On Thursday I wrote about the new “changing table” we got from IKEA, except for the fact that the “changing top” doesn’t come with it, it’s a separate purchase and that the store didn’t have them in stock, while it was assumed by the staff that there was at least one in the warehouse (self-service for the buyer) and there wasn’t one there at all when we looked.

So basically, I had looked online and checked availability for other stores, like Philly, Long Island, and such stores, just to see, thinking we could maybe gain access to one via talking on the phone to them and having it somehow shipped to us (the item is not available online to purchase, only IN the store itself.)

The thing about it all is, my Hubbie was going to be going to NYC on Thursday Night/Friday, and I told him that there was a brand new store in Brooklyn that IKEA’s website said had just opened the previous day or so. I had also told him that the Long Island store supposedly had availability of the product.

He wasn’t going to have a rental car, but be ferried around by a customer (usually he has his own rental car) and therefore didn’t think he’d be able to do anything about it, and didn’t know if there would be time in any case anyhow.

So on Friday I get a phone call from him telling me that they went to some stores looking for a couple of Wii things that no one around where we live has in stock, nor any online stores, he found nothing there in NYC. He was going to keep it a secret about what he did find though, and ended up telling me anyhow, thankfully, since surprises aren’t usually that good for me, it’s nicer to anticipate for awhile first, that’s half of the fun of something gifted or whatever you want to call it.

They went to the Long Island IKEA store, and said they had at least 20 of my desired item in stock, and that it wasn’t $20 as it was in ATL, but that price was crossed out and it was $15. So he brought one home with him from NYC to ATL (on the plane) and then to our home via our vehicle from the airport.

He got home late Friday night, actually Saturday, and so I got it out and put it together on Saturday morning. It’s very nice now, to have a REAL changing table that is nothing like I had for my other babies 7+ years ago. Baby Q has been changed on the bed and the floor most of the time, his whole first year, until just yesterday. I had originally bought a premium contour pad to use on our dresser, but that didn’t feel good and we just never used it, piled things on it instead, and used the floor on the main level with a travel pad from a diaper bag. Ugh.

I didn’t want a traditional changing table since it’s open to allow cats onto everything (we have cats galore compared to when we last had used a changing table.)

So we were able to get this changing table/dresser/chest thing from IKEA, minus tax, for $135. It’s a piece of furniture for now and the future. It’s nice. The only thing we’ll now do is change the hardware on the drawers, it’s a little fussy to use, LEKSVIK is the style.

I’ll find nice bin drawer pulls that will fit, I hope to, that is.

We went to IKEA the day before yesterday. We had a specific idea in mind: to get a small dresser to use as a changing table.

Once there we found a piece in the Leksvik line, that is small, but not too small, and has an additional piece to put on top that makes it into a changing table.

We liked it more than like. I’ve liked that series of furniture, I like the antique pine look, and the dark hardware, and the basic design of the pieces. We didn’t look any further since it was wood and would work and we liked it better than like.

If you haven’t been to IKEA before to buy something you might not know how it works, and also how frustrating it can be: You pick something out and get excited about it, even talk to the people in the departments about the items you are interested in on the Display Floor: then you go to the lower floor (in our case in Atl.) and search for the right AISLE and BIN for each product in the Warehouse. You find the right spot and … there is nothing there that you are looking for. It’s the right aisle and bin alright, but there is nothing of what you went there for.

Such was the case when we went down into the warehouse searching for the changing table top. It wasn’t there. Found an employee, they looked it up and said the computer says “1 in stock” … which in retail means, “there’s probably none.”

Great. Not. We got a dresser/cabinet specifically to work with that changing top. The dresser top isn’t large enough to use a changing pad, nearly, but the changing top is nifty and makes it safer to use. So if we could have, I’d have gone back upstairs and looked for something else to work, but it was close to closing, I had no time. I did like what we picked out, but there was no promise of ever getting the changing top there … they said the computer said there was no planned shipment of the product …

Here’s what it should look like

This is what we have right now though, the chest without the changing top:

I’ve checked online, other stores say THEY have it, just Atlanta doesn’t. So it’ll be a phoney solution for us, no doubt.

Yesterday I brought the package into the house, and put the dresser together. I had my eldest (12) help me some, and eventually had my Hubby help with screwdriver duty. It was a straightforward plan and went together with ease, for the most part.