Furniture shopping...not as straight forward as it seems!

R and I decided to get a few more things for our living room and some new furniture for our daughter since her stuff was getting handed down to the baby so ventured out to do some furniture shopping thinking it would be easy and we could have everything we wanted then and there...ha ha...ha ha ha!! Sooo...went down to the local Mondo Convenienza store which is huge and has everything you can imagine with great prices..so it seemed on most things. It's actually pretty simple you walk into the store and at various points along the walk way there are these little cubes with slips of paper, pencils and measuring tapes. All you do is take along a slip of paper and pencil and write down the item number you want to take to the cashier later. Sort of like IKEA but better.

Okay sounds great so far...well, we found a bed we really liked for H. It was a black iron four poster bed and a double size to boot. Oh that will last her for a few years I hear myself saying! So look at the price tag and it's on saldi (sale) for only 149.00 bargain! Here we were deciding on weather to get the curtains that go on it...sure why not?...then I go and lift the sheet up to make sure it's a good sturdy bed frame and find this insert set into the frame that actually holds the mattress. No slats or anything. Ok, so wait do we need one of those too, or is it for display...hmmm let me go try to talk to someone and find out. It turns out that yes you do need one of those as Italians keep that part of their bed but change only the bedstead itself. Hmmm...how much is that then? Can't be that much surely, it's a square of aluminum on legs with springs running across it. It was 220!! So now we are running 149 for the bed, 80 for the curtains, and now 220 for this frame and hadn't even looked at mattresses yet!

We round the corner and stand trying to find a reasonably priced yet comfy double mattress..Italian sizes by the way are different from UK which are again different from US...which would also mean new sheets...another 230 for a mattress! So this bed that started out as a bargain at 149 was now going to cost us...hang on I need to calculate...679 big ones!!! (that's still without the sheets mind?) We still needed a dresser, etc for her room not to mention the "few more things" for our living room. Needless to say we left it where it was and decided to "look around" for something else.

We spent a further two hours looking for other bits and pieces and fully satisfied with our decision...including our little ones input...we march up to the cashier only to be told they had one item in stock that day...and two of the other things would be in in two weeks time! Then also told us they didn't have nor would be getting any of the other furniture items we wanted in stock...WHAT??!! Oh, ok, calm down..it's not her fault. I just felt at that point that I had wasted a beautiful Saturday afternoon when we could have been outside enjoying the weather. Oh well, lots of sunny days to be had here!

In the end we made a trip up to IKEA on Sunday and found another bed we like just as much that was exactly what it seemed and priced like it said so bought that and a few other bits and bobs... but man I didn't realize furniture shopping could be so draining...this coming from a woman who loves to shop! Oh well live and learn....getting used to a new culture and way of life:)
TTFN