Day Five

We've been settling in here in the new house for about five days now. The Big Truck Move was completed with only minor troubles. We may have to buy this house so we don't have to move the dog again. She was a wreck, poor girl.

I didn't take part in the first load because I walked Chloe from old house to new. She was way too anxious to be in "a safe room" or the backyard for any extended time. Most of my responsibility on Saturday was to keep her safe and sound and point to wear furniture should be.

We were lucky to have some awesome friends come to help us so the three boys tackled the worst parts of our furniture: the Jon Hamm Bar and our Dresser.

Who doesn't want to drink scotch with Jon Hamm?

The Jon Hamm Bar is this great piece I found on the main drag of our old neighborhood for free. In December of 2010 we were walking up to our local bar for drinks and "Jeopardy" when I spied a large piece of awesome that said, "Free". It was born and raised to be office equipment — a filing cabinet it would seem — which only makes the Mad Men feel all the better. James had fear in his eyes so I brokered a deal: we would pass it up then but if it was still there when we came back, which I doubted highly, we would take it. Much to James' chagrin and my surprise it was still there! I had the fiery determination of a few drinks in me and there was no way — or weight — that would convince me otherwise. I should note that James is now as in love with JHB as I am. Anyway, we very quickly discovered why the piece was still out on the street: it weighs a ton. It is only mildly hyperbolic to describe it that way. It took us about an hour to move it the three blocks to our house. We would lift, shuffle about 15 steps, and have to stop to rest. A neighbor helped James haul it the last 75 feet which was a blessing. Two years later and this baby is still one of my favorite possessions. And the three dudes who took it to task and hauled it in all of its 100 pound glory are near and dear in my heart — almost as much as Jon Hamm.

The walls are still bare but I think a Navy Pinup Poster will suit it.
Possibly a framed photo of Jon Hamm, haha.

So now our middle room is really coming together. I'm temporarily referring to it as the Library/Lounge since all of our bookcases reside there as well. It's looking pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself. I like the idea of cocktails and book spines a lot. But the books will be for another day since that project is multi-faceted. So, lets talk about the other lumbering piece the boys had to contend with.

In Round Two our heroes must face the deadly Black Widow Dresser! (Spoiler: its only a threat for awhile but eventually defects and joins the good guys later on.)

This beauty is beguiling but dangerous.

This is the bed we snagged

before they changed the design.

The Dresser was a wedding gift from my mother-in-law. It matches our bed and I'd wanted it for quite awhile.  We scored the matching bed for $100 on a random trip to Ikea. It was perfectly timed because we wanted to swap bed sizes and give them a Full and begin life with a Queen. Apparently, Ikea has changed the Hemnes bed style so there were less than 10 of the ones I loved left.

Here's the new design. I like it
a lot less and it retails at almost $300.
I am happy to save $200 whenever
I can!

James gallantly put it together in our old bedroom and as such it had never been struggled down the steps until last weekend. My gal pal and I were sitting on the new porch with Chloe and wondering what became of the boys when we received a phone call asking us for a powerful drill so they could remove the bannister. The joys of the moving process. I imagine it was the worst part of the day for those guys.

All in all it only took three rounds and we wrapped up around 13:00. All of the small stuff has been or is being moved in other trips. This is so much less stressful and really helps with the culling process. We moved all of the books last week and that is the large portion of our possessions.