Why Ikea Meatballs are a Costly Distraction

So today is all about the flat.  And it's about time, really.  We've had a lot of busy weekends, which has meant that it feels like very little has happened on the flat.  

Looking around at the dump we live in, it's easy to feel that we have really not even started.  So I have to keep reminding myself that we have stripped the kitchen floor and got half of the units in (even if half of the units means only three)!  But the kitchen floor itself was a mission - and I'm now working on stripping the skirting tiles - which promises to be even more of a mission, despite how few there are.  But I'll post on that once they're done.

Talk of the kitchen must inevitably end today in a revelation about our latest trip to Ikea, where our units have come from.

We went to the Ikea in Wembley*, as it was easiest for us to get to mid-week.  Usually our trips to Ikea involve eating the meatballs then having half an hour to rush around like lunatics and achieve nothing.  

We were determined that this trip would be more productive - and that it was.  But only mildly so.  We had three things on our list.  Bathroom storage, kitchen planning (the other half) and lighting.

First stop was the kitchen planning, where we wandered around the Ikea mock up of the kitchen we had chosen, only to discover moments later that we had actually been wandering around the mock up of the kitchen we had bought, rather than the kitchen we had chosen...

Yes, that's right, pottering over to the next kitchen mock up revealed that our previous rushed visit to Ikea had resulted in us buying the WRONG KITCHEN!  Our desire for meatball gorging had resulted in just too little time for us even to focus enough to chose the right kitchen! 

So it turns out that there are very big benefits to having a small kitchen - namely you can buy the wrong cabinet doors and the cost of replacement is not so prohibative that you have to just live with a kitchen that the day before you had stated that you weren't sure you liked anymore.  I guess I have an explanation now for why I felt like I didn't like the kitchen anymore!

So it was just one door and three drawer fronts that needed replacing, and whilst we did not go home with any bathroom storage or lighting, we DID go home with a kitchen we actually like and an amusing story of our own stupidity.  Perhaps we should eat BEFORE we go to Ikea next.

*I do not recommend Ikea Wembley if you have any other choice - the service there was TERRIBLE in comparison to the Ikea in Croydon.