Tale of two shoe cabinets
Tale of two shoe cabinets
Muse #435 - for better or worse
We wanted to better organize how our shoes were stored - so we ended up ordering two shoe cabinets, one for the main floor and another for our basement. Both of them came near simultaneously.
The one from Wayfair was better built. But it had some design flaws in its doors and the doors had serious alignment and overlapping issues. The one from Amazon fit well, but the particle board was terrible. One had to delicately install each screw lest it breaks apart. Returning was not a serious option as it would cost significant money to repack and pay for shipping and restocking fees. We were stuck. Furniture is not something to easily buy and return online. That is learning for sure, but we keep making mistakes again, and again, and yet again.
In the end, we live with two sub-par solutions. We delicately fixed the low-quality particle board stuff. With some damaged edges, it went into use. The other one which was better built led to some innovative adjustments to make the door well. At least the adjustments did not make it worse or break some more.
We would prefer not to have either of the problems, but that is an idealistic expectation. Of the two compromises, the better components lend themselves to at least making adjustments. One could buy parts or fix them differently as the material lends itself to change. Some malleability existed. Whereas with poor quality material it was difficult to work with since if something broke, the fixing was hard or irrevocable. A Hobson’s choice in this situation - damned if you don’t, damned if you do.
Sounds like better or for worse. Like life is. Isn’t it?