Buying Our Kitchen Part II -or- That Time I Threw A Grown Up Temper Tantrum

So, when we spent the big day at Ikea, we purchased a substantial amount of kitchen items.  We left with a small list of items on "backorder".  One cabinet box, a few fasteners, odds and ends...and the farmhouse sink.

In my state of Ikea fatigue, I thought I could call my friendly College Park store a few days later, see if the items were available yet, add them to my order and have them shipped along.  NBD.  I called a few days after our epic trip.  It was about 8pm on a really awesome work day (you know, the kind where you are too busy to go pee).  The person on the phone informed me that most of the items I needed had been restocked (excuse me, most?) but they couldn't add them to my shipment, nor could they ship them at all (still baffled by this), nor could they hold them for me to pick up later.  My best bet was to head to the store rightthissecond, pick them up, then try again in a few days for the rest.

Okay.  At this point, we hadn't bought our car yet, so this was a less than ideal situation.  Ikea is far away.  Going out there for the first order was a BFD.  We were only able to get there because Henry was in town with his car.  I was tired, cranky, hungry and needed to pee.  So I acted friendly and confused and a little passive aggressive to the person on the phone.  It didn't help.  The sales person was firm - she couldn't add it to my shipment or hold it until the weekend, when I could secure a rental car with more warning.  So I bitched and whined.  No help.  Then I remembered I was at work, surrounded by my hungry, cranky, tired, full-blattered team, and hung up defeated.  I would just try again another day and everything would be fine.

Fast forward a couple weeks.  Getting these back ordered items has been no small feat.  Henry ended up getting most of them for us at he New Haven store (you know, since we couldn't add to our shipment).  We are still missing a couple things we will have to figure out later.

And the farmhouse sink...is back ordered until at least September.  And there is no sort of wait list of anything.  My online research tells me it is available in South America, but that would be a very expensive Uber.  So, the thing I was most excited about will have to hold the dishes of another budget minded thirty-something.

Lessons Learned

• Ikea is a great deal, but their ordering process makes you work for that savings.
• If you have one must have, can't live without item, make sure you confirm it's actually available for purchase.
• Cars are helpful things to have.

Buying Our Kitchen: Part I -or- That Time I Spent Ten Hours at Ikea

This is totally a wide-angle lens.  See that oven in the corner?  The refrigerator prevents the door from fully opening. 

We bought the house knowing we needed a new kitchen.  Nothing works.  The layout is terrible.  It is so small, we use the top of the washing machine as our food preparation station.  There are so many things wrong with that sentence.

So, we (Ethan) did our (his) research and learned that Ikea is really the best bang for your buck.  The appliances are made by Whirlpool, there is a crazy long guarantee on everything, and you can design everything yourself for a custom look without custom prices.  Plus, Ikea was having a 20% off sale, which meant (a) we could save 20% or (b) we could upgrade and get the fancy dishwasher that looks like a cabinet!  And a cobalt blue Viking range!  We chose option (b) obviously.

Found on lilyfieldlife.com

Anyway, Ethan spent hours measuring the kitchen, taking note of weird wall soffits, and choosing which actual pieces we would need where.  Then he and I chose the style and colors.  We option for traditional style fronts in gray with white quartz counter tops, and a huge double-sided farmhouse sink.  The sink is my favorite thing ever and I can't wait for it to be mine.

We called Ikea to schedule an appointment to come in.  We learned they don't take appointments, but the College Park store takes names fifteen minutes before opening.  So we got up early the next Sunday armed with our plans and detailed order list, ready to take on Ikea.

Via Houzz.com

We showed up fifteen minutes early and were first in line.  The fifteen minutes gave us just enough time to totally second guess the design choice we made weeks ago.  Gray traditional cabinets with white quartz counter tops were out, and sleek, modern, white cabinets with a gray quartz counter top was in.  But the farmhouse sink remained.

Anyway, since Ethan had already chosen our pieces and uploaded everything into the Ikea Kitchen Building Tool, we thought this would be a super fast shopping experience.  We would just swap gray for white, press pay, and be on our way!

Something happened.  I've replayed the day over and over, and still can't explain it.  Somehow, prepared as we were, we managed to spend like six hours getting the items our of the design tool into our shopping cart.  Then shit got real!

The built in microwave (you know, the ONLY one Ikea is currently selling) was out of stock at every store on the East Coast and discontinued so stock would never be replenished.  Not having that microwave meant the cabinets built to hold the microwave were worthless.  This would throw off the ENTIRE KITCHEN DESIGN.  We had already spent so much time on THIS kitchen, how could we ever change it?!?  WHY did Ikea let us incorporate the discontinued microwave into our design and not warn us until checkout?!?!?!?  WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE THIS??????

Luckily, a store manager overheard us and told us about a super secret built in microwave.  You couldn't search for it, but he could add it to our cart because he had the super secret code.  And, I actually liked it better and it was cheaper.  Crisis averted!

Other items were unavailable as well, but shouldn't be a big deal because the stock will get replenished, and we can just add to our order later.  At least that is what I heard in my state of Ikea fatigue.

Welcome Home

Home Sweet Home!

Ethan and I are expert movers.  We pride ourselves on cleaning, unpacking, hanging pictures, setting up utilities, etc. in less than twenty-four hours.

In the new house, we quickly realized we will likely be looking at twenty-four months, best case scenario.  It's hard to unpack toiletries when your bathroom doesn't exist yet.  Or put things in kitchen cabinets that will soon be gone (in the meantime, extra silverware can be found in the cooler next to the oven).

Master Bedroom before - freshly painted, but not my color.

We needed to get one room under control, so, as the only room that will be keeping all of its walls, the Master Bedroom was the winner.  We knew we wanted a dark blue-gray color, so we walked to the paint store and bought two gallons of the second dark blue-gray we saw (because buying the first would be like, crazy impulsive).  Other customers, armed with fabric swabs and decorators, marveled at our decisiveness.  Suckers.

Master Bedroom after - the blue makes the old trim pop!

We painted in one afternoon, and we learned A Major 100+ Year Old House Lesson.  Nothing. Is. Straight.  Nothing.  We got some of those fancy rolling paint edger thingies so we would have very straight, perfect lines between the wall and the ceiling.  These tools are really useful for cutting and edging when your walls and ceiling are smooth and straight.  Guess what.  Ours aren't!  So, we taped the ceiling.

Lessons Learned:

• Our house is complete chaos.  Having one room that is finished is incredibly necessary.  
• Trust your gut and make bold paint choices.
• Eggshell paint adds a fantastic luster.  Irregularities are visible, but I think they call that "character".