Ikea brought our couch and table about a week ago. We paid to have the couch assembled. It’s our second time doing this. Our first time - we paid something like $90 to have 4 beds assembled, and that poor guy were here until 6 pm. I think it took 4 hours. Ms.C’s bed took most of that time. It’s a loft bed with a desk, bookshelves, 4 drawers, and a wardrobe all in one - which is the only way she was going to have any of that in the tiny den that is her room. The couch took 90 min.

A couch big enough for all 5 of us to lounge comfortably. Storage under the chaise and ottoman.

2 guys come. They come up the service elevator from the underground car park, ring our door bell. We go through our private elevator lobby to let them in the hallway door that only service people use. There’s not even a door handle on the outside. It can only be opened from the private lobby. I’m home alone with the kids. But I don’t feel worried. They always leave the hallway door open, and then there’s always our 24 hour security guards and our condo has a panic button to them also.

There is a bit of a language gap. Basically one guy speaks English and the other does not. Today it probably took 15 minutes to explain the layout for the couch. It was one of those ones where you pick the pieces and then build it online to decide how you want it to look. It came in 5 pieces and we’ve got it set up as a U.

First we used words, then we used hand signs, then I got the paper from Ikea and tried to show it on there. Finally, I drew a “U” and then they were a bit more certain about what I was trying to convey. More hand signs. It does look how I wanted it though, so I guess we worked it out.

Ms.C helping build her bed. 

When the beds were being set up the other day, a different set of guys argued with me for about 10 minutes with me about how to set 2 of them up. Ms.I and Ms.E’s have short loft beds. However, there is the option to set them up upside down so that the bed is on the floor, which is what we wanted. First I used words, they said No, you can’t. Then I showed them how the instructions they were following showed that option and that’s how I wanted it. They told me it wouldn’t look right. I said the kids were too little for bunk beds. They weren’t going to do it. I finally said “My husband won’t let them be up high. He insists the beds be on the ground because he thinks they are too little”. That settled it. They built it as requested.

This service is certainly easier than building it ourselves. Just keeping kids out of their way is hard enough.

Our Ikea table: We went for 3 chairs and bench. We've got 2 folding chairs if we have company.