Monday:- As weeks go, this one was pretty much dedicated to Ikea. During one of our quiet contemplative days, the two of us had decided it would be a nice if we had some sort of a cabinet to hold all of our DVDs in one place. I had started a collection of certain British TV shows and serials and with time soon became a collector of several American TV shows, along with a few movies, special events and even a couple of Canadian TV series and specials. We concluded that the little alcove adjoining the living room would be the perfect place for such a cabinet and we would then be able to unite all of the DVDs now scattered between the living room and office. This would also give us a fabulous excuse to finally get rid of the big old phoney silk plant sitting atop an imitation antique box. Two big dust collectors but for their time filled a void in that alcove, and now had to go!!
Thinking of Bonnie and knowing she doesn’t always get a chance to go to Ikea, I sent her an email, told her our plans and she was in. Off we drove into Burlington on Monday morning with list in hand. We had checked the Ikea catalogue beforehand, did our measurements for height, width and depth and pretty much knew exactly which cabinet we were going for. The three of us strolled along the display rooms chatting away, checking things out and soon came upon the cabinetry section. With our details having been written down we made note of the Aisle and Bin numbers where we could find the same and continued strolling along until we stopped for a drink at the restaurant before proceeding down to the Marketplace. We found what we were looking for after walking through the Marketplace and picking up a couple of extra doodads – my supply of napkins and a drawer organizer. We were then off for lunch at The Gateway in Grimsby and homeward bound. We dropped off Bonnie so she could get back to her designing job and Nat and I continued over to Costco to pick up some fresh trout and haddock while we were in the area.
Tuesday:- Before we had left for Britain, Nat’s name was called for July duty. After advising of our plans, the Court put Nat’s name over for the January sittings and that Tuesday had now arrived. He was off to Welland in the morning, expecting to be there most of the day, and while away I decided to put together the cabinet we had purchased. Being the organizer that I am, I laid the top, the bottom and sides in their proper order on the floor. Following the instructions, I was able to put together the cabinet with relative ease, taking me a couple of hours (having a bit of a sit down in-between instruction pages!). Quite proud of myself I pulled the cabinet up, pushed it over to where it was going to go and what to my surprise I noticed a problem!! A problem that I wasn’t too sure was that big a deal, but I’d have to check with Nat. He had called just after noon hour, not being picked, and was able to come home and enjoy the rest of his day. He sat down and told me how things went and the procedures that were followed. It was interesting to listen to, being a retired legal secretary (albeit a corporate one) and we were both glad it was over, at least if and when he was called again. (He’s been lucky enough to have been called twice before!!).
I soon told Nat to check out the cabinet that I had so proudly finished, but discovered that we had chosen the wrong colour, and did it make much difference? The colour we were going for was “Beech” to match the coffee table and TV cabinetry. Apparently we had picked up the “Birch” which looked a little pale next to the other furniture. Taking the rest of the afternoon to get use to the colour and discussing our options, we soon came to the conclusion that it would have to be exchanged. However, we had also purchased the doors that were extra, but a nice touch. Doing more research to make sure we could get the proper colour, I checked online and discovered that Ikea didn’t have “Beech” listed in its colour choices for these cabinets. With more back-and-forth discussions, we soon concluded that we would go for the “Medium-Brown” that would match the CD cabinet, still be able to use the doors and that we would keep the lighter cabinet and use it in the office. We’d still take the doors with us, just in case we had no luck at all and could, in fact, return them.
Wednesday:- As usual, we had nothing to do the next day – Wednesday – so back up to Burlington we went. We arrived by 10:00 AM on the dot, trotted through the design centre again and headed straight to where the cabinetry was to get the new Aisle and Bin numbers. We headed down to the warehouse, picked up the new cabinet and we were off and home in time for lunch. Job done! Plus the rest of the day would be spent putting the new cabinet together and our day would be complete!
Thursday:- This morning woke up and all excited to get all of our DVD’s organized in the new cabinet. Once completed, it looked good and was pleased they all fit and had room for more! Nat had mentioned that after lunch he wanted to re-work the Ikea TV cabinets. He wanted to return the back to the one cabinet in order to make it square and the doors would then be inline. We had originally left one back off in order to put all of the electronics in it – stereo, cable and DVD receivers – and it worked well but was always on Nat’s mind that one cabinet was not sitting completely square if you moved it, and this was the day to finally put things right. The two cabinets would be switched and the electronic equipment would be put in the other cabinet that had only holes cut out in the back. Confusing story, but we knew what had to be done. Each and every component had to be unhooked, unplugged and taken out, along with the Apple TV and the Wii. Now that I had removed some of the DVDs there was going to be a little more storage space in the second cabinet that could be used for anything extra. As with all things Nat and Twila it didn’t necessarily go as easy as we had hoped. We ended up fussing and mussing about, unhooking, unplugging everything, re-hooking, replugging in everything not once but several times in order to get things straight in our heads. It looked as if nothing had changed. Nat was at least able to put in the back of the one cabinet and it was now sitting square and the doors, once re-hooked, looked perfect. In the end we ended up with one cabinet full of electronic components and the second cabinet now empty – the same as we had started! All for one piece of veneer backing!! This was one of those Frick and Frack days where we at least knew what had been done!!
Friday:- As of this posting, it’s about 7 hours away and trust me, no Ikea product will get assembled or re-organized. I’m cleaning and hopefully finding some doodads for a now empty cabinet.
