dianaschnuth

Last weekend, Sheryls and I had an awesome girls’ afternoon o’ shopping up in Michigan. First stop: IKEA.

Now, I’ve mentioned IKEA before, and had grand plans… and they didn’t quite work out. But now I have ideas for the kitchen that don’t involve very much money. At all.

The IKEA store features a showroom, where you look at the furnishings and textiles and accessories and fixtures in their native environment. You can see how everything fits together, how it actually looks in a room, and how it would function. The kitchen setups were great, because I could stand in the middle of a kitchen setup and say, “This is exactly the size of my kitchen!” And I could see how they put cabinets and shelves and everything together, and get ideas for how to maximize my own kitchen space with IKEA products.

Let’s back up a bit. The duplex apartment Aaron and I rented before we bought our house had a truly indecently excessive amount of storage and counter space. We had cupboards that remained empty the whole time we lived there. This kitchen, not so much:

We have appliances that remain on the counters, unused for months; we have a crapload of stuff on top of our refrigerator (not shown); our drawer of pots and pans is in constant disarray; and I’m always afraid that my rummage sale spice racks are going to fall into the sink.

Being that IKEA is made specifically for small spaces, I think I can seek solutions there:

This is my Photoshop representation of what our kitchen could look like with a $50 investment. If that. The Grundtal system includes a wall-mounted rail with various sundry items to hang on said rail: spice rack, dish drainer, S-hooks for pans and utensils, and a whole lot more. We could make use of our wall space — and have a much sturdier (if slightly smaller) spice rack. (But we could get *two* racks…) I also see some under-cabinet task lighting, a new overhead fixture, and a dishwasher in our future. (Dishwasher sold separately.)

Where will the countertop appliances go? Hell if I know. The kitchen will get rearranged somehow, and counter space will be had. I haven’t used my flower vases in forever — maybe an appliance or two would fit in the drawer currently occupied by my multiple vases. I really only need one or two. I could also relocate my candle supplies to a space in the dining room and free up one more small corner cabinet. Install one of those neat organizer racks that pull all the way out, and we’ve got even more storage. Install one of those in the drawer of pots and pans, and we’ll have easier access to what we need. I don’t think IKEA sells the pull-out organizers, though. Meh.

One step at a time, though. First, I have to buy or borrow a stud-finder, so I know where I can install my rail.

For all of you out there who have been waiting for your opportunity to burglarize my house… Hmm. That sounded like a cute opening when I thought of it, but now it’s just creepy. Moving on…

Last week, there was a power surge at home while I was at work. Aaron says that the TV turned off, his computer restarted, the XBox 360 threw the scary error that means it’s fried (it’s not, don’t worry), and our home security system started beeping. Turns out everything’s OK… except the security system. It’s hosed.

Now, we only signed up for the service because 1.) the system was already installed when we bought the house, and 2.) I failed to read the fine print that locked us into a FIVE-YEAR contract, of which we have now completed three. According to the technician that looked at our system today, we may have to upgrade our security system instead of simply having it fixed. Our model has been long discontinued, and even the next model up from ours hasn’t had parts available locally for over seven years.

We’re hoping to either get a major discount on an upgrade, or get out of the remainder of our contract. I’m really hoping for the latter. Over $80 per quarter is a little steep for a service we only use when we go out of town.

So, now our perimeter is wide open (yes, our doors and windows still lock), and the ever-present keypad night-light is now dark. Good thing Mom’s going to house-sit while we’re in Japan…

And I wasn’t the only slave to my nesting instinct. The people I know who used to sit in the bathroom with pornography, now they sit in the bathroom with their IKEA furniture catalogue.

—Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 5

Is it so wrong to want nice things? Stylish things?

It’s tough to justify spending over $150 on what is basically a large bookshelf, though. It’s tough to move from the mismatched, second-hand furniture you acquired in your young adult years to actually paying for something stylish. And heaven forbid you don’t actually have a defined style yet.

When I was in high school, my dream decor was black and white. Now, it’s more black and earth tones. Dark woods, light tans, black and rust accents. Our current decor is definitely nothing like that. It’s more of post-collegiate, free-is-good mix-n-match. Someday, I’d like to work on establishing a real interior decorating style/sense. And actually spending the money to do it.

Today’s distraction at work was an all-day e-mail volley with Sheryl, in which we moved from talking fitness to talking about her new house to talking about home improvement and interior decorating in general. Much was said about the IKEA website and the store that is really quite close to where Sheryl will be living.

Now, I’d already looked at the website and found some picture frames I want to stock up on; unfortunately, they’re only available at the IKEA store, about an hour north of here — not online. There are also some large bookshelves which would serve as some keen DVD storage; however, since they’re not marketed as such, and don’t have a specific DVD capacity listed, Aaron isn’t entirely keen on them. I am, though. I’m willing to put out the money for them, and Aaron is willing to put his DVDs in them as long as he isn’t paying for them. And I’m OK with that.

The shelf I want is six feet on a side by 15″ deep, with square compartments. It costs $180, but I bet it’ll hold a shitload of DVDs and anime figurines and plants and other stylish accoutrements. I thought about buying it online, but then thought that maybe I should try something smaller and less expensive first, to see how the shipping and customer service goes.

So, I looked at a smaller shelf of the same design, about five feet tall by 2½ feet wide. I measured the spot in our living room I had in mind for it, and it would be an absolutely *perfect* fit. Well, except for having to drill an access hole for the electrical outlet in the right side of the shelf. I wouldn’t have a problem with that, though, even on an $80 shelf. Hell, we can keep the piece we drill out of it and patch it back in if we ever move the damn thing. It would so be worth it, because it’s so *us* (OK, maybe it’s so *me*) and it fits that spot so *perfectly*.

But I digress. I looked at this smaller shelf online, and saw that it’s also not available for online ordering. You have to go to the IKEA store to buy it. *sigh* So, I looked at the big shelf again, and decided to put it in my shopping cart and see how much shipping would be.

Are you ready?

Shipping literally costs as much as the shelf. Yep, $180 for the shelf and another $180 or so for shipping.

Not worth it.

I’ll have to wait until we can a.) go up to the IKEA store, and b.) convince someone with a truck to take us up there. I’ll want to buy both shelving units, plus my picture frames, plus whatever else I see that strikes my fancy.

Whenever this happens, it’s going to be a very dangerous trip. For one of my credit cards.

It occurs to me that nearly every single one of my houseplants is in need of repotting.

Every. Single. One.

If you care to indulge my plant geekery, read on for my current houseplant inventory…
Continue reading →