Busting out the cherry

STIPIMM: “Circus Act” by R.E.M.

Our long-awaited furniture finally arrived to our home this weekend. Three pieces of furniture that sucked the wedding money from our account as quickly as we put it in are now providing a homey décor in our bedroom. Bridget’s mother did it one better by purchasing an end table as an additional wedding gift… four! four glorious solid-wood cherry furniture pieces! Ah ha ha! *lightning strike*

Getting them from New Hampshire, where they were purchased, down to Massachusetts, and then up into our apartment was a considerable chore. The pieces all fit in the cab of Bridget’s Uncle Ray’s truck, which was fine, but we opted to stuff four people (Ray, Bridget, her mom and I) and some additional luggage into his cab. It was a snug fit, but we did fit.

As luck would have it, though, it was raining, and Ray had to cover the furniture (still it their boxes) with a Lilliputian array of tarps and ropes, secured with the help of his impressive Coast Guard knot-tying knowledge.

Once in Brighton, it was still wet and nasty, so we had to move the pieces inside in the rain. But the water was the least of our worries. Our new furniture is in four pieces: one bed frame (headboard and footboard); one nightstand; one tall dresser; and one massive armoire. The first two things aren’t so bad, but those last two…solid-wood pieces… ye gods they were heavy. The narrow width of the doors on the first floor of our apartment building didn’t help matters much either. But we all put our backs into it, and eventually, everything was upstairs. Some assembly was required on the bed frame, but it really wasn’t too bad.

How we originally wanted it

So then we had our bedroom pieces. And just as soon as we did, we had a problem. In our purchasing, we had made a couple of assumptions about the width of our room. And you know what happens when you assume: it makes an “ass” out of Bridget. Needless to say, our original designs for how we wanted to arrange the furniture were not feasible because the dresser and armoire were too deep.

So, once we accepted that fact, we set out to figure out how we were going to arrange our suddenly crowded room. In the end, we hit upon an acceptable solution that requires a little bit of maneuvering on my part (though god knows I’ll impale myself on the corner of the dresser at some point), but leaves a lot of open space on either side of the bed. Not perfect, but very livable.

How it wound up

Of course, before the furniture was even finally in place, Bridget was itching to fill it up with our clothes. And so, in little time, we had arranged all our sartorial needs in our new furniture. It’s a set-up that will probably change incrementally over the years, but it works for now.

We spent a lot of money on this furniture. When Bridget first saw the set, she fell in love with it, but quickly noted that we probably could never afford it. She was probably right, but when I saw it, and fell for it as well, it was a given that we would put up the money to get what will hopefully be a long-term furniture investment. As many people have told us, this furniture is designed to last us forever, and so spending extra on it will be worth it. Maybe. But right now, there’s a gaping hole in the ol’ account, a 24p video camera that’s going unbought, and occasional nail-biting with regards to paying bills. But, hey, the furniture is fantastic. And it's ours.

And yes, we tested the bed frame thoroughly. No squeaks.