Pretty in Pink

Recall the other day when we emptied Hillary's bedroom of all furniture, wall hangings, and other belongings so that it was back to an empty room, like when we moved into the house? That was in anticipation of the delivery of her new bedroom furniture, which we received yesterday, and which we assembled and set up today.

Many furniture companies sell very similar bedroom sets; but some of those companies manage to offer their own sets at much lower prices than their competitors do. They do so by delivering the furniture unassembled, requiring the buyer to put it together upon receiving it at his/her house. A cost-conscious buyer may buy such a furniture set thinking that the savings will be worth the work involved in assembly and setup.

They are not. The savings are not worth it. People: Buy preassembled furniture, delivered to your door complete and ready to use, no matter what the cost!

It took us all day to assemble Hillary's new bed, which included time to problem-solve for some broken and wrong pieces. The bed was manufactured in Malaysia--and, although the illustrations were helpful, the directions sounded like the writer might have created them first in the Malay language and then used Google Translate to come up with an English version.

Many parts of the bed could be attached with hardware and a hex key, provided. However, most parts of the bed required screws (provided) and, according to the instructions, "a screwdriver (not provided)." Also not provided: pre-drilled guide holes for the screws. Thank goodness I have a drill of my own, or we might still be on the floor of Hillary's room, screwdrivers dangling from our weak and bloody palms, the bed still mostly unassembled, its impenetrable wood lying unharmed in a stack against the wall.

After finishing the bed just before suppertime, it was a blessing to discover that Hillary's two new dressers came nearly fully assembled. We just had to attach the mirror to her long dresser. Other than that, it was a matter of opening the boxes, removing the dressers, and setting them in place.

After supper, Hillary started putting her clothes away in her new furniture and moving her other belongings back into the room. I snagged this video before she started that process: