It took five months for us to understand that our bedroom furniture did not survive Hurricane Katrina afterall. As soon as we were able we brought everything out to dry and I wiped whatever touched the storm surge with some stuff that was supposed to kill and prevent mold periodically. By Christmas our chest of drawers was listing slightly starboard and the six drawer dresser was sporting a bright green film that I'm quite sure glows in the dark (I've caught Judge barking in that direction in the middle of the night...). I'm still too sentimental to throw in the towel. Obviously, if they continue to warp and crack there isn't a lot a can do for them... But I have moved them out onto the front porch and plan to strip & sand them down in an effort to save them.
In the meantime - we found furniture that we liked at the Pier 1 website. The whole ordering process was a bit confusing when the online shopping cart told us that everything but the footboard would be available for delivery in our area... So we contacted the store in Gulfport and eventually ended up going over there in person to place our order. It all went so smoothly that it was scary. Their bedroom furniture was on sale that night - AND we got a second discount just for buying so many pieces at once. Our sales associate told us that they would be calling us in two weeks to set up delivery - and for a mere $90 their delivery guy would bring the whole lot of furniture over from Gulfport. (That's a whole lot better than the freight charges the internet furniture stores were coming up with... AND the furniture was substantially cheaper than what we were finding in local furniture stores too -- even before the discounts.)
We are so used to things going awry by now that we were floored when the delivery guys showed up last night. It only took a few minutes for them to unload everything. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner and didn't get to see it all.... Until later.
Our bedroom was full of enormous boxes. Everything was where we would have placed it... but still in enormous crates with writing on them that said things like "HEAVY!" or "Do not drop." (I always love those warnings... I mean are there other boxes out there marked "Drop if you want..."?) No big deal, right? Dave and I thought we would get the kids in bed and then go open up our furniture... then maybe relax with a game of Metal Gear Solid 3 on Valentine's Day evening... Er.. Wrong. This furniture was still packed for shipping. I now understand what that means.
In the meantime, Yvonne was rather upset to have her usual bedtime routine disrupted by these huge boxes. Every five minutes or so she would emerge from her bedroom and wave hello. We would put down our screwdrivers and boxcutters to go pick her up and carry her back to bed. Then we would turn on her music and talk to her teddy bear... rearrange her blankets and tuck her back in. We would both kiss her and tell her how great she was. Then we'd stand in the doorway and wave goodnight several hundred times before gently closing her door and going back to our boxes. We only had to do this about 36 times last night.
It was 3am when we had a bed again. We both promptly passed out cold without really getting a good look at the furniture.. and we aren't sure if Yvonne continued to get up after that either. It all looked great this morning though -- and at least Yvonne was asleep in her bed when the sun came up.
The moral of the story: There is a good reason there is a $300 difference between "Delivery fees" and "Set up & Delivery fees."
Having said all that -- kudos to Pier 1 for their excellent customer service and for understanding that if a footboard is all that it takes to make a sale then, by all means, get a footboard. (We did notice that the footboard box was marked: "Hold: Gaskin." Something tells me that there's a Gaskin out there somewhere who isn't so happy with Pier 1 at the moment....
Just in case - we'd like to extend our thanks to Gaskin too. Sorry!)
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