You may remember that despite the not-at-all-decorated bedroom, we still had a lovely holiday. And that I laid the smack down on Jonty (the decorator) to insist that everything had to be finished in time for MrCousin, MrsCousin and the LittleCousins to go on holiday at the start of August.
Miracle of miracles, the decorating was finished in time for the CousinFamily to go on holiday. And MrsCousin very nobly stayed inside on the loveliest, sunniest day to receive the new carpet.
The end result?
No pictures or mirror back on the wall yet, but definitely an improvement! Even better (from my point of view) is that MrCousin and MrsCousin report back that they were very impressed with the workmanship and the choices of colour and design. Yay me! (And yay you too, my delightful readers, who offered fabric suggestions and comments.)
Life being what it is though, there was a final fly in the ointment. Of course there was. The invoice. It arrived and was considerably more than I'd expected. Unfortunately, I hadn't actually been sensible and got a written quote from Jonty. No, what I had was the back of an envelope on which I'd jotted down what he'd said over the phone. Gulp. All that advice you read about making sure you get a quote, and not just an estimate? Not only wasn't I firmly in town with a quote, I wasn't even in the suburbs of an estimate. I was somewhere out in the boondocks with my scrap of paper. I nearly just paid the invoice with a despairing shrug. But instead I had a rush of blood to the head and sent Jonty a text asking why the labour had come in at so much more than he'd originally suggested. In reply? A text saying he'd "look into it". Oh.
But the next day... a phone message from Jonty's bookkeeper... a grovelling, humble, apologetic phone message... Jonty and "the boys" had been working on two different cottages in the same terrace, and she'd got the worksheets muddled up and billed me for the other cottage as well. A new invoice duly arrived, with another apology, and £500 smaller than the first invoice. I am inordinately pleased with having the confidence to question the first invoice rather than just rolling over meekly. Completely, disproportionately proud of myself. At least £2000 proud of myself, not just £500 proud. I wonder if that means I can spend the other £1500 of proud on something for myself? I mean, that's definitely the way it works isn't it? Isn't it?
If only it worked that way! Though I got someone to take out our trees for $1500 instead of $3200. We should both spend the difference! Well, I'm buying fruit trees with some of it, at least.
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