A place for everything
A few weeks ago I decided that it might be time to start living my life by the motto "a place for everything and everything in it's place" - which I got from the Unclutterer website, which I believe I got from Gordon Cheng's blog. So to that end I went to IKEA on Saturday. Driving to IKEA here in Sydney is always the worst part of an IKEA trip, on a Saturday at least, so I was pleased to finally get there. The shop was mad, as always, but I knew exactly what I wanted so I just powered through without spending too much time perusing the endless cushions and candle holders.
I wanted this, which I feel a bit embarrassed to tell blogworld because people might think it's a bit "country", but the reason for getting that is because I already have this, from years back, so after much catalogue pondering I thought I might as well run with it (though was irked to discover that it just went up $50 in the new August catalogue), and because it's solid wood with fixed shelves and I am not a fan of particle board with adjustable shelving for holding books, and because I wanted to put some electrical stuff on it and could throw the cords easily over the back, and because I was keen on having that cupboard at the bottom for the messy stuff. So that's why.
Anyway, I knew it was going to come in a big box, that would only just fit in my teeny car, and potentially be quite heavy. Usually when it comes to heavy, what I do is try harder. So, I was a little perturbed when I got down to the self-serve furniture aisle, found my thing in it's box 201 cm x 60 cm and weighing 30 kg, grabbed hold of the end of it to pull it off the shelf and simply couldn't budge it. I tried until had the thing actually budged I probably would have gone flying across the shop with it. Thankfully a nice guy and his family came along and he offered to help me get it on the trolley. So off I went. Then with a good amount of heaving and sliding I managed to get it into the back of my car, where it went from the back of the hatch to the dashboard, and set off home.
That was the easy bit. Next I had to get it out of my car and into our flat. I managed to get it across to the stair case, which I had to go down to get to the lift (I know - but there are various carpark levels in our flat, and my level doesn't have access directly to the lift), but then I knocked the exit sign hanging from the ceiling off. Only a little bit of plastic chipped off the edge, so I hid that somewhere and put the sign back up. Then I started to make my precarious way down the stairs with this impossible box.
I don't know whether he had heard all the sign-knocking commotion but a skinny little Asian fellow appeared and asked me if I wanted help. He didn't look like the most promising sort for shifting heavy stuff, but it was very nice of him to offer, so he got a hold of one end and we got this thing into the lift and along to my flat. When we got there he said "you are tough!". Not what every girl wants to hear, and me, I prefer to call it determined, because I just wanted that shelf and was going to get it somehow or other.
Anyway, I left the whole thing till Sunday to begin the assembly. At this point it was an achievement that it was inside our flat. So, I came home from church all psyched. (I don't have a father, neither am I married to someone who is a father, if you're wondering why I didn't bother about Father's Day.) First I had to go fossick around in our wee shed to find the hammer I bought from the junk shop to put together my last IKEA project. Allen keys seem to be a thing of the past because they didn't give me one and I had to find my own screw driver. I noticed that the instructions had a frowning face next to one person putting this thing together and a happy face next to two people having a go, so that was the first instruction I scrapped. But soon I was away and it really didn't take all that long to finish and I was quite chuffed with myself. All the shelves face the right way out and the doors of my first door-hanging experience open and close nicely. I feel like there are now no limits to my capacity to assemble IKEA furniture.
So, I am one step closer to a place for everything. I've cleared everything off the desk, so now I can actually use it for doing stuff, rather than just piling up stuff.