Last weekend I had planned on a rather dull weekend consisting mostly of work (lots and lots going on at the moment - all good but too boring to blog about!). And work I did, until about 3pm on saturday. I then decided that a trip to IKEA was needed. At this point it wasn't for anything specific. Having realised that this could result in a lot of money being spent on many 'nice but not really needed' items, I decided that I would just buy the bed I promised Child #3 last year sometime.
The bit of this story I am proud of is the fact that at this point I did actually make the effort to check the website for the size of the box and then measure the car to check it would fit.
So at 4pm off I went. I was very self disciplined and only bought a few extra items. I did get my son some new drawers too as his were falling apart. I had one of those trolleys that you can stack high with flat pack boxes and then hang a bag with all the other random items over the handles. The bed was easy - huge but just in the one box (when I saw the size of it I was a little concerned about it fitting in the car and figured i may need to unpack the box in the car park - it wouldn't have been the first time!). Then I had to find the 16 (yes 16!!!) boxes that the 2 little chest of drawers were in. Needless to say that the trolley was now stacked quite high and I also had to push it whilst keeping one hand on the top to stop it all sliding off.
At the checkout the cashier explained that I can leave the trolley with the security man who will bring this out to me when I drive the car to the pickup point. Handy. I took the trolley over and he asked what car I drove...then, having eyed up the trolley, struggled to keep a straight face when I said 'Black Ford Fiesta'. He clearly doesn't understand the versatility of such a vehicle! ;-)
Anyway, with a bit of imagination and a slightly challenging drive home (with a box blocking the view almost completely to my left unless I lent forward) I arrived home at 6pm. Made a cuppa, ate half the bag of swedish crisps I'd bought (I had planned on something more nutritious for dinner) and began unpacking. Half an hour later and numerous trips up and down the stairs with random pieces of wood, it's fair to say I was completely knackered. I would have happily left it at that for the evening and gone downstairs to knit. However, this was state of Child #3's bedroom...
The hallway was covered in cardboard, the living room was covered in the 16 (!) boxes for the chests and the table was covered in everything else I had bought from IKEA. It was at this point I remembered that I had agreed to meet a friend the next day at 1pm for Lunch. So that meant I had 18 hours to sort all of this out, put everything together, take all the rubbish to the skips, tidy up, sleep for a minimum of 6 hours and be showered and ready for lunch. So I ate another 1/4 of the packet of swedish crisps and got cracking.
I love IKEA but the bag of screws, together with the highly descriptive (or not!) instructions always makes me question why I shop there...
Its just like lego but on huge scale!! So an hour later and I had got this far...
Another 30 minutes...
Another hour (this was delayed by the fact that the bed was reversible and I didn't want it the way the instructions demonstrated so I had to figure out exactly how to reverse it before it was even together)
Another 30 minutes...
If you are keeping up with the times you will have realised that by this point it was about 10pm! I stopped taking pictures and stepped up a gear. Finally managing to finish the bed at midnight. I think I got to bed at 1am having done a litle tidying up but not much - and deciding that my neighbours probably wouldn't appreciate the hoovering at that time either. So at 6am (on a sunday!!) I woke up and immediately remembered the chaos that Vivod was in. Only now I was also aching from the efforts of the previous evening.
By some miracle I managed to:
- Put together the contents of the 16 boxes and make 2 sets of drawers.
- Dismantle both the bed and the existing drawers and take all this downstairs.
- Tidy the room and put the finishing touches to the bed.
- Take all the old furniture and cardboard to the skips
- Tidy the house so that it looked presentable enough for guests
- Eat breakfast
- Get ready for lunch
All by 12:30pm!
It was all worth it. When my little boy arrived home just after 8pm this is what he found...
This is the picture Child #2 took of him before posting on facebook and commenting on how jealous she was...
So this weekend I have promised to make some colourful curtains for the section beneath the bed to make it more 'den like'. I think I can manage that.
See you soon.
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