A lot of work for cheap bookshelves!
Continuing the “catch-up” on old posts . . . Feb. 25, 2006
I thought you would enjoy the (mis)adventures of my day today. I had the day off of work, so I decided to go to Ikea to get some bookshelves. Ah, the beauty of a plan! Are you also one of those people with a “to-do list,” evenly checked or crossed off, that keeps you on track? My whole life seems in order when I have that piece of scrap paper in hand, telling me what to do next!
So this morning, I was up, ready and out the door by 9:00AM. Ikea is six or seven exits up the beltway, so it’s about 20 minutes. I was actually early. They opened at 10:00 AM, so I sat in the car and made a grocery list, because I have no food in the house (having been gone all last week). In fact, I had so little food, I had to eat French pastries for breakfast (the only store open yesterday was the corner bakery). Now, I know you are thinking, “French pastries? Poor Ariel!” But really, I don’t like to eat them for breakfast because they are all sugar and butter, so they aren’t very healthy, and you feel hungry in an hour, because you essentially ate a dessert for breakfast. So my plan was to get my stuff at Ikea and then go grocery-shopping. (Once again, foolish me with the plan).
It took me an hour to make up my mind about the bookshelves. Now that I have a few pieces of furniture in the living room, I have to think about matching the look, color, “the mood” to some extent. Then of course, some models look kind of cheap—being particle board, of course. So I kept debating and found some other small things while I reflected. Finally I went down to the warehouse area to get the boxes. I found the ones I wanted for the shelves I decided on, and each box weighed 70 pounds. These book shelves are over six feet tall and about a yard wide, so the boxes are not only heavy, but long and awkward. By myself, it was all I could do to struggle the two boxes (I wanted two matching bookcases) onto the stupid flat cart, that rolls around with the slightest touch. So I am doing a Laurel and Hardy act all by myself, trying to hold the cart and load the boxes, while also looking cool and nonchalant as people walk by staring at me. Then I have to arrange all the other stuff I bought up on top of it all, so that my cart rivals the Beverly Hillbillies’ car by the time I’m loaded up.
Right at the cash register area, there is a “good find” area. All the stuff there is either damaged or old floor models, and you really have to look at it in detail. Sometimes, things are missing legs or shelves, or have stains on the fabric, etc. But, its all 40% off. So I decide to take a quick glance –you never know what you will find—and there I see the two bookcases that I had actually rejected for being cheap particle board. Now, looking at them all put together, I think they don’t look bad at all and they would match perfectly with my other furniture. The price for the two is even more attractive. So I decided to get them instead.
Now, I have to ask how to buy the things in that section, and I am told that since they are already put together, I have to load them onto the flat cart, and go through the check out. Then if I need to take them apart (to fit in the car), I can borrow the tools to do it in the service area. I think, this is going to be a huge hassle, but they are so cheap!
So I offload the two other heavy boxes, but the two bookcases together are too wide for the flat cart. So I have to get another one. Now I am trying to pull/push two different carts with very long, heavy bookcases on them, without scratching them all up! Plus I still have a few chairs, and other goodies, on top of it all. I get checked out and all of it together comes to only $10 more than just one of the bookcases I would have bought instead! Gotta love that. I go to the service area, which is a huge area, where some people are returning stuff, others are waiting to get their things delivered out to them, and still others are waiting in line to rent trucks and stuff.
I get the tools by depositing my passport, and I start to take apart the first one. Most stuff from Ikea is very simple to assemble and bookshelves are really the easiest. I get most of it apart but its hard being only one person to hold the pieces and unscrew everything, so I lose hold of something and a bunch of the shelves crash to the ground (didn’t hurt them at all), making a huge loud noise that makes the seventy people nearby all jump and turn around to look at me. I am sweaty from doing all of this with my coat still on, and now, red-faced from the embarrassment of making that huge crash. I wave to the crowd and say, “Well its hard to do by myself, haha.” A man and wife came over and he took apart the other one, while his wife and I repack all the separate pieces onto the cart. It only took about ten minutes with the three of us working together, and I was so utterly appreciative by their kindness. For all the jokes about the rude French, there are still really nice people here.
Now, its time to load the car, but now its pouring rain. On the way home, I have the wipers on high the whole way, which means I will have to unload it all at my building in the pouring rain, too. I realize that I now have 87 separate pieces with no box to carry them in. I have to just keep making trips back and forth from the car to the hall, then from the hall to the elevator, then from the elevator to my apt.
It takes another hour to put them back together and find the perfect spot, but I have to say that the living room is really looking nice now. By the time I get done hauling it all upstairs, and reassembling it, its 3 pm and I am starving, but of course, I don’t have any food in the house! I am now too tired to go the store, especially in the rain. Looks like its French pastries for dinner, too!
I thought you would enjoy the (mis)adventures of my day today. I had the day off of work, so I decided to go to Ikea to get some bookshelves. Ah, the beauty of a plan! Are you also one of those people with a “to-do list,” evenly checked or crossed off, that keeps you on track? My whole life seems in order when I have that piece of scrap paper in hand, telling me what to do next!
So this morning, I was up, ready and out the door by 9:00AM. Ikea is six or seven exits up the beltway, so it’s about 20 minutes. I was actually early. They opened at 10:00 AM, so I sat in the car and made a grocery list, because I have no food in the house (having been gone all last week). In fact, I had so little food, I had to eat French pastries for breakfast (the only store open yesterday was the corner bakery). Now, I know you are thinking, “French pastries? Poor Ariel!” But really, I don’t like to eat them for breakfast because they are all sugar and butter, so they aren’t very healthy, and you feel hungry in an hour, because you essentially ate a dessert for breakfast. So my plan was to get my stuff at Ikea and then go grocery-shopping. (Once again, foolish me with the plan).
It took me an hour to make up my mind about the bookshelves. Now that I have a few pieces of furniture in the living room, I have to think about matching the look, color, “the mood” to some extent. Then of course, some models look kind of cheap—being particle board, of course. So I kept debating and found some other small things while I reflected. Finally I went down to the warehouse area to get the boxes. I found the ones I wanted for the shelves I decided on, and each box weighed 70 pounds. These book shelves are over six feet tall and about a yard wide, so the boxes are not only heavy, but long and awkward. By myself, it was all I could do to struggle the two boxes (I wanted two matching bookcases) onto the stupid flat cart, that rolls around with the slightest touch. So I am doing a Laurel and Hardy act all by myself, trying to hold the cart and load the boxes, while also looking cool and nonchalant as people walk by staring at me. Then I have to arrange all the other stuff I bought up on top of it all, so that my cart rivals the Beverly Hillbillies’ car by the time I’m loaded up.
Right at the cash register area, there is a “good find” area. All the stuff there is either damaged or old floor models, and you really have to look at it in detail. Sometimes, things are missing legs or shelves, or have stains on the fabric, etc. But, its all 40% off. So I decide to take a quick glance –you never know what you will find—and there I see the two bookcases that I had actually rejected for being cheap particle board. Now, looking at them all put together, I think they don’t look bad at all and they would match perfectly with my other furniture. The price for the two is even more attractive. So I decided to get them instead.
Now, I have to ask how to buy the things in that section, and I am told that since they are already put together, I have to load them onto the flat cart, and go through the check out. Then if I need to take them apart (to fit in the car), I can borrow the tools to do it in the service area. I think, this is going to be a huge hassle, but they are so cheap!
So I offload the two other heavy boxes, but the two bookcases together are too wide for the flat cart. So I have to get another one. Now I am trying to pull/push two different carts with very long, heavy bookcases on them, without scratching them all up! Plus I still have a few chairs, and other goodies, on top of it all. I get checked out and all of it together comes to only $10 more than just one of the bookcases I would have bought instead! Gotta love that. I go to the service area, which is a huge area, where some people are returning stuff, others are waiting to get their things delivered out to them, and still others are waiting in line to rent trucks and stuff.
I get the tools by depositing my passport, and I start to take apart the first one. Most stuff from Ikea is very simple to assemble and bookshelves are really the easiest. I get most of it apart but its hard being only one person to hold the pieces and unscrew everything, so I lose hold of something and a bunch of the shelves crash to the ground (didn’t hurt them at all), making a huge loud noise that makes the seventy people nearby all jump and turn around to look at me. I am sweaty from doing all of this with my coat still on, and now, red-faced from the embarrassment of making that huge crash. I wave to the crowd and say, “Well its hard to do by myself, haha.” A man and wife came over and he took apart the other one, while his wife and I repack all the separate pieces onto the cart. It only took about ten minutes with the three of us working together, and I was so utterly appreciative by their kindness. For all the jokes about the rude French, there are still really nice people here.
Now, its time to load the car, but now its pouring rain. On the way home, I have the wipers on high the whole way, which means I will have to unload it all at my building in the pouring rain, too. I realize that I now have 87 separate pieces with no box to carry them in. I have to just keep making trips back and forth from the car to the hall, then from the hall to the elevator, then from the elevator to my apt.
It takes another hour to put them back together and find the perfect spot, but I have to say that the living room is really looking nice now. By the time I get done hauling it all upstairs, and reassembling it, its 3 pm and I am starving, but of course, I don’t have any food in the house! I am now too tired to go the store, especially in the rain. Looks like its French pastries for dinner, too!