We took a little trip to IKEA recently – I’ve been playing with nail polish a lot lately, and I needed a cabinet to hold it all. I’ve heard good things about IKEA’s Helmer cabinet, so I picked one up… along with a few dozen other things. IKEA can be dangerous to one’s budget.

Here’s what the back of our vehicle looked like after wedging in a couple of table tops, over a dozen table legs, three cabinets, 10 shelves and 14 shelf brackets.

My dad would have been so proud of my packing skills. We barely managed to fit it all in, especially the corner table top, which is wedged in around the middle seat.

Once we got home, we spent the next several days assembling and relocating furniture. The Helmer unit was perfect for my needs, though I only managed to fill the top drawer so far. Before I asssembled it (which took about 45 minutes), I spent some time drawing all over it with paint pens. “Some time” translates to 15 hours, actually. I think the results are worth it: