Sunday afternoon we went to Big R in Fallon looking for fireplace supplies. At first we were going to get a stone fireplace floor piece, but those cost $200, and we don't really need it. Instead, we got a fireplace carpet mat (a fire-resistant semi-circular rug) to put in front of the fireplace (which is built into the wall; it's an insert in the original stone fireplace). Unfortunately, except for an ash bucket and shovel (made in Canada), all of the fireplace tongs, pokers, and brushes were made in China, so Lisa said we'd give them a pass. If we're unable to find non-Chinese tools, she says she'll make the tools herself by welding them together from raw materials in the workshop.
After having dinner in Fallon, We drove back to Fernley by a slightly roundabout route via Silver Springs just to see what was there (not a whole lot), and then proceeded to assemble the Billy shelves. It had been a while since I'd assembled one of these, but it was certainly easier this time than the first time I put one together since I remembered how it worked. I see that Ikea has changed the design of the studs that hold up the shelves. They were simple straight metal studs before; now they're round on one end and straight on the other and have a definite orientation to them. That means the shelves on these three Billy cases aren't compatible with the older ones and vice versa, although it's unlikely we would have interchanged them anyway because they're of different finishes.
The older brown cases we moved upstairs into my office, where all of the furniture except my desk (which is white) will be of the brown finish. The white cases will fill the "family room" at the south end of the house. Lisa has no problem filling this room with shelves for books and video tapes, because it's built directly on a concrete slab, as opposed to the north end, which is where the cracked under-floor joist is. We're still waiting for the building contractor to have time in his schedule to come out and fix those joists, but his opinion was that the floor in that area is safe for ordinary traffic — just don't try to install heavy things right there, which we didn't plan to do anyway.
Speaking of heavy things, the washer and dryer from Lowe's are scheduled for arrival sometime today. We won't be able to connect them until the additional plumbing and electrical work is done, which may be a while because we're basically running out of money for this year. It would have been so much easier if we'd been able to buy the house for our original bid instead of $15,000 more than that.
