Feathering the Nest - Part I

We have a four day weekend in our house. Thursday was a national holiday in observance of Ascension Day. I haven't seen any religious festivities celebrating it, but it does seem to be enjoyed in a a combination of three ways: driving to Germany or France to camp, hitting a nearby beach, or doing home improvements. For us, this weekend is our first real step in getting the house ready for the baby - in other words, nesting. And where else to start this off, but IKEA.

My husband, for various reasons, doesn't like IKEA. He appreciates IKEA's business model and is increasingly impressed by the price/quality of their products relative to competitors that seem to cut more and more corners these days, but he hates the IKEA shopping experience. I myself hate the rat in a maze flow of our local store, but it is one of the only one stop shopping places near us. During my pregnancy, it is the only time I have felt truly, world spinning, mouth-watering-about-to-yak nauseous. From the moment we park the car, we are consenting to being funneled through narrow curving lanes in a prescribed order with a parade of strangers. It feels like the home decorating process has morphed into some exhibitionist museum display. In the end, this means I have approximately 45 minutes from the time we take the off ramp to the store until my husband has reached his shopping breaking point. We manage it by pre-shopping online through IKEA's website, but on busy days like public holidays, it can be a true relationship test.

We started out wanting to purchase a baby crib and mattress (pictured) and ended up also buying five decorative pillows, a couch with a two person fold-out bed (pictured), three rugs (see picture for the one for the nursery), four window blinds, a closet organizer for the baby's room, shelving, a throw blanket, and two sets of sheets. We also ended up having to make a second trip back on Friday midday which was pure torture. I kid you not, I almost threw up in the parking garage before we even entered the store I was that nauseous. As my husband says each time we enter the house after a trip there, "We survived!"

And then began and still continues the assembling and re-arranging process. Some of you might ask, "If you hate the store so much, why bother?" The answer invariably is that IKEA is the most sensible option for many of our purchases. The flat pack design actually is pretty essential for life in a Dutch city. We have a four door Prius and prior to that had a two door Ford Focus. We own a traditional Dutch canal style house meaning a very narrow floor plan with steep stairways connecting each floor. We would have to pay a mover to deliver a fully assembled cupboard or couch through the second or third floor window of our house. Instead, we choose to assemble a piece of furniture in the room in which it will be used. It then typically cannot ever leave that room.

Stay tuned for Part II when I go into more detail about our redecorating plans.