Rookie Move, Losers

Today I'd like to tell you a story all about the first world flooring problems here over at Decor and the Dog.  There are many lessons in this story.

You may remember that our living room was looking like this after installing some two story wall molding and painting the top half of this room.

Our wood flooring was scheduled to be installed about 2 weeks ago.

We ended up ordering the flooring though the same place that we ordered it originally.  The employee there cautioned us that the floor may look slightly different due to different lots produced.  Also it had been six years since we purchased it.  There is enough variation in our flooring anyways so we decided to go for it.

Nate ripped the carpet up for install.

We both left for work super excited for our flooring to be completed.  Nate received a text about 10 minutes after the installer arrived.  The installer was not sure that the wood we had ordered was correct.

This is the part of the story where I teach you all not be morons like my husband and I.  Neither of us had previously thought to check out the boxes once we got them home. I questioned Nate about whether it was right while driving home after we picked it up.  The boxes looked different.  He gave me some hoity-toity Nate answer so I dropped it and honestly didn't think about it after that.

The installer was concerned because the wood was MUCH lighter than what was previously laid.  Nate and I both knew the new flooring would be lighter as Brazilian cherry darkens over time.  Nate went home to look at the flooring.  He decided that it was wrong.  There didn't appear to be enough variation.  He called the flooring company.  They called the manufacturer.  They ensured us that it's right.

The installer left to take another job while we figured out what the heck is going on.

I got home from work and started laying the wood flooring out.  Turns out this wood is some sort of optical illusion.  It looks like there is zero variation in the box but magically is different once you lay it out on the floor.  We decided to trust that it will darken enough to match what is already there.  We then waited two weeks to get back on the installer's schedule.  Living with sub-flooring is gross.  The end.

Wait. That isn't the end of today's story. 

Here's part way through the install yesterday.  You can sort of see that the flooring on the bottom right is quite a bit darker.  We aren't super concerned because we will have a rug.   We also had to have a small patch replaced in front of our dishwasher about a year after we moved it. I freaked (what?) that would never match and you can't tell at all today.

This room is full of tons of natural light so here's to a speedy darkening.

I'll be back with a completed floor.  But not for another week.  It's time for a blog vacation.  See you all back here on the 15th!  Here's an adorable Ike photo to help you get by without us for a week! :P  Enjoy the weekend!