Oops, Misery Manor Did It Again

I Can’t Believe This Happened to Me Again

Misery Manor won this time around. I seriously cannot believe this has happened to me again!

Ya’ll know I have been scrubbing walls and floors for weeks at the Carolina Cottage! Well, this week I was so dang excited to see my finished stained floors so I can really start on the fun stuff. BUT NO. I met with my floor guy earlier this week to look at stain colors and something just went wrong between us. Thankfully, for him, he’s a nice guy.

Trying to Avoiding a Misery Manor Cabin

I wanted to be sure that Cottage maintained it’s charm without looking like a creepy version of a log cabin. Despite being very careful with my stain selections, things still happened.

I was excited this week when I walked in and saw the “wet floor” sign. I had such high hopes that I could check something off the list! But peeking at what I could see beyond the sign-I knew something had gone awry. There was no way this was the stain color I picked.

The stain test had looked absolutely perfect just the day before. But when I went back to check in later, it was so drastically different. I couldn’t go any further than the kitchen because the poly had JUST been applied minutes before. I went home and hoped the color would somehow magically change back to what I had originally chosen for the floors. A few hours later I went back after it was dry and it was still the same. So orange and yellow– just what I was trying so hard to avoid.

Misery Manor Stain Stressin’

I walked around each room trying to tell myself, “It’s not that bad.” It’s going to be fine once we get furniture and rugs in.” If you’ll remember with me, this very same thing happened to me in my our historically inspired custom new build four years ago.

I literally met the floor man the day he was staining to go over everything. I wanted to make sure he was sure of what I wanted-we even custom mixed a color on site! It was all a go until he called me later that evening and said he had gone in a different direction and chose a completely different stain than what I chose because HE didn’t like how my stain choice was turning out.

That man stained my entire house a completely different shade- its five shades darker than what I chose. The real kicker was he REFUSED to fix them. He said my only fix would be “to paint my floors blue”. I have steam coming out of my ears all over again just thinking about it. Lesson Learned: My first mistake was that we paid him the morning he was over BEFORE he finished the job. I no longer use that floor guy, I’m sure you’re shocked. 

Back to Making Misery Manor Not So Miserable

This new fella is extremely kind and a lot more professional than the last! My MIL has used him many times and he does great work. {I truly just believe it comes down to it most men are not very detailed 😉 #sorrynotsorry}

The floors were BEAUTIFUL and absolutely perfect … so what happened? The dang OIL BASED POLY. Unbeknownst to me, that stuff will orange and yellow when applied over stain and I even read it even gets worse as years go by {yay}. WATER based poly claims to not do this, but I have no experience with it so I can’t say for sure.

After complaining to Mark for awhile, I worked up the courage and called the new, incredibly nice, floor guy. I actually HATE complaining and even considered just dealing with these floors, but I had to. This floor color was was drastically different. When I called him, he was very kind, but initially said he didn’t agree.

Proof is in the Pudding

Lucky or maybe unlucky for him, I take pictures of everything during renovations. I take pictures of products used and I keep everything tucked away for reference. Basically, I’m a psycho over details. After I sent him the photos, he called me back almost right away and said I was right and he wanted to make it right. Whew!

Then I told him about the research I had done on the water based poly. Heck I even asked do we need to have poly?? He said the poly would protect the floors and he would like to attempt to fix what was already done. I understand because it is A LOT of work to start over. So I’m going to let him try to fix them by mixing some of the stain with the poly (like he explained to me.)

I will say, at this point, I don’t have high hopes. However, I do want to let him try this before we have to completely sand and redo these floors for a second time. His plan is to test it in one spot and then let me take a look before moving forward (Good idea 😉

Putting Me Out of My Misery

I am thankful he was so willing to make it right. And I will say after being around construction for so many years, of course mistakes do happen. We are all human and our perceptions can be so different.

As a designer, builder, flipper, etc, I think it’s very important to be as involved as you can be. Show up to the job as often as you can so that you can catch mistakes before they are even harder to fix. With our own residence, I checked in everyday and I caught a lot of mistakes. Of course, there are a few I didn’t catch and truthfully, I still kick myself over them. But I have to remind myself, there is no way to build a perfect home where everything goes smoothly. It’s wise to expect things to happen. 

My Best Advice

Hire the right people. Get names of past clients and actually call them to ask about their experiences. Make sure you have a good working connection with them.

Do your own research. Know as much about the process as you can and look into the materials used. Don’t solely rely on the information given. Listen to the professionals of course, but also be armed with your own knowledge.

Keep an open line of communication at all times. Don’t assume anything! Make sure whoever you hire, knows you want to be closely involved each step of the way and never assume they just know what you want. Be very clear and even show pictures. 🙂

Don’t pay until it is completely done and you are satisfied! You are paying for a service that you should receive. 

Be kind but speak up. That little voice inside you who knows something is off but you might be afraid or intimidated to say it because you’re unsure or overwhelmed. We are all just people doing our best (most of the time…. looking at you first floor man). Most people are far more likely to listen to you if you approach with kindness… and if that doesn’t work, a swift chop to the neck should do it. Lol 😉 

There will be mistakes- there’s no avoiding it. As much as I obsess over the details, in the grand scheme of things, it is not worth losing sleep over. (That’s what Mark says anyway, but maybe he just wanted to stop hearing about these floors 😉