It has been four weeks since I got the keys to my apartment and things are not only settling down in the overall development but I am finally getting close to completing the decoration.
Not since I brought my first place about nine years ago did I put this much effort into getting a place “all sorted”. There were numerous hunter/gatherer trips to be made across Dubai and with the help of my Father we got there in the end. I thought I would compile a fun list of the highlights:
1. Time spent in IKEA selecting what new furniture to get – 7 hours
2. Number of arguments I had with my Father during the seven hours – 2
3. Weight of the IKEA furniture delivered – 1.4 tons
4. Number of IKEA guys to build it all – 6
5. How long the IKEA guys spent building it – 8 hours
6. Number of items missing from original IKEA order – 4 (forcing two repeat visits)
7. Number of dirhams to bribe the IKEA chaps to do some extra jobs (hang the plasma, mirror, shoe rack, wall cabinets) – 200
8. Number of removal boxes from storage and the villa – 112
9. Number of trucks to deliver it – 2
10. Number of removal men – 11
11. Items damaged – 4 (I was surprised at this low number)
12. Number of repeat visits to IKEA to pick up items we forgot – 5
13. Number of men to install blinds – 4
14. Length of time to install blinds – 6 hours
15. Number of house plants brought – 6
16. Time selecting plants – 3 hours
17. Delivery time of plants from purchase – 2 hours (Excellent service from Dubai Garden Centre)
18. Number of drawers in the kitchen – 2 (Deep ones for pots and pans – where am I suppose to put cutlery?)
19. New number of drawers in the kitchen – 6
20. Time to fashion four kitchen drawers from a kitchen cabinet door – 5 hours
I think you might get the idea! Everything takes it own sweet time from the selection process, to delivery and finally installation. I am loving the fact that delivery and installation is almost universally included in the price and if it is not it is only a small fee here in Dubai.
There is a reasonably well skilled labour force at very cheap rates here, however sometimes it can be hard to communicate exactly what I need. Leading to a few comedic moments of me acting like an extra from Celebrity Charades as I struggled with the art of international sign language.
On the whole though things got done and the couple of snags I had, got sorted out along the way. Here are a couple of shots of the close to finished product – (I need some pictures and the lamp shades are ready to be hung but you will get the idea)
The home cinema area:
The bar area:
and the Al Fresco area (taken on a hazy day):
To my mind it has been worth it and my father has pt huge amounts efforts into helping get the place together and I want to thank him for that. After all, on a weekend morning when you can enjoy the view below ,I look back at all the hard work and decide it was definitely worth it.
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