Varde Base Cabinet by the Numbers

Near the end of the school year, and much to my delight, our kids decided that having the computer in my sewing room wasn't working for them.  So we moved the computer to another room that the kids have designated as "the study."  Every time they say "the study" I feel like I'm playing Clue -- as in "it was Mrs. Peacock in the study with the candlestick."

Removing the computer, and the cabinet that holds it, freed up some much needed space in my sewing room and I promptly started to look for something to fill it.  I thought about cabinetry, bookshelves, a bigger design wall, and a table and finally, while searching on line, I discovered Ikea's Varde base cabinet.  It's actually designed for a kitchen, but with a sturdy work surface, three drawers and two shelves, I thought it would be perfect for a sewing room.

Here's the story of my Varde base cabinet by the numbers:

Ikea wanted to charge me 

$299 for shipping the Varde base cabinet to rural New Hampshire, therefore

21 is the number of days I waited for our closest Ikea to get a Varde base cabinet in, and while I waited patiently

67 is the number of times I checked the website to see if the Varde base cabinet was in stock (yes, I know, slightly obsessive).  Once the Varde base cabinet was in stock, it took me 

5 hours to adjust my schedule, grab my daughter and head for Ikea.

210 is the number of minutes it took us to make the

135 minute trip to Ikea because we spent

75 minutes in traffic in Boston going

6 miles an hour with 

1,000,000 other motorists who I could only assume were going to Ikea to buy Varde base cabinets, which was a problem because the website said that they only had 

8 Varde base cabinets!

Once we got to Ikea, it took us

30 minutes to obtain a piece of paper saying that we had purchased a Varde base cabinet (apparently the other motorists were going to Cape Cod)

60 minutes to work our way through the showroom, and after a quick dinner, during which we consumed

0 Swedish meatballs, we spent another

70 minutes in the marketplace.

We finally left the store with 

16 superfluous, but necessary items

3 Varde base cabinet boxes weighing

218 pounds and like 

2 damsels in distress, we couldn't get the boxes in the car without the help of a burly, but fairly non-verbal Ikea man.

The next morning my daughter, one of my boys and I opened the boxes and discovered

185 pieces of hardware

35 pieces of Varde base cabinet, and

2 ridiculously tiny tools.

But

4 1/2 hours later and, may I say, with surprisingly little use of profanity, we had

1 completed Varde base cabinet AND

1 very happy quilter!