Plan "B"

Well, I did it. I finally went out and got something to replace my plastic box\nightstand. Before the plastic box, I'd been using a cardboard box, which worked pretty well considering that if one side got ruined, I still had 5 more side to choose from.

After trying to find something I liked made with sufficient quality at Thomasville and Ethan Allen, I was starting to get discouraged. The quality just wasn't there, which is not what I would have expected for places like that. Partical board, laminates and shoty workmanship\materials lead me to believe that I'd be using a plastic box for the rest of my life.

What a minute?! A plastic box > real furniture? So, that's when I decided to really take a look at what was out there. I drove to several furniture stores and found some really shoty workmanship and extremely low end materials. I even tried IKEA last week. I was actually in the checkout line with a $50 nightstand in my cart when I chickened out at the last minute. Then, I happened to come across a modest furniture store near my work and took a look around. There were some nightstands that looked as close to what I've been looking for so far. Mission style with all oak construction. I opened the drawer and found metal rails like you'd expect. Not the full-on, heavy metal type of rails that I was looking for, but rails none the less. The best that Ethan Allen & co could offer was wood-on-wood dragging with wax to make it smoother. Ick.

As if someone else was going to beat me to it, I immediately slapped down my credit card. Then, I had to make a decision. One drawer or three? I liked the single drawer with the open area below, but I also liked the handsome three drawer type. I measured and remeasured everything to make sure it wasn't too big for my tiny master bedroom. I was going to chicken out again, because these were not exactly what I was looking for, and these would almost certainly not be the nightstands that I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

If you think I'm bad with deciding on a nightstand, you should see me try to buy a belt. It took years. :-) The only purchase I haven't had to research or compare was my truck.

I finally decided on one of each (lacking the ability to make up my mind). They rang me up and I carted them off in my truck.

In other "clutter" news, I also got a pushbutton telephone. w00t! It rings too. I tell ya, I'm getting so much stuff lately, I'm not sure I'll be able to move in one truckload anymore. :-)