The Apartment We Built With Our Own Hands

Well, we feel like regular pioneers. We move into our apartment and the first weekend we spend the better part of Saturday at IKEA (hey, Portlanders, don't be jealous...yours opens in July). We loaded up 3 huge carts with furniture and such and over two trips and a home delivery, we have outfitted our home. The thing with IKEA furniture, however, is that you have to assemble it. After that first weekend, we had the callouses to prove it.

Douglas LOVED building furniture. On Saturday, we headed home with a load to put the girl (who had already gone into a meltdown) down for a nap. Tony headed back to the store for a second load. Douglas was eyeing our boxes scattered around the living room and suggested that we put together a chair, like how he and Daddy had assembled a chair the night before. I hesitated saying I didn't know how to build it.

Douglas reassured me saying that each box cames with "structions." All I had to do was "get the structions" and "listen to them." "It is easy, Mama," he said. "The structions tell you everything. We can work as a team and do it together. You can be the coach and I'll be the player," he said reassuredly. He had me convinced and we broke into a box. In no time, we had a new chair. What a proud moment! Then, we got bold and made 3 nesting side tables for the living room. Then, we assembled two nightstands for the bedroom. Douglas was getting very good at the screwdriver and was really into it. We were on a roll! As I said, before the weekend was out, we basically had it all built (let's see...a dining room table, 5 chairs, a desk, 3 tables, 2 nightstands, 1 shelf, 2 shoe racks, 1 file cabinet, and 2 dressers - whew!). Our couch (in a tasteful shade of burnt orange) was delivered on Wednesday and now the place is set. It was like building it all by hand. Sort of the Swedish version of Yankee Workshop. ;)

Rounding out the room is a huge 61" plasma TV (there are some perks to the job) and some stuff we brought from home. Last night, we were assembling some lamps (surprisingly NOT from IKEA) and Douglas asked if they required a screwdriver. When we said they didn't he replied, "that is so sad." We can't wait to show you it all when you come to visit!