Hi Carpetblogger. Glad to see you are still writing somewhere. I feel the sofa pain. When we lived in Vilnius, the flat came without a sofa, and I could only find red velvet bordello style in the Vilnius of the day. We decided a trip to Helsinki Stockmann’s smart department store would solve the problem. So it did, and we imported two blue denim sofas, which travelled with us to two new apartments in Vilnius, to Athens, and then to 3 houses in Oxford, where only one was needed and finally the last could not get through the door. They were rehoused: one to one daughter in her student flat, and my Brazilian cleaner took the other,
When I moved back to Vilnius to a brand new flat, I wanted a replacement. Since IKEA had not yet come to Vilnius, where else to go but back to Helsinki, for what seemed a 10 years after nostalgia trip. We visited all the same places we remembered, but Stockmanns failed us. But we did find a furniture shop making sofas to measure. Our family (assembling altogether only at Christmas) therefore ordered one very long so two people could fully stretch out watching TV and another shorter sofa for whoever found their seat last.
Unfortunately I never asked about how the long sofa would be assembled when it arrived, and when I did remember to ask, it was already on its way in one very big piece, while I was in Georgia. My Lithuanian chemical engineer lecturer by day, cleaning lady by night to support her wayward children, organised students to bring it up six flights of stairs, and steer it round a very tight corner. It’s served well for 12 years, but if I have to run from the Russians, it’s probably not going to make it with me.
Hi Carpetblogger. Glad to see you are still writing somewhere. I feel the sofa pain. When we lived in Vilnius, the flat came without a sofa, and I could only find red velvet bordello style in the Vilnius of the day. We decided a trip to Helsinki Stockmann’s smart department store would solve the problem. So it did, and we imported two blue denim sofas, which travelled with us to two new apartments in Vilnius, to Athens, and then to 3 houses in Oxford, where only one was needed and finally the last could not get through the door. They were rehoused: one to one daughter in her student flat, and my Brazilian cleaner took the other,
When I moved back to Vilnius to a brand new flat, I wanted a replacement. Since IKEA had not yet come to Vilnius, where else to go but back to Helsinki, for what seemed a 10 years after nostalgia trip. We visited all the same places we remembered, but Stockmanns failed us. But we did find a furniture shop making sofas to measure. Our family (assembling altogether only at Christmas) therefore ordered one very long so two people could fully stretch out watching TV and another shorter sofa for whoever found their seat last.
Unfortunately I never asked about how the long sofa would be assembled when it arrived, and when I did remember to ask, it was already on its way in one very big piece, while I was in Georgia. My Lithuanian chemical engineer lecturer by day, cleaning lady by night to support her wayward children, organised students to bring it up six flights of stairs, and steer it round a very tight corner. It’s served well for 12 years, but if I have to run from the Russians, it’s probably not going to make it with me.