How to Deal with Things not Going as Planned during a Renovation
Written by: Rene
If you've been following along, you know the bathroom tile has already been a bit of a saga.
By the time I was ready to order the tile I had carefully selected, it was completely out of stock—both online and in stores. To make matters worse, nearly every similar option I liked was unavailable too. After far too many hours searching, I ended up with a new plan that I actually loved even more.
Originally, I had chosen a cream zellige-style tile for the shower walls. Instead, I decided to be a little bolder with a sage green skinny subway tile installed in a vertical stack. For the floors, I selected Capri Oat porcelain tile, which balanced out the budget nicely while still giving me the look I wanted. (This is an important detail)
At this point, I felt like I had earned a smooth installation.
Narrator: She had not earned a smooth installation. In fact, quite the opposite.
Last week the shower wall tile went in, and it is absolutely gorgeous. I stopped by the property to admire it and noticed the protective cover had been removed from the bathtub. My first thought was, “Perfect! I can finally make sure they installed the drain that matches the plumbing fixtures I picked out.”
So I leaned over the tub and immediately slipped.
What I thought was just a shadow beside the tub was actually a patch of fresh wet cement extending about a foot from the edge. One very obvious shoe print later, I was standing there in complete horror. I immediately texted my contractor a picture and offered to grab the nearby trowel and try to smooth it out. After a few messages back and forth, his response was simply: "Just leave."
To be fair, he's incredibly kind, so I think it was more exhausted than angry. I replied that I would, in fact, "stay out." And I did. I avoided the property for several days to minimize my chances of creating any additional construction disasters. When I finally returned, the floor tile had been installed. My first thought was, “Huh... I don't like it nearly as much as I expected.” Then I looked at the empty tile boxes. Wrong tile. Instead of Capri Oat, they had installed Riviera Oat.
Now, I have to give a tiny bit of blame to Floor & Decor here. Putting two nearly identical tiles named "...Oat" right beside each other feels like setting everyone up for failure. I refuse to believe we're the first people this has happened to. At that point, though, I decided the contractor and I were even. I stepped in the cement. He installed the wrong (very similar... but still wrong) tile. Call it a draw. The next day I came back, and the floor was finished. Someone had thoughtfully placed a broom across the bathroom doorway—a not-so-subtle barricade that I interpreted as, "Rene, please don't touch anything." Honestly... fair. Since then, I've also been getting regular text messages from my contractor with very specific instructions before I come by. I'm starting to think I've lost my "unsupervised job site" privileges.
I’m so glad you found your way to this little corner of the hosting world. Here’s to better Midterm rentals (and hoping the bathroom tile drama is officially behind us)
~Rene
P.S. If you haven’t already, follow my journey on Tiktok, Pinterest, and Instagram.