The tile arrived...

(Yes, that alone is monumental enough to warrant it's own post!)

WE HAVE TILE!

Construction zone...

Our master bathroom is STILL not completed.  We are six weeks into this mold remediation/shower rebuild.  Five people + one bathroom= NOT FUN.

This is how things look today.  I am playing a perpetual game of "wait and see" as to who shows up, if someone shows up, and yesterday waited all day just so they could show up with the wrong tile.  Taylor Morrison and Wisenbaker Tile Company only care about "customer service" as long as it takes for you to sign papers stating the house is yours.  After that, you are on your own.  Good luck with that.

We have walls...waiting on trim.

The library is also in a state of construction, but since storage space is tight I am moving things onto shelves to clear a side for Travis to work on.  Once all the shelves are built and trimmed out I will once again clear the room to sand and paint.  We are really hoping to have this project completed by Christmas.  I think I may have typed that line this time last year...

Christmas decorations are set to go up this weekend, so hopefully the bathroom is complete by then, because this is driving my OCD into overtime.

Unintentional Halloween decor...

I've seen some super cute Halloween decor on blogs this month.

Here's my version of indoor Halloween decor: *warning: Gross pictures ahead!

BLACK MOLD

MOLD

Living room wall on the other side of the shower area....

My lovely 6 in baseboards...

This is the corner of our living room from the master bedroom hallway...

Living room corner where the entertainment center goes...

Where the bathroom bench seat sat in the shower area.  NOTE the lack of lining- just the seat and tile was over the foundation...

We are dealing with a bigger leak issue than we first thought.  Black mold, mildew, rotted 2x4's, and mushy drywall from the bathroom through to the connecting living room.  So, needless to say any home decor posts are going to be on hold for a bit.  I am up to my sinuses in dust and allergens.  I'm just hoping that Taylor Morrison Homes will swoop in and fix this quickly.  Now if I can just get them to allow me to upgrade our shower tile.  Even with our offering to pay any amount that goes over the standard tile we first used they are saying no.  Makes. Zero. Sense.  They advertise that customer satisfaction is their number one priority.  I have to disagree- I'm a customer, and I am not satisfied, and they seem to care not.

I'm hosting a wedding shower for a dear friend of mine on the 25th of October.

Maybe I'll just string up some plastic spiders and call it good for Halloween ;)

Mystery solved...

I swear my life feels like a Nancy Drew mystery.  Today's episode:  The Case of the Moldy Shower.

It all started with me noticing that we had a bit of mold growing underneath the baseboard that backed up to the shower area along with a funny smell...

I know.  Lovely, but this is the gulf coast and mold is just a part of our everyday life.  Extreme temps and humidity is the perfect breeding ground for this stuff.

So many weeks after a warranty request to the builder they finally sent someone out.  The culprit?  Faulty backing board. Yep, apparently we are one of MANY homes that had this defective product used in it.  Hopefully others are noticing too, because the builder is not going out of their way to notify any homeowners who had homes built using the defective material.

Also, there was this:

Yeah, that's the shower seat.  NOT CAULKED.  Or was at some point, but separated horribly.  Hello, water entry point.   Pleas ignore the crazy awful looking grout.  Also an issue due to the cracking tiles, and grout that falls out sporadically.

We have two bathrooms- so both showers have to be ripped out and completely redone.  The woman who scheduled the appointment said that they would only need three house to finish the job.

*crickets*

"Um, we've done tile work- you need to let tile set overnight before grouting, so three hours is impossible."

"Oh", she responded, "Let me talk to a supervisor and check on that."

You do that, honey.

Then the contractor called me today and said, "Yeah, we are supposed to be replacing a few tiles today?"

"Yes, like ALL OF THEM", I said through gritted teeth.

Another call to a supervisor.

Fast forward to later today...

I've saved the best for last.  Here is a shot of the shower seat after all the tile was removed: Remember, this house is only three years old!

Now here is the absolutely insane part.  We wanted to "upgrade" our tile since the entire thing has to be retiled.  We started out with plain jane white square tiles, but wanted plain jane white subway tiles.   I know, we are feeling all Kardashian over here with the upgrade requests.

Taylor Morrison homes said, "No", but cannot give us a valid reason for not doing it.   We were more than willing to pay any extra cost for the tile, but it seems that the only thing extra they provide is BLACK MOLD.  Just when I think I can't come up with another reason to dislike TM.

If you need me I will be rocking back and forth in the corner while clutching my Albuterol inhaler...