Surviving Ikea and Beach Reno part 2

view from my room

Last Wednesday the Husband and I went to Ikea to order all the furniture for the beach house and to finally put an end to the drawn-out discussions on the merits of one sofa bed over another, one type of chair over an other and on and on, but what in fact happened was us almost putting an end to our marriage.

This is nothing new, every single couple I know fights when in Ikea for some reason or another, it’s the curse of Ikea. But what normally is nothing more than a spat that resolves itself in the walk from couches to dining room sets turned into a blown out of all proportion bonanza of passive aggressiveness not seen since the wedding planning days, due to the fact that we were in Ikea for eight straight hours. Yes, eight hours. We had both lunch and dinner there. It’s a miracle we didn’t get divorced. It’s actually an even greater miracle that we chose, ordered and paid for all of the furniture for a three bedroom apartment, kitchen and closets included (as houses in Italy come with none of these things, plus we’re renovating so the point is moot anyway).

Anyway, the apartment will look AMAZING, if I do say so myself… if cheaply furnished. When we saw the total amount we spent we almost clapped our hands in glee. I mean, it’s not like they were giving furniture away for free or anything, but compared to what one usually spends here to furnish a house… let me just say that we spent less than we would have to outfit just a regular-sized kitchen in a normal store, so you can understand the glee, right?

Anyway, Thursday we went to check on the progress on the apartment and were thrilled to see that the floors were practically completely laid, the kitchen backsplash was up, the walls were whitewashed and the bathroom floors and tiles were almost done. So “YAY!” was our initial reaction, thinking of our basically certain two week vacation at the end of august in our new house. HA! What’s that they say about chanting victory before the battles done? But first, here are some pics:

Entrance as seen from inside the house. Not grand but all our own!

just wanted you to see the cute little sign they have to put on construction sites.

Living room side - see the floors?! Yes, that's my tush in the background.

Kitchen side! the backsplash has a few decorated tiles, but you can't tell from this angle, will take a better shot next time.

hallway leading to bedrooms and bathrooms

pink bathroom! 

green bathroom! (not yet fully tiled when this photo was taken, but all done now!)

So, as we gleefully plan the last jobs that need doing, the plumber coming in to put a few vital things in (like toilets), the electrician finishing up, what color we wanted to paint the walls and such, we ask when the windows and doors would be arriving. Windows and doors we ordered the first week of July. Windows and doors that, we were assured, would take no longer than forty days to arrive.

please note the lack of a window.
 also note the husband looking pensive to the side - he's been complaining of being heavily under-featured on here.

The second week of September was the answer we got. The apartment resonated with the sound of our jaws dropping to the ground. 

So there go our hopes of relaxing at the beach before school starts. And the worst part, it’s all our own stupid fault. We know how construction works in Italy, we’ve done this before. They never, ever, never, ever, ever deliver on their promises, if they tell you the house will be ready by mid August count on at least an extra month cause something is bound to go wrong.

At times like these I hate Italy and stupid Italian workers who won’t let me go on vacation. Stupid. And mean. 

view from guest bedroom, not great, but I really like that tree.