Screwed by Ikea

Now, when you go to Ikea you're supposed to be the one doing the screwing together of your purchases, not the other way around. But you know us and by now you must know our bad luck too. We made a smart decision and decided to go to the Ikea in Baltimore today right when it opened, as we were to meet my friend, Robyn, later in the morning for brunch. Thus, we avoided the hordes of overeager bargain hunters that descend on the store on Saturday.

We ran into major road construction on the way there and were forced to target shop in a 30 minute time span. We were looking for a kitchen end counter unit to hold our microwave, a desk for Kevin, a work table for my office and pillows for the guestroom. Running through the store we were able to find everything except my table. I found an alternative but they were out of stock.

Lucky for me, on our way home we passed the other Ikea at College Park and I convinced Kevin to stop in and look for my table. We wandered through the whole maze of pathways with screaming kids and rabid shoppers to no avail. Finally in the marketplace downstairs we found the table for the $129 that it was advertised for on the internet and found the self pick-up location. (For those not familar with Ikea, the items have an Aisle and Bin number that you must locate in the warehouse to pick-up heavier, but not hernia inducing sized items.)

Off we ran to the warehouse to pick-up our item and check out. We arrived at Aisle 17 Bin 7 to discover it empty, but then, guided by the table angel, we looked up and found the item on the shelf above. No price tag. Hmm. Ok, well the sign had said $129 back at the display.

Around the corner we came to discover the lines. It's not at all uncommon for the lines to be twenty people deep on a Saturday afternoon and they were deeper than ever. We queued up with all of the other eager bargain hunters. When you wait for over 20 minutes, and it's finally your turn at the front of the line you're expected to be ready, credit card in hand and UPC codes at the ready. We were ready.

Scanning, zapping, signing and we left. That's when I stopped and thought...$158? That doesn't sound right. We bought sponges, but they sure didn't cost over $20. We arrived home and I looked it up online: $129. I called the store and waited listening to their chipper robot voices telling me that this is their busy season and they'll be with me in a minute. 20 minutes later the clerk asked me where I saw the sign in their giant monstrocity of a store. I gave him vague directions and after another 15 minute wait on the phone, my $20 loss at the hands of their computer system was confirmed.

But then the other shoe dropped, as it always does. I have to go back there to get my refund. I have to find the sign myself and drag it up to customer service. The thing is, it'll cost me $20 in gas to go back down there and come back home to receive my refund. So thus, we've been screwed by Ikea. Buyers Beware!

Bed in Repose No. 9

There's nothing like naming photos of your furniture to sound like a piece of art (incidently this was the ninth photo I took of it). Just look at this beautiful new bed. And it has an even better story to go with it.

After looking at over a dozen furniture stores with no success, I walked into the Storehouse in Gaithersburg one day and hello 'Java'. My new bedroom furniture just called out from across the store. I hurried over with salesclerks in tow who were eagerly anticipating a sale and circled this beauty with its exquisite matching dresser sets. I was in love (yes, I still love Kevin, but I have room in my heart for new furniture!)

But then I found two problems. First, there was a footboard to this quasi-sleighbed and Kevin had given implicit instructions that he was to be able to stretch his feet over the edge, so no footboards allowed. I picked up a brochure and found that they had a platform version without the footboard, "Bingo!" But then I looked at the price - way too expensive.

I won't be crass and discuss figures, but suffice it to say, if we bought this we were going to live with it for a long time - until we die long time. But still, I had my heart set on it. The week went by and I showed it to Kevin, I took him to the Roomstore where I found something I could live with, but I knew my heart would always be pining for 'Java.'

That's when I looked for an outlet and found one in Leesburg. Down to Virginia I went, only to discover that this was truly an outlet store, everything was badly marred and I knew I wouldn't be able to repair anything myself. Dejected and not sure what to do another week passed. On a whim, and because I knew that I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try, I drove over to Baltimore to the only other Outlet Store within a reasonable driving distance. This was really an outlet with items piled everywhere. But the things didn't seem quite as hacked up as the other store.

That's when it happened. I walked into the bedroom section and there leaning against the wall was a beautiful Java queen size bed in the exact color that I wanted, chocolate, (don't ask me why they name everything after food.) It was too good to be true. I pulled the frame away from the wall and checked all over and no marks or scratches. I couldn't believe my luck. But still, too expensive! That's when the salesclerk came by and said that everything in the store was an extra 20% off of the lowest marked down price.

I couldn't believe my luck. So I asked her the question that I was dreading the answer to, "What's wrong with this bed? Why is it here?"

"Nothing," she replied, "it was returned as the customer didn't like it."

I quickly called Kevin and we agreed, Java all the way. We're now the proud new owners of the bed we wanted in perfectly good shape at 40% of the original price!

The Hanging of the Doors

Yesterday my friend Meredith came over to help me with various house projects, one of which was re-hanging the 10 doors from the upstairs. The painting itself was a nightmare that I'm still vividly reliving even though it's been a month. We used "Liquid Sandpaper" to prime the doors but they still took 3 coats of paint. And the brush strokes and places that didn't receive exactly 3 coats are showing themselves like rugby injuries.

I figured re-hanging the doors wouldn't be as easy as everyone said. It would probably rank up there with painting the doors and I was right (hold on I have to pat myself on the back for being right...) Meredith was beyond a great sport and she did the hard part of lifting, heaving, jiggling and basically jamming the doors back into place. I assumed my managerial position and called out "A little to the left, no right, no back!" as I hammered the screws back into place.

We actually improved after a while and our door hanging went from 20 minutes of me cursing and Meredith laughing to about 8 minutes a door. (Yes, this still beats working in an office.)

Kudos to Meredith for her good attitude that I'm sure Kevin hopes will rub off on me.

Calling Home & Garden!

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little at the improvements that we've made on the house. But I have to say that having new carpet put in has made a huge difference. After the installers left, I reassembled our bed in the guest room as we're getting a new bed for our room. I brought in our nightstand and lamp and the room was transformed into a Behr Paint advertisement.

The blue walls with the blond furniture blend so well together. We've been staying in there until we get our bed and our new mattress and I have to say that if I was a guest I would come back just to stay in this relaxing, soothing room.

Yesterday, I began to sort out my office. I moved probably 1/3 of our boxes into there filled with travel books, journals, photo albums, wedding leftovers, computers, paper and filing cabinets full of files. There was so much to sort through as I had just thrown everything in boxes when I packed. I ended the day with a garbage bag full of shredded paper and a large box of trash all from the office.

I feel as though we're moving along and the box colony in our basement and dining room is finally being thinned out.

Carpet Fever

Yesterday our new carpet was installed. If you know anything about our work over the last 6 weeks, you know that everything was leading up to the carpet installation. I knew that having paint anywhere near our new carpet even with a drop cloth would be a dicey proposition. (I was reminded of that again last week as I was painting the bathroom cabinet, and I saw paint sailing off of my brush into the hallway.)

The installers were to be here between 8 and 9 in the morning and they showed up at 7 am. I thought this was great since I had been up since 5 am waiting. I estimated it would take them 3 hours and they would be done. I didn't go upstairs, but I could hear them hammering and pounding on the tack strips and the carpet. At one point they came downstairs and started working on the stairs, so I figured they were about done.

Sometime around 1 pm when the taller heavyset one who spoke English took a break,, I realized they were not going to be done anytime soon. He told me he was going to take a quick run up to Hagerstown and he would be right back. Knowing that Hagerstown is about 30 minutes away I figured this wouldn't be as short of a run as he thought.

At this point I had finished all of my paperwork and calls and was starting to get cabin fever as I was trapped on the first floor of the house with the stairs being a work in progress. They had been there over 6 hours and other than the water bottles I was giving them they didn't appear to take breaks or eat for that matter.

Finally around 3:30 pm, the worker bee, the stout, quiet one of the duo who carried the entire piece of carpet for our master bedroom up the stairs on his back, finished. I figured his co-worker would be there in a few minutes as both of their phones were chirping at them all day and they were speaking in rapid Spanish to the callers.

The worker bee went upstairs and when it was eerily quiet for a while I started to wonder. He had already vacuumed and taken all of the bags outside, so I couldn't imagine what he would need upstairs. As I rounded the landing on our stairs I could see him laying on the floor in the guestroom taking photos of himself with his cellphone. This seemed weird, but he was still fully clothed so what did I care. I then proceeded haul our furniture and boxes up the stairs.

His friend eventually returned and after 9 1/2 hours of our carpet hostage crisis we were proud new owners of beautiful new berber. And for everyone who wishes to visit, be prepared, you are no longer allowed to wear shoes on our second floor.

NEWS FLASH!!!

The carpet is here. Hooray!

Replace Bathroom Floor - CHECK!

For everyone who was holding their breath in anticipation of funny bathroom stories, I have one or two to share. Kevin stuck to his job of demolition man, which isn't always as glamorous as it sounds. After finishing the scraping, tearing up the pieces with his fingernails and hauling out the old vinyl tiles, I think Kevin had relegated himself to peeling the paper off the back of the new tiles for my Dad. I know he knew that the toilet had to be replaced, but I don't think he knew what was involved.

My Dad laid the sticky tiles right over the old sticky floor and it is gorgeous. Kevin and my Dad moved right along on this and it took no time at all. Then came the toilet replacement. Not as easy as it sounds. I had bought a wax ring replacement for the bottom, but replacing this required scraping off the nasty old one, a task that fell to Kevin. He was a good sport about it as always, but there was a good bit of shuttering and "Eeeewww" as he did it. I wish I could have gotten a good photo of this, but alas, this one will have to do.

I wonder if he knows that I want to replace the floor in the basement bathroom? Maybe I'll just let him revel in this weekend's accomplishment before I tell him...