More on the entryway redo...

So, I made that first trip to Ikea with John.  Good friend, John.  We bickered at Ikea over the cubby.  Was I sure I wanted the short shelf?  Didn't I want the tall shelf?  No.  How about this one over here?  No.  This one? No. No. No.

I need something that's open on both sides, because I know I'm going to throw the bag into it's spot.  It can't have doors.  It must be OPEN.

As we stumbled about Ikea, John stumbled upon a display of tall shelves.  "What do you think of this?" He asks.

"I think it looks expensive," I say.

He looks at the tag.  It's actually reasonable. Hmmmm...I say.  "Maybe for the future.  But not today.  Today, I want to get this cubby thingie, with maybe some organizers, dining room chairs, and (if there's money left a small but comfy chair for the entry way."

We look at chairs.  John finds the perfect one with a lovely faux embroidered print on it.  Yes. Yes. Yes!!!

We eat Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria.

We stumble through the light fixtures.  John looks at a lovely modern, sculptural fixture and starts egging me on.

"It would look nice in your entryway."

I wasn't planning on buying a light fixture.  But it would look nice...  "Will it work?"  I ask.

"Oh yea.  It's easy to install."

"I hope so, since you're the one who's gonna install it."  We laugh.

We come home with the cubby, four dining room chairs, the lovely chair, the light fixture and some organizers.

John is the most generous person I know. 

And I keep thinking about the tall shelves that were fairly reasonable.  About three weeks later, we return.  This time we have big plans.  Two tall shelves, a big light fixture to mimic the little one.

We are set.  We know exactly what we want.  We aren't going to spend a lot of time in Ikea.  No Swedish meatballs today.  We're going to go in and then out.  We are on a mission.  We are going to put everything together this afternoon.  I cooked in advance, so I can feed us.  I just need to heat up the food in the microwave.  I mean, I am ready.

I buy the stuff and John waits with it while  I go get the car.

First I have to start the car.

But the car won't start.

My igo car won't go.

Battery's dead.

We wait for an hour and a half for the mechanic to come.  We eat sad Ikea hotdogs from the ground floor level.  We freeze by the loading area.

The mechanic dude jumps the car.  We load it and we are off.

But now, we just want to get home and unload the car.  We have no illusions about assembling stuff.

We get all the boxes into the house.  Then go out to return the car...but it's dead, again.

Back into the house.  John decides to install the small light fixture from the first Ikea trip.  It looks lovely.  We eat dinner.  Mechanic arrives again.

Several weeks later, John comes over after work and the madness begins.  I take everything off the old bookshelves to make space, while John starts to put together the new shelves.  I pull down the fabric panels that were trying to bring color into the room.  Boxes are everywhere.  But we put together both shelves and they are up!!!

Thank you for all your help, John!!!

Entryway redo

So...I don't really open my mail.

Ok, that's a confession.  Well, at least, I didn't used to open my mail.  Not in a timely manner anyway.  Most of it's junk.  Some of it's bills.  Rarely do I get actual correspondence by snail mail.  When I do get a card or a letter (with actual handwriting on the envelope) I definitely open it.  But regular every day mail.  Nuh-uh.

So what happens to it?

I throw it on the floor.  Yep.  And it accumulates.  Into big messy piles.  Unruly piles.  Crazy piles.  And then when I need to find something in that pile, there is a mad frenzy of opening envelopes and throwing stuff away until I find what I was looking for.

This not the most efficient method for mail sorting.

I decided I needed a system.

I thought about this for a long time.

Meanwhile, my entryway hit bottom.

This is bottom.

I had to really think about what it was that I needed.  Why do I throw my mail on the floor anyway?  Because I'm lazy?  Well, yes, but is that all?  I'm always carrying a bunch of stuff.  I'm always coming in the door with a heavy back pack.  And since I have two jobs, and one of them requires me to go to several locations, I'm always unpacking the backpack and throwing everything onto the floor, packing it with what I need for that particular day, then dumping stuff out and scooping stuff up off the floor for the next day.  And then there's aikido.  That blue bag with the gis in it is also on the floor.

I need a place to sit when I come in to look at the mail.  And it would probably be a good idea to have the shredder near by, so I can simply shred those blank checks credit cards companies always send me.  And a place to put my book bag that's easy to get to, and a place for the aikido bag, and a shelf to put the stuff that gets taken out of my book bag one day only to be repacked the next.  Yes.....

After a trip to Ikea...

But that's not all.  There is more.  

Two trips to Ikea.  Much putting together of furniture.  More more more.  

But not now.

Later.