Right after I got the cancellation notice from Anthropologie, they sent me another email saying that 1 knob has been shipped. I was a bit confused - weren't they cancelled? Why is 1 now shipped? Then I noticed that I had ordered 6 knobs and 5 of them were cancelled and so they shipped the remaining knob to me. I immediately replied to the email saying it's no use for me to receive 1 knob and can they just cancel the order? Unfortunately, they said it has already left the warehouse and I can return it to the store.
I was a bit annoyed by this since I had to pay the shipping. But oh well, the shipping for this one knob was $1 and I can swallow the cost. The lone knob came in a few days later and I must say I was smitten. It was this gorgeous blue/green color. So thus began my quest to acquire more.
So I immediately went on anthropologie.com and I was able to order 3 more on the website. I think it was the last 3 because I couldn't order any more. I immediately placed the order thinking that I can still do with 4 total knobs and I can do a little mixing and matching of different knobs in the bathroom and make it work.
Immediately after the order there was a shipping confirmation for 2 of the 3 knobs. Hooray! So these 2 knobs in addition to the one I received already would mean I would at least have 3 knobs. I was really crossing my fingers that the final one will come too so I can get 4 knobs at the end.
Later I went to anthropologie.com again hoping that somehow I can order more. And I was pleasantly surprised that I could order 1 more knob (I tried adding more to the cart but the most they'll let me add was 1). Just in case the knob from the previous order was cancelled, I decided to suck it up and ordered this 1 remaining knob. Since I was placing the order, I figured it made more sense to order 9 of the same knobs in linen since it's one flat rate shipping cost. I figured they're the same shape and since I had to mix and match anyway they would do the job.
At this point I also sent an email to anthropologie to complain that I had to make this order 3 separate times and pay for the additional shipping because they kept cancelling a part of my order. To their credit, they refunded me one of the shipping costs.
So for the next 2 weeks or so I was sitting on the edge of my seat to see which knobs would make it and which ones would be cancelled. To add to the drama, a couple of the linen knobs were cancelled immediately after I placed the 3rd order, which didn't make me feel too good about getting at least 1 of the 2 seafoam knobs on order.
And then I got the email. One seafoam knob has been shipped! Hooray! I was probably a bit too happy when this happened. I would have at least 4 seafoam knobs after all!
Then sometime in between all this, I received a call from Becky. She told me that she was at an Anthropologie store and they said that even though their store showed inventory for these knobs, they were nowhere to be found. But the good news was another store in the LA area shows that they have some in inventory as well and they can request to have the knobs shipped over. Even as Becky told me this, she gave me enough deflators so I won't get my hopes up. And indeed, I think at the end it didn't work out.
Then my good friend came to visit me in October and since we were in Palo Alto for lunch, I asked if she would mind dropping in Anthropologie with me to look for these knobs. (I had to tell her my crazy story so she would understand why I'm making so much effort for this). Unfortunately, the store didn't have any in stock. I did see some pretty glass knobs that were also $2.95 each and I picked them up as a consolation prize. Those glass knobs have since replaced our ugly gold/black knobs we used to have. I like the change even though it's pretty subtle and it doesn't show up properly in the picture. But believe me, much better than gold + black.
So with 5 knobs shipped to me + 3 from Becky, I ended up with 8 of these seafoam test knobs at the end! Of course I was only able to use 6 knobs since I would've needed 9 total knobs to complete the bathroom. But that's okay because 1 knob was chipped and another one was a deeper green than the others. So it worked out well at the end! I also had like 5 linen ones at the end so I picked 3 prettiest ones to use. And that's how I ended up decking out the bathroom with proper hardware. It's really nice, too! No more prying open the drawers or cabinets with finger tips.
Phew, that was way too many words for a post about cabinet knobs but there you have it! We will now have this story at our fingertips should anyone need a story about perseverance. Aren't you glad you read this blog? :) It's making you a better person.
And for those of you thinking about the Home Furnishings budget moratorium -- well, sorry this just didn't count. I sort of view this as part of the pre-moratorium since I had ordered them before it was in effect. But to make you (and myself) feel better, I did sell a lamp on CL for $20 so that can cover the cost.