The Nursery, Phase 3

(If you haven't already, please read the three previous posts -- The Nursery Before, The Nursery, Phase 1 and The Nursery, Phase 2.)

So on Friday night, after the carpet installation, we had to make the bed, and then I wanted to check on my wardrobe. It's huge, and it has to be anchored to the wall. Well, when the MacDaddy shook it to see if it was bolted, it was pretty clear it wasn't. In fact, at that point, it was slightly sturdier than a house of cards. It never used to shake before. Then I realized the bottom piece -- which braces the entire wardrobe -- was missing. The MacDaddy pulled it forward and I saw the missing piece. Only now, it was four pieces of particle board. Particle board doesn't break cleanly. When the MacDaddy put the wardrobe back up against the wall, it looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Or, more accurately, the Leaning Tower of Particle Board. Clearly, it was not salvageable.


This might sound infuriating to you. But seriously, I got the wardrobe for super-cheap at Ikea when I moved in to the MacDaddy's condo. I needed the closet space. It was huge, it was about $150, and it was not quite as attractive as dorm furniture. I had always figured that when we sell the condo and move out, we would just leave the wardrobe behind. In fact, we got the new Ikea catalog on Thursday, and I had it with me on the plane on Friday. As I looked at all the nice armoires they had, I wished I hadn't bought that ugly piece of particle board. So really, this was a blessing -- an opportunity to get a new armoire!


That meant, though, that before we could start putting away all the clothes, we would have to purchase a new armoire. Ikea, here we come. We also got new nightstands to match. And if/when we ever move, we can use them in the guest room, if we want to get "real" furniture. But this armoire is very, very nice. It's made of wood, not particle board!


Right after we got back from Ikea, the MacDaddy got a phone call from a realtor. Guess what? He wanted to show our place on Sunday! At 1:30! Of course I couldn't turn that down. No one has seen our place since May 31. This could be our last shot to sell the place -- and we just got new carpet!

Plus, I figured it would be good for us to have a deadline. Otherwise, we might not get the place put back together for a month.The MacDaddy and I are procrastinators like that.


So in the course of 24 hours:

• The MacDaddy set up his bookshelves downstairs, packed as many books as possible, and stacked the rest neatly on the dining table. He also moved all his papers over to the desk.
• The MacDaddy, with the help of his father, picked up all the heavy furniture pieces we purchased at Ikea and moved them upstairs so I could begin construction.
• The MacDaddy and our friends, Case and Nicole, moved the dresser and crib into the nursery -- and helped dispose of the packaging.
• Case and Nicole moved the desk to the office area. They also packed a few items in their car to take with them for temporary storage so we wouldn't have to find places for those things.
  
• The MacDaddy and I treated Case, Nicole and their son Sam to dinner to thank them for all their help.
• I constructed the armoire. That project took me a few hours Saturday night, and continued until Sunday at noon. (It's a really good armoire. Lots of little pieces to put together. Lots of pieces, and lots of screws.)
  
• I moved the baby stuff from the floor of the nursery to the dresser drawers and tried to make the room look a little neater.
• The MacDaddy took me to Ikea when I thought I was missing a few screws. We spent an hour on that, just because we had to wait in line. After we got home and I was able to proceed with armoire construction, I found the missing screws in a bag with other screws. I had misidentified them. 
• The MacDaddy brought all the clothes upstairs and put his in the closet. He also brought up the suitcases of shoes and stuff.
• I loaded up the armoire and stashed the suitcases wherever I could.
• The MacDaddy vacuumed and swiffered the floor downstairs.
• The MacDaddy and I rolled out the new area rug. (It looks great, by the way.)
• The MacDaddy and I put away various other items in closets and under the bed.

Whew! I think we got in a short nap between midnight and 6 am on Saturday night. It was a LOT of work, but the place looked pretty decent. And I was pretty proud of myself for pulling my own weight. I worked my batootie off. I took Tylenol Saturday night, because I wasn't sure I'd be able to move on Sunday morning. And by the way, I love putting together furniture, but do you have any idea what it's like to crawl around on the floor and get up to get that other kind of screw or the hammer or the screwdriver, then come back and sit on the floor -- while you're carrying a baby in your belly? My knees hate me. They're thinking of leaving me.

So finally, our place was back together by Sunday afternoon. The MacDaddy and I were completely exhausted. We decided to hold off on crib assembly until next weekend...

Meanwhile, we got the feedback from the realtor. His clients were looking for something a little bigger. Yeah, so are we -- that's why we want to buy a house. Oh, well. At least I have nice carpet and a nice armoire.