Don't Try To Fill Your House In One Day
(written on Sunday)
It's Sunday evening, and I'm typing on our dinner table. Earlier Margo made us some chicken koora with rice and nan bread. I enjoyed mine with a glass of Merlot. We shared biscuits for dessert.
But it wasn't always like this. Yesterday we had the most un-fun task of moving into our house - and furnishing it on the same day. Technically, our house is furnished, but not fully furnished. There's a dining room table and chairs, a cooker, a fridge and freezer, beds, dressers and wardrobes. But since we wanted to cook, eat, bathe, and sleep with sheets, we still had a lot of work ahead of us.
Our day started as it usually has, with a nice English breakfast. Then we bid farewell to our hosts and drove to Ipswich to meet with our estate agent at 11. After we signed a very thorough letting agreement, paid up, and received keys, we popped up to the house to unload before heading back to the town centre for Sarah's swimming class at 12.30. Then we were off to an IKEA store about an hour away in Thurrock.
I like IKEA a lot. Margo and I both do. We like the low prices, the decent quality, and the modern design. I appreciate that it was one of the first major corporations to embrace sustainability. We enjoy inexpensive meals of meatballs and potatoes in gravy with lingenberries. I'd never expected a less than pleasant experience there.
It's hard to remember just where things started going sour. Probably right away when we found that the ENGELKARTEN* kids' play area was full up for the day; Sarah was crying, and we adults weren't too pleased either since we'd planned on having some quality time with our shopping carts.
* Some of the names are real, and some are made up because I can't remember them and I'm too lazy to do proper research.
A few galleries in, we decided we wanted to borrow a big, blue, biodegradable plastic bag to carry our first loose items. This didn't last long. Soon it was a shopping cart. Then a second shopping cart. With the bottoms filled too. By the time we checked out, we'd spent about five hundred pounds and only picked out one piece of furniture so far.
Maybe I'd been lucky earlier, but we had serious difficulties. I'd planned to get the THORNGEN toy chest for Sarah - with interchangeable drawers of varied heights - but they only had double drawers in stock; the only singles were display only. We noted the lot number of a TUKKA bathroom shelf, but when we got to the warehouse part, there were none to be found, despite the lack of a "temporarily oversold" note on the shelf.
We also didn't find the TACK pine chest for Sarah, so we instead got a MULLA 3-drawer chest with "pine effect" decals or whatever. When we went to check out, the salesperson informed us that we'd only picked up box 1 of 2. I went back to find a box 2 while Margo continued with checkout. But by then I couldn't find a 2 and I remembered the 1 I picked up was the last one. By the time I returned, Margo had already paid, so we couldn't easily exchange, so we had to go to customer service. And take a number. By this time we'd been there for about three hours. Sarah was nearly feral. I was ready to rip the head off the next person who so much as breathed on me. I thought I'd go back and find another MULLA to exchange for; I found one in white but there was just one box, but it was twice as heavy, so I had to walk all the way back to get a spare shopping cart, then go back and retrieve it from the warehouse shelf. By this time I realized I probably couldn't just waltz past the checkout line with a big box in my cart so I parked it and went back to customer service, where Margo suggested I check with the original salesperson to see if we could pass, and I went back and he let me through. And then, when I was ready for relief at the end of my Herculean challenges, I noticed that the original box had a sticker claiming it was a five-drawer chest, even though it was shelved in the three-chest area.
I kept wondering how we would fit all this into the tiny Vauxhall that Margo is leasing, but she kept assuring me with a cheery "it will all work out". I'm sure those are famous last words for many deceased persons, but it turns out it did all just about fit, though when we got home and unpacked, we couldn't account for my two FLUFFI down pillows; my best guess is they soundlessly dropped off one of our carts on the way through the parking lot, making us involuntary donors to the local economy.
I thought I was being clever when I took pictures of each room and brought the camera with us so we could refer to them for sizing information. But I realized I hadn't been diligent enough later that night when I realized the modern grey-patterned sheet and quilt cover I'd picked out completely clashes with the tropical blue curtains in my room. And we liked the design of the square BLINGA lamp shades to cover our hanging bulb lighting, but it wasn't until installing them that we saw they needed to be aligned with the sides of the room.
In the end, we were buying way too much in too short a time period to make considered decisions. But we did manage to furnish our house to a basic level - sheets, pillows, quilts, quilt covers, dishes, silverware, glasses, pots and pans, cooking utensils, towels, bath mat, plus other sundries.
We've still got a ways to go, though. To listen to music, I connect my iPod to Margo's laptop and play songs via iTunes. It's not really listening to music; it's more like hearing something that reminds you of a song you know.
This morning I showered knowing that I'd be using a brand-new, unwashed towel that didn't have a rack to hang on. That wasn't hard. What was hard was later when I'd lathered shaving cream on my face and realized that we didn't have a single mirror. I shaved while staring at my tiny reflection in one of the sink faucet knobs.
We still have to shop for near-necessities like a vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket, napkins, plus bookshelves, a television and hifi, and my iMac.
There's no linen closet. There's no closet at all (except the space beneath the stair) - hanging clothes go into wardrobes. I think it's typical here.
Today Margo drove back to our room in Colchester to retrieve the remaining boxes. She also went out to get a first set of groceries. Sarah and I put her chest of drawers together and continued washing all the new dishes (I look forward to washing a dish that doesn't have a label sticker on it).
Tonight's was our first normal family dinner in about two months. We're much closer to having a settled household, and we're glad to have a home again.
It's Sunday evening, and I'm typing on our dinner table. Earlier Margo made us some chicken koora with rice and nan bread. I enjoyed mine with a glass of Merlot. We shared biscuits for dessert.
But it wasn't always like this. Yesterday we had the most un-fun task of moving into our house - and furnishing it on the same day. Technically, our house is furnished, but not fully furnished. There's a dining room table and chairs, a cooker, a fridge and freezer, beds, dressers and wardrobes. But since we wanted to cook, eat, bathe, and sleep with sheets, we still had a lot of work ahead of us.
Our day started as it usually has, with a nice English breakfast. Then we bid farewell to our hosts and drove to Ipswich to meet with our estate agent at 11. After we signed a very thorough letting agreement, paid up, and received keys, we popped up to the house to unload before heading back to the town centre for Sarah's swimming class at 12.30. Then we were off to an IKEA store about an hour away in Thurrock.
I like IKEA a lot. Margo and I both do. We like the low prices, the decent quality, and the modern design. I appreciate that it was one of the first major corporations to embrace sustainability. We enjoy inexpensive meals of meatballs and potatoes in gravy with lingenberries. I'd never expected a less than pleasant experience there.
It's hard to remember just where things started going sour. Probably right away when we found that the ENGELKARTEN* kids' play area was full up for the day; Sarah was crying, and we adults weren't too pleased either since we'd planned on having some quality time with our shopping carts.
* Some of the names are real, and some are made up because I can't remember them and I'm too lazy to do proper research.
A few galleries in, we decided we wanted to borrow a big, blue, biodegradable plastic bag to carry our first loose items. This didn't last long. Soon it was a shopping cart. Then a second shopping cart. With the bottoms filled too. By the time we checked out, we'd spent about five hundred pounds and only picked out one piece of furniture so far.
Maybe I'd been lucky earlier, but we had serious difficulties. I'd planned to get the THORNGEN toy chest for Sarah - with interchangeable drawers of varied heights - but they only had double drawers in stock; the only singles were display only. We noted the lot number of a TUKKA bathroom shelf, but when we got to the warehouse part, there were none to be found, despite the lack of a "temporarily oversold" note on the shelf.
We also didn't find the TACK pine chest for Sarah, so we instead got a MULLA 3-drawer chest with "pine effect" decals or whatever. When we went to check out, the salesperson informed us that we'd only picked up box 1 of 2. I went back to find a box 2 while Margo continued with checkout. But by then I couldn't find a 2 and I remembered the 1 I picked up was the last one. By the time I returned, Margo had already paid, so we couldn't easily exchange, so we had to go to customer service. And take a number. By this time we'd been there for about three hours. Sarah was nearly feral. I was ready to rip the head off the next person who so much as breathed on me. I thought I'd go back and find another MULLA to exchange for; I found one in white but there was just one box, but it was twice as heavy, so I had to walk all the way back to get a spare shopping cart, then go back and retrieve it from the warehouse shelf. By this time I realized I probably couldn't just waltz past the checkout line with a big box in my cart so I parked it and went back to customer service, where Margo suggested I check with the original salesperson to see if we could pass, and I went back and he let me through. And then, when I was ready for relief at the end of my Herculean challenges, I noticed that the original box had a sticker claiming it was a five-drawer chest, even though it was shelved in the three-chest area.
I kept wondering how we would fit all this into the tiny Vauxhall that Margo is leasing, but she kept assuring me with a cheery "it will all work out". I'm sure those are famous last words for many deceased persons, but it turns out it did all just about fit, though when we got home and unpacked, we couldn't account for my two FLUFFI down pillows; my best guess is they soundlessly dropped off one of our carts on the way through the parking lot, making us involuntary donors to the local economy.
I thought I was being clever when I took pictures of each room and brought the camera with us so we could refer to them for sizing information. But I realized I hadn't been diligent enough later that night when I realized the modern grey-patterned sheet and quilt cover I'd picked out completely clashes with the tropical blue curtains in my room. And we liked the design of the square BLINGA lamp shades to cover our hanging bulb lighting, but it wasn't until installing them that we saw they needed to be aligned with the sides of the room.
In the end, we were buying way too much in too short a time period to make considered decisions. But we did manage to furnish our house to a basic level - sheets, pillows, quilts, quilt covers, dishes, silverware, glasses, pots and pans, cooking utensils, towels, bath mat, plus other sundries.
We've still got a ways to go, though. To listen to music, I connect my iPod to Margo's laptop and play songs via iTunes. It's not really listening to music; it's more like hearing something that reminds you of a song you know.
This morning I showered knowing that I'd be using a brand-new, unwashed towel that didn't have a rack to hang on. That wasn't hard. What was hard was later when I'd lathered shaving cream on my face and realized that we didn't have a single mirror. I shaved while staring at my tiny reflection in one of the sink faucet knobs.
We still have to shop for near-necessities like a vacuum cleaner, mop and bucket, napkins, plus bookshelves, a television and hifi, and my iMac.
There's no linen closet. There's no closet at all (except the space beneath the stair) - hanging clothes go into wardrobes. I think it's typical here.
Today Margo drove back to our room in Colchester to retrieve the remaining boxes. She also went out to get a first set of groceries. Sarah and I put her chest of drawers together and continued washing all the new dishes (I look forward to washing a dish that doesn't have a label sticker on it).
Tonight's was our first normal family dinner in about two months. We're much closer to having a settled household, and we're glad to have a home again.
posted by Michael Nelson at 6:40 am
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