Waiting on the fireplaces

Ok, I did it. 

I wrote a complaint letter.

I didn't want to do it, but I felt I had to.

It starts off like this ~

We have two fireplaces - one in the living room, 

and one in the family room.

Both are wood burning and both had this fake stone from the floor all the way to the top of the cathedral ceilings........

and the fake stone covered a very, very wide area.  

I must have disliked these fireplaces so much that it was difficult to find a "before" picture,  however, I did find this picture of our cat Patches.

See the fake stone in the background.

(I know, a cat sitting on a Longaberger basket - probably not too smart.)

Isn't that black painted cement grout lovely?

I have been wanting new fireplaces since we bought his home 12 years ago.

 We thought about painting them white.....

but we saw some of those painted white, and they still looked like fake stone, but painted white.  

So, between Christmas & New Years, 

we picked out two fireplaces

 at one of the best, well known fireplace stores in Rockford, 

in fact, 

they specialize in working with stone and brick. 

They have numerous "working samples" right on their showroom floor.

It sounds perfect, right?

Wait until you see the two we picked out.

This below is limestone and slate for the living room.

Because our hearth & fireplace are higher than the normal fireplace,

they said we would have to have it redesigned in proportion to our needs.

Gives you the general idea.

I really fell in love with this style.

First of all, I grew up with a slate entryway that my mom adored.

She felt having slate was a luxury, and I came to appreciate that floor myself, 

with the subtle colors that didn't always look the same depending on the light.

The mantel on this piece is so simple,

and I hope the style will be timeless.

Here is a close up of the corner and the straight lines and simple details.

For the family room and the heart of our house,

we chose this style and brick.

I like the big stone that surrounds the opening. 

To further update our fireplace look, we are changing out both screen doors with a more updated version, and of course, at an additional cost.

But to me, it is worth it.

So, we removed all the fake stone,

and redrywalled -

 in the living room, the entire wall had to be redone,

whereas the family room, only half the wall had to be done.

Then we waited for the fireplace people 

just to come and give us a quote.

We called again, and waited.

Please, just a phone call?

My brother offered to paint our entire interior house, 

and even though I wanted to have the fireplaces done first,

I took him up on his offer since it fit his time frame.

So one week in February, he painted our entire house.

Here is the fireplace in the living room,

with the newly painted wall.

Notice all the wood flooring in the middle of the living room.

Yes, the wood flooring installation is also waiting for the fireplace people.

Here is the newly painted wall in the family room.

Notice how high off the floor the fireplace is.

On Ash Wednesday,

our Mr. Fireplace salesman showed up to take dimensions.

So here we are on May 16, 2011.

House is still torn up.

After multiple phone calls,

we STILL do not even have a quote for the two fireplaces.

We are waiting.

I think I have been very patient, too patient

 (my husband calls it something else).

My inclination to write the owner of the company came on swift today, 

and when I get the urge to write, 

I best take advantage of it.

The 24 hour rule will apply, but I think my letter will remain unchanged come morning, 

and it will be mailed in the  

in the nicely addressed, stamped envelope.

You know, for every customer complaint, 

you have a certain number of people who won't complain.

They just won't ever come back. 

(I'm usually in that category.)

I didn't want to do it, but I felt I had to.

***************

Now we will wait ~  for his phone call.

Are you a betting person?

What are the odds?