Off to Ikea!

Fresh off my business trip, we proceeded as planned to make progress on the baby’s room.  The next item on our to-do-list was to purchase a new dresser for the boy.  While he and most of his stuff made the move over to his new room, his clothes remained in what will soon be the baby’s room (again).  After some Internet searching we opted for a dresser from Ikea.  We considered having the items delivered but after seeing the $99 delivery price-tag we opted for a road trip.

"People say I am cheap, and I don't mind if they do." ~ Ingvar Kamprad

I’ve never been to an Ikea before, but have always heard that going to one of their stores is a fun experience.  The store was very big.  As you enter, maps (that double as a purchase wish list) and pencils are available to assist you with your shopping.  The first few sections of the store are mock rooms decorated entirely with their products.  If you see something you like, simply write down the product's descriptive information and continue along your way.  After zigzagging through the all of the showrooms you arrive at a food court.  I ordered the veggie wrap and some sort of chocolate cake. The food was decent and reasonably priced. The next stop is the warehouse. This is where you pickup all the items you want to buy.  The warehouse is very well organized.  The product information you wrote down in the showrooms contains the aisle and bin number for each product.  The process could not have been mapped out any easier.

"In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention" ~ Lou Holtz

The experience was also fun for the boy.  The food court and many of the showrooms contained small play areas for little kids.  One of the showrooms even had a slide!  Behind the steps to the slide was a mirror so the boy kept walking up backwards so he could watch himself.  Safe?  Not completely, but it wasn’t that high.      

"When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home." ~ Thorton Wilder

Shopping was the easy part.  Next, I had to assemble the two dressers we purchased.  This process went fairly well considering the instructions didn't contain any words, only pictures.  I put together the larger piece in a few hours with no problems.  The next day, I put together the smaller piece. It took slightly less time but longer than it should have taken. The extra time was because I messed up the drawers (made them inside-out). I had to take them apart and reassemble.  

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." ~ Henry Ford

With the dressers in place, my wife moved over the boy’s clothes.  Well... with another task completed we are that much closer to having the house ready for the baby.