PAX Does Mean Peace

‘Tis the season of “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men”, but what I’m referring to is a PAX wardrobe unit from IKEA. Many years ago, Wonder Hubby and I bought an old house with three bedrooms - only one of which has a closet! We tried to adapt and make do, but we were always struggling with how and where to stow everything from clothes to sleeping bags. We always felt as if we were failing to keep things tidy and accessible. Then a couple of years ago I became aware of, and completely infatuated with, the IKEA PAX wardrobe system. This past May, on my birthday, we drove the hour and forty-five minutes from here to the nearest IKEA.

We had done all our homework: studied the catalogue, gone on-line and fitted out our virtual PAX unit, measured our bedroom and had the numbers and details in hand. It was a wonderful birthday! We had been to IKEAs in New Jersey and on Long Island, but this one was “ours”, right here in Massachusetts. We went all over the store, loving every minute, and then headed to the in store cafeteria to have lunch, recharge our batteries and finalize our decisions.

Once we placed our order for the PAX units and all the fittings, we headed to the self serve store and shopped some more. Finally, we picked some items up in the warehouse area and checked out. Wheeling the huge flatbed style carts out to the car was a bit of an adventure, topped only by the adventure of loading up our trusty Subaru (BTW, we still don’t have it back yet). There was one moment when we were wrestling an enormous flat packed piece of the PAX onto the roof of the car when we looked at each other and thought: we are getting too old for this! That dreadful idea only strengthened our resolve and we got everything crammed in and tied on top of the car in short order!

It was a long ride home. We stopped a couple of times to check the tie-downs. (Helpful Hint: If you plan on strapping things onto your car, buy some of the ratchet tie downs with heavy webbing straps. They work great.) Once we arrived home, we brought everything into the living room and used that as a staging area. Over the next couple of days we assembled the whole gorgeous thing in our bedroom. That’s when the peace began. Suddenly we had a place for everything, and everything was in it’s place. It’s been seven months, and it’s still true. We continue to marvel at how serene and organized our room is. It’s now wicked easy to find everything and to put things away. After seven months of ongoing peace and order, we have forgiven ourselves for much of the disorder we blamed ourselves for, over all those years. Now we’re planning on working the same magic in the other bedrooms. IKEA here we come!

In the spirit of peace and harmony, the CD getting played around here today is “A Brasilian Christmas”. It’s sweet and soothing, just the thing to calm the jangled nerves brought on by the last minute rush to get ready for Christmas, while still celebrating Chanukah. :: Happy, peaceful holidays to you all!