We Will Find Them Once We Have Them Replaced!
“I don’t see them!” I mutter as I move levels, packages of screws, and pieces of molding around on the workbench-once-the dining-room-table, now with a flannel sheet draped over the top to protect the finish from carpentry stuff.
The Captain, perched on the top of the ladder was using the drill to screw in the hinges for the glass doors of the China Hutch he had been assembling for the last few days.
I tried another approach to find the elusive “parts” to the fourth and final glass door.
I went into the garage and searched the empty boxes, thinking that perhaps this “hinge package with screws” had never been removed from it’s original packing box.
Sigh!!!
No luck.
You see, the Captain and I came up with an IKEA “hack”.
OK, I came up with the “hack” and the Captain (as usual) is in the process of making it happen…or at least, almost making it happen.
This China Hutch,….that I could see so clearly in my mind, consisted of 3 bookcases and 2 panel/glass doors and 2 half doors, 4 extension bookcases and 4 glass doors that would fit the four extensions.
Plus, the China Hutch would have lighting inside all of the glass doors.
Oh…my plans were perfect!
After assembling all the bookcases and doors, we would add a baseboard to match the current baseboard in our dining nook.
We would add crown molding to match the kitchen’s crown molding.
We would put white beadboard up the sides of the bookcases to give them a little pizazz, and we would put quarter-round on the sides nearest the wall to make them look more built-in!
We would replace the wood shelves that came with the bookshelves with pretty glass shelves to better display white ironstone or other treasures.
We would change out the customary cabinet knobs that came with the doors with those matching our kitchen cabinets…
….or perhaps we would use glass knobs.
We would fill in all the little holes used for adjusting shelves on all the opened shelves so they can not be seen. I placed a few things in the Hutch to get an idea of what to put where.
And most importantly, it would not cost thousands of dollars.
It would be my contribution to the world of “IKEA hacking”, which means simply taking a item and making it into something different!
I had thought it out with absolutely NO glitches.
I had thought of EVERYTHING!
Except…..
Except missing parts.
Isn’t it frustrating when you put something together and there is a missing part?
Or screw?
Or gismo of some kind and you have to stop what you are doing and make a run to the hardware store and hope they have just what you are looking for.
Usually, the Captain can make it all work together, but this was different…the hinges were specific to these glass doors.
The Captain had a solution.
The unthinkable in my mind.
“We will return it to IKEA and get a new one with all the correct parts”. he announced matter-of-factly.
“What?” I try to say calmly…., (although deep inside of my inner most being, I am not using my inside voice….)!!! To myself, I am saying….
…….”are you kidding me? and when would we have the time to drive 2 hours across the state to return the glass door and exchange it for a good one with all the correct parts? Not within the next few hours, that is for sure. Soooooo, that would mean waiting a few weeks before we could make this unexpected trip and in the meantime, my China Hutch would sit lifeless, missing one glass door, which would be obvious to me each day I looked at it. It would look “unfinished”.
But I did not say it out loud. Instead, I kept searching for the missing hinges package. I was almost positive they were still in the house, somewhere.
I sorted through the outside trash bin…,UGH! THAT was not fun.
I searched the garage.
I searched the other rooms of the house, thinking someone, somehow, perhaps carried them to another room to talk on the phone or to study them or to….oh, I don’t know what I thought happened to them.
Finally, the Captain announced a plan.
A much better plan I might add, which kept my inner most voice from speaking up.
He said...”Let’s call IKEA and have them send us the missing parts!”
Great idea!
I beamed!
And so he called.
And even though the parts won’t be here for 5 days, they will arrive about the time the Captain is finished with the crown molding, glass shelves, beadboard and quarter-round.
(Yes, unfortunately the Captain does have a flying job, so we will have to fit it all in)
I also have a gut feeling that as soon as the new parts arrive….we will suddenly find the other parts!
Oh well, one never knows when one might need an extra set of hinges and screws for a 15X15 glass door.
I will keep you posted and hopefully, I will be able to show you pictures with glass shelves and knobs and ironstone dishes, decorated with the theme of the day.
Have a great week!
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