C'est ma vie

6 Hours of Ikea Hell

Never, ever go to Ikea on a Saturday. Especially with your husband and two small children. But, it didn't end up being that bad and we stayed calm.

The whole thing started out as a good intention. I wanted to go browse the mattress section and take Gab to get some meatballs for lunch. Since we are officially on school vacation all over France, I though 'naaa, there won't be the usual Saturday crowd, they've all gone out of town'. Well, I was wrong. It seemed like very single bed I laid down on to try out the mattress, someone else just had to come over to that bed and try it out too. At one point, I had gotten up from a bed to go take care of Louise who was fussing and came back a minute later to find someone already on the bed and I ended up waiting 10 min. before I could try it again! But, despite all this and the running into someone every two seconds because they just wouldn't move, we amazingly kept our patience.

Before going to Ikea, I had done some research on mattresses online. We were about to buy a really expensive, top of the line model, but something in me just couldn't spend that much money, so I wanted to check out Ikea. The mattress situation was becoming an emergency because we were sleeping on a mattress that was about 20 years old. Our backs were suffering and I could no longer go another week thinking about the wacky springs digging into my back. Now that the bed was built, it seemed a logical step to look for the mattress. After trying nearly every mattress in the store, we settled on a middle of the line model and after waking up this morning without pain, both of our backs were grateful.

We also found a piece of furniture that could be used as steps for our bed. We'll need to reinforce them with planks at the top for the steps and I'll need to paint them, but they are pretty neat and will save a lot of time compared to Etienne building steps!

So, our apartment looks like a hurricane came through it. Everything is out and scattered everywhere as we try to organize our room and find places for the things that no longer have places. Our next week will be spent going through things from top to bottom.

I love our new space, though and really love the loft bed. It not only gives us much more space but it's also kind of a place to go for refuge and a little peace and quiet. Tonight, as dinner was in the oven and Etienne was playing with the kids, I just climbed up there and read, as if I had my own little quiet corner.

Gab likes the new bed

Gab likes the new bed, originally uploaded by afoos.

Here's one happy customer! I'm still a little skeptical that those thin planks will hold us, but I guess we won't really know until they break!!!!

Gab and Etienne watching a movie

Gab and Etienne watching a movie, originally uploaded by afoos.

Ends still need to be painted, but you get the idea.

The unfinished bed

The unfinished bed, originally uploaded by afoos.

We still have lots of work to do for our room, so I hesitate showing these pics because it's not at all how it's going to look once we get it all finished. As you can see, the side still needs painted, as do the ends that you'll see on the above pic, which I'm going to tackle this weekend. We are also going to buy a new mattress, put a wrought iron (if we can find one, I am crossing my fingers!) barrier along the side, have a staircase in the same color as the stain we used, move Etienne's desk and workspace under the bed (as well as clean up his workspace!!!!) and leave the end open with a few pieces of furniture in the same dark wood color. I am also going to put some hanging plants on the bed and make it a really relaxing space, oh and we're going to put some shelves up at the top for our books, etc... I think it will turn out really nicely, but you can't tell from the state our room is in right now. Our school vacation is going to be spent finishing this project.

Let the work begin

Let the work begin, originally uploaded by afoos.

Louise watching her daddy to go work.

A French Smore

A French Smore, originally uploaded by afoos.

Etienne thought it was the most disgusting thing in the world. Gab quite liked it.

Showing Gab how to make a Smore

Showing Gab how to make a Smore, originally uploaded by afoos.

After a hard day's work painting and sanding while the kids played outside, we built a nice fall fire and I taught my family the meaning of S'more.

Finished look

Finished look, originally uploaded by afoos.

This is the finished color. Etienne and I had a difficult time agreeing on how dark to go. He wanted lighter, I wanted darker and the end result pleased us both. These planks would eventually be screwed together to make one platform where we'll sleep. At this point, after Etienne broke one sitting on it to sand it down, I am very skeptical about their capacity to hold us up in the air as we sleep.

Who does she look like?

Who does she look like?, originally uploaded by afoos.

Louise watches in awe as I paint. Who do you think she looks like here? I'm seeing a strong resemblance to my side of the family.

Planks pre-treatment/painting

Planks pre-treatment/painting, originally uploaded by afoos.

We then lined up the planks against the house, ready for painting.