Ikea Cabinets: A Sea of Boxes

It's one thing to hear that your Ikea kitchen will come in a million different pieces that need to be puzzled together. It's another to come home to delivery men turning your garage into a warehouse:

This picture is taken AFTER we'd pulled a number of boxes into the house to start assembly. It's overwhelming to say the least. Not to mention, it's recommended that you check each box against your order to make sure everything came as it should. This goes much faster as a two man job. Coffee doesn't hurt either.

When ordering Ikea or any RTA cabinets, be sure to clear space for the flood of cardboard coming your way. Preferably, this will include some horizontal space so that you can get to what you need without risking life and limb under a tower of cabinetry.

However, this sea of boxes is not as overwhelming as it initally seems. Each box is clearly marked with product numbers and dimensions. Just keep the inventory list handy to "decode" as you get into putting it all together. Plus, there's a certain satisfaction watching the pile get whittled away each day. Although you may not be very popular with your waste removal service on recycling day.

Ceiling Bling

Maybe it was the heady rush of realizing how much I'd saved on my yard sale cabinet pulls, or maybe it was the need for something SPARKLY to look at  on this dreary fall day. Oh wait--I blame my friend Liz for letting me know that Pottery Barn had 20% off their lights this week. And thus, I found myself pushing our lighting budget up by about $40 (or about $120 if you go by the price of the lights we purchased but are returning) so that we could own three of these: 

We'd gotten a great deal on some copper-look lights with Edison bulbs, at just $40 each including the bulb. And they look nice--if you don't look at them. With the exposed bulb at eye level for adults seated at the bar, the effect was a bit blinding. So the lighting search re-started.


We looked at Ikea, back to Lowe's, Amazon, Etsy, round and round. I think the extra money we are spending on the Harlowe Wire & Glass lights is a small trade off for the time I will save by ending my internet search!

Also alleviating any budget busting guilt was finding these EXACT lights on Ebay, new in the box, for the sale price, but with no shipping or taxes. That saved over $30. Which is just enough to make me feel like I got a good deal and enjoying checking another item off the list.