty taco bell wrapper and explain the salt is in the pantry.   They also want to know how to turn on the Tv.   I realize that I forgot to tell them I haven't got the Tv hooked up yet.    
•  8:30   p.m.  Arrive home

Over the next two weeks we made the trek to The Cottage three times which meant over 1200 miles, a ton of Travertine, many trips to pick up supplies for the tile crew, a lot of taco bell and one very tired couple.   The good news was each time we arrived at The Cottage the work was progressing and my vision was coming to light.  BUT......1200 miles over a three week period while packing up a 3000 sq ft house was a bit much.    And of course as with any remodel project there were bumps along the way.  I have now learned to expect mistakes but it is a little hard to correct mistakes while you are 150 miles away and there is a little bit of a language problem.     Coordinating a project from a cell phone proved to be tricky and not something I would recommend.  Also throw in a tile contractor who decides to play designer and well lets just say that doesn't make for very happy designer....namely me.  So add a few mistakes in the design along with a packing up a 3000 sq ft house....add in sleep deprivation and well you end up with a VERY STRESSED DESIGNER.

How stressed was I?    Well stay tuned for part two and I will explain.   

But here is a hint.