IKEA

The day after we arrived (after spending a night on our hardwood floors), our mission was to buy some furniture…at least a bed.  We had done some planning while in Ames so that our trip to Ottawa’s IKEA would go as quickly and smoothly (and inexpensive) as possible.  So, we set out for IKEA a little after 10am.

It was pretty easy to see from the road

The store wasn’t too far away, about 15 minutes, and it certainly wasn’t hard to spot from the highway.  Chad had never been to IKEA, so we wanted to be sure to have the entire experience.  With this in mind, our first mission: eat Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria so that we wouldn’t have to stop for lunch.  It was glorious – the meatballs were cheap and incredibly tasty, and they came with a mountain of mashed potatoes and gravy, some mysterious red jam, a side-salad, and a soda.  It was the perfect meal to energize us for the shopping ahead, and it gave us some time to get organized.  Since we were without internet in Ottawa, we didn’t have access to my specific list, so we made a new one on the back of a receipt and set out into the store.

Furniture shopping was great – we had a ton of fun testing sofa beds and futons and dining chairs and desks, and we even picked up a few decorative things to make our place seem a little more like home.  We shopped for the deal, and 7 hours later we had gathered our entire list in the warehouse and were ready to pay.

The food was awesome and cheap -- all this for $4.00!

Looking at our cart, we had the realization that my car wasn’t big enough for most of the boxes.  This must be a common situation in IKEA, as they had posters everywhere outlining their delivery packages.  Upon a closer look at one of the posters, though, we discovered that they also rent vans for 1/3 of the price of a delivery.  Chad got the details, and it turns out that the low price was a by-the-hour rate; so we set out to rush our new furniture (packed in flat boxes) home, fill the van with gas, and return in under an hour.  We stuffed what we could into my car, left it at IKEA, and took off in the van.

It was a whirlwind beginning with rush hour traffic backing up the highway.  We creeped along, and finally made it to our exit.  Most of the boxes were too heavy for me to carry, so I held doors and helped as Chad did the too-heavy-for-Erin’s-tiny-muscles lifting.  We threw everything inside the door of our little unit and took off for a gas station right across the street from IKEA to fill up before returning the van.

We pulled into the gas station with just enough time to quickly top off and rush back to the van rental desk.  Suddenly, though, Chad stops and stares at the gas cap, looks at the pump, and turns back to the cap.  He finally leans into the window and says, “It only takes E-85, and they don’t sell it.”  Confused and rushed, we weren’t sure what to do.  So Chad quickly grabs a receipt off of the top of the trash, closes the gas flap, and we head back to the store.

After arriving just in time, we wait at the rental desk for almost 10 minutes.  The customer service lady calls us up, counts us as “on time” and asks for the receipt (which was for $30 in gas – over 4 times what we used for the trip).  Not fazed by the strangely impossible amount of gas purchased by this receipt, she fills out her paperwork.  Finally she says, “I’m just going to run down and check out the van to make sure everything is in order.”  Oops.  We didn’t put any gas in it…

After a few (kind of stressful) minutes, she returns.  Everything looked good, and we were cleared to go, paying the lowest price possible for our van rental.

Relieved, we ate dinner at a steakhouse in the parking lot (called “Montana’s”), hopped in my car, and headed home around 9pm.

Our trip was really fun, almost exactly as expensive as I calculated it would be, and successful.  We spent the rest of the night and the next morning constructing our furniture and arranging our little home, and we still love our finds.  That day, we got:

·         A great couch with removable arm rests that quickly turns into a bed (a futon, technically)
·         A coffee table that we use as a TV stand/entertainment center
·         A table top (I brought the legs from home) and matching chairs for the dining area
·         Two vases that Chad fell in love with in the store that look awesome on our table
·         A desk that came with a free bookshelf
·         A set of two squiggly mirrors
·         A table lamp

And they're all awesome!