Bedroom Shuffles (aka IKEA Rocks!)

When we found out that Stick-It was on his way, and it became apparent that he was healthy and sticking, we had to break a promise we made to the two older boys. Plans had begun for a yard sale, with the boys were driven to clean by the promise that they could keep the profits from any toys sold. I had my own visions of an attic empty of Rubbermaid bins of outgrown clothes and a garage free of baby furniture and strollers. Yes, Ms. Pack Rat that I am, I have thrown only broken items out; everything else is still on hand. And them each getting his own room was a good idea at the time, with one starting middle school. They have shared a room since the younger one was 18 months old; it was a hot summer and we had only one air-conditioner for them to share.

With the anticipated arrival of Stick-It, plans have changed. They will continue to share, and on top of that, are losing their toy room. Yep, our third bedroom (all upstairs) was their toy room, where the GameCube and DVD player lived with the board games, Legos and Matchbox cars. It was a great setup: they were upstairs, we occupied the TV room downstairs, and the living room furniture was left to fade in peace. In fact, we only had cable in one room – the TV room. Our bedroom has a TV with rabbit ears that got three or four stations.

Then came the pregnancy news. And plans changed. My father was pressed into handyman service, splicing the cable so that we now have it in our room, the TV room, and the living room; he also wired and rewired phone jacks, so we can have phones in two additional rooms if needed. Then, the decision was made to give the boys the TV room, while we’d take the living room as our respite. The toy room would be partially emptied and repainted for Stick-It, and the boys’ room would get two new (and matching) dressers and a bunk bed.

Have you ever tried to find reasonably priced, not-a-piece-of-garbage, furniture, particularly bunk beds that would hold an 8” mattress? Well, thank the Shopping Gods for IKEA, home of Scandinavian furniture, or, as I call it, the Mothership for Shoppers! I’ve been in this place once, but the impression was made. Mind you, I’m not looking for heirloom pieces. I’m looking for something that, if a kid gouges it with a pencil, I’m not going to need his college fund to fix, and that I won’t have any issues about letting him take with him when he moves out (then I can get the good heirloom stuff!). I know too many people who spent big bucks on a nursery or bedroom set for their little darling, only to have the kid chew the $800 mahogany crib rail to pieces or play Picasso on the side and top of the bureau with a Sharpie. And hey, I’m just too cheap to spend that type of cash.

So, after much whining, pleading, and demanding, my DH agreed to the pilgrimage to the Mothership last Sunday after church. I had researched online what pieces I wanted to see, so we weren’t going in blind. Tape measurer and notes in hand. Traffic wasn’t bad, so the trip took just under an hour. Once inside, it took about 2 hours to walk around, get some food in the caf, make our final decisions, load our flatbed, and get in line. Then, the harrumphing began. The Patriots' kick off was at 4:00 p.m. We got in line at 3:00 p.m. The watch checking began. DH’s temper with the kids was running low. The “knock it off”s started. I finally turned to DH, who snapped at me, “What?!?” I responded back curtly, “Knock it off yourself. I’ve told you we needed to do this three weeks in a row. And you always had an excuse. The Red Sox were playing. The Patriots are on at 1:00. Well, tough, you can listen to kick-off in the car!”. We got home during the first quarter, and I let him watch until almost half time. Then I told him to get up and come help me unload the bed. He was not a happy camper, but tough, I wanted these beds together, particularly as I couldn’t do the bureaus first with the boys’ beds in the room as they were; they wouldn’t fit.

It should be noted that, because DH is spatially challenged, I have always been the one to assemble things in our home. He is also a procrastinator, so that I have been the one at 7 or 8 months pregnant lifting furniture, putting together cribs, etc. Unless I throw a hissy fit, he doesn’t help. And honestly, with this pregnancy, on top of working fulltime and dealing with a 12-yo and an 8-yo, I’m just too friggin’ tired. Oh, and did I mention DH just this week transferred to an office closer to home (half the distance of his old one, so about 25 minutes away), but he’s now Monday through Friday 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM instead of Tuesday through Saturday days. So, I am essentially a single parent at night, dealing with pick up and practices and errands and dinner and homework and bedtime on my own. So, with that in mind, my demands to put together the beds Sunday night didn’t seem like I was asking too much to me.

With DH and DS#1 holding pieces up and together, I finished assembly at 9:00 p.m. The next night, I assembled one bureau, then Tuesday night, the second bureau was assembled and clothes put away in it. One bookcase has been moved in, and tomorrow DH will have to move the bureau that was in the boys’ room to Stick-It’s room (because it’s too heavy for me). Then we can clean out the rest of the toys, move the rest of the furniture out, clean and paint the room, and fix up the TV room for the kids. And if I’m still standing on Monday, I’ll be amazed! If we can accomplish that much, I’m hoping we can get everything done by Thanksgiving, when I hit 28 weeks. Then I can concentrate on cookie making, gift-wrapping, the holidays, and getting ready for Stick-It.