The Spin Doctors

Mr. Big and I were fortunate enough to have a very talented designer come with us to Miami to choose our flooring, countertops, wall tile and other finishes. He really helped to keep us focused and consistent. In the end, our choices were just slightly different in each room, but carried similar colors and themes throughout the whole house. We were so excited (think giddy!). It would look beautiful! We immediately forwarded all of our selections to our builder, eagerly anticipating the time when the order would be placed.

When that date came about a month ago, we received a call telling us that our stone selection for a major wall feature was no longer available. Huh? We tried finding the same stone in different sizes, but it was a complete no go. The supplier suggested an alternate stone, but their choice had a lot of gold color in it. First off, I'm just not much of a gold girl. And secondly (and most importantly), because everything had been selected to work with together in muted grey and tan tones, we were hesitant to go with their selection...especially without seeing it first. So off to Miami we went (slightly deflated to say the least).

Our time back at the supplier was useful. While we still weren't able to sweet talk them into providing the original stone, we passed on their recommendation and found a beautiful replacement. The replacement comes from the same location as our floor tiles, but just one shade darker. We looked at all our selections together again and left Miami feeling a bit better that we again had something that would work, albeit not as superbly as the original selection. We had a bit of bounce back in our step.

Two weeks later we received an email from the supplier informing us that they would not be able to get us our new stone selection. And this was coming from the same lady that we had met with. Okay, now I'm confused. Why didn't you tell us when we were all together two weeks ago? Again, they tried to propose a different option. (Now we're completely deflated...and a bit frustrated)

Do you all remember that song "You spin me round, round, baby, round, round" by the Spin Doctors in the early 90s? That's what our head was feeling like by this point. We were on their merry-go-round. It was like they were taunting us.

After a few more back and forths, we politely communicated that it was that stone or bust (on the entire order). Miraculously, the previously unavailable stone is now available. It will be arriving a bit later in the project, but that's fine with our timing.

I wish that there was a little roller coaster icon that could show the daily (or even sometimes hourly) movement in emotions that pass through us. Chugging up, up, up and then freefall. Spin us around three times. Back up, up and a small fall. Ugh. Our heads are spinning. This has been exhilarating, scary, fun, and a bit dangerous all at the same time. And we've only reached the half-way point...