Some Assembly Required

When I sold my house in Seattle, I ditched 90% of the furnishings, as they were old or shabby or broken or all three.  Thus for the new house, I've gone shopping for new stuff, sometimes in town, other times online.  The online stuff often required some skill with a screwdriver or hammer. 

I am not that skilled with either implement.  Nor am I savvy regarding the arcane drawings that come with assembly instructions, yet I ordered a coffee table online anyway, because the Google reviewers claimed it was "easy to put together."

Hah, I say.  Hah!  It would have been easier if the part labeled "B"  on the instruction sheet actually corresponded to the real part "B" of the table.  It did not.  However, I persevered, and as you can see from the photo below, I wound up with something resembling a coffee table -- just don't ever move it, or the one wobbly leg that refused to accept the screw intended for it will collapse.

Next I tackled a freestanding towel rack (not shown), which went together okay after some pieces got put on backwards and then got put on frontwards with a bit of struggle.  It does not wobble, so I am happy.

Emboldened by this success (more or less), I ordered two bookcases from Office Depot, despite the Google reviewers who claimed they were "easy to put together."  What I failed to notice was that each box weighed sixty pounds.  Thank goodness the kind delivery truck driver hauled them inside the house to the front hallway.  From there, I had to lug a piece or two at a time down to the library at the other end of the house, where they looked like this:

The instructions, unlike any assembly instructions I've ever read before, were legible, clear, and even sensible.  I still had trouble here and there, possibly because I have issues telling left from right.  I blame this on being about 75% ambidextrous.  It simply doesn't matter to my brain most of the time which one is which. 

But hey, after some effort and a bit of head-scratching, I got it together!

They are very sturdy bookcases, and I am quite pleased.

The next thing I ordered was a mobile for one of the many hooks in the ceilings, and I was delighted to discover that it came fully assembled.  Whew.  Just imagine what a tangle I could have made of those strings.

Having tackled 60lb bookcases, I knew better than to tackle anything heavier, so I looked for a dining table at a store in town and made certain they would not only deliver it, but put it together inside the dining room from which it will never move.

It feels luxurious to even have a dining room -- I have to cast my mind back over three decades before recalling a place I lived in that had one.  I've always lived in small spaces until now.  As an adult, I lived in college dorm rooms (TINY!), then in shared houses where I had one bedroom to myself, then in a 750sf apartment (sometimes with a roommate) for nine years, and then in a 630sf house for 21 years.

Having a 1400sf house for just me and the Hounds is very weird but I'm getting used to it!  My main issue is all the blank space, in the rooms and on the walls -- it needs to be filled!

The Hounds are enjoying having lots of room, too. 

I have a lot of pictures that I could hang on the walls, but not enough picture frames, so until I order more, there is always another way to cover up blank space:

The hallway wall that faces the living room was crying out for something, and as it was painted medium-gray, I decided to try something different -- a monochrome scene.

So far I've got a woodsy/marshy pond thing going, and I plan to stick a Great Blue Heron in there, and add a whole lot of leaves and cattails and other foliage.  It's still in the preliminary stages now.

There are other blank walls here and there...if I can't put furniture or framed pictures on them, they may need a mural instead.  We shall just have to wait and see!