Yesterday, I found a small block of time in an otherwise packed weekend to hop on the "Water Taxi" to the IKEA store in Brooklyn to track down one of the four Frosta stools that, according to the IKEA website, were currently in stock. Upon arriving at the store, I headed straight for the self-serve area, where I found the four stools...all on display, perched high above anyone's reach. Disappointed but not discouraged, I waited patiently in line at the self-serve "help desk" to inquire about purchasing one (of the four) that were on display. I learned that I'd have to wait a day for a manager to confirm that the Frosta had been discontinued, otherwise I wouldn't be permitted to purchase one (again, of the four) on display. Plus, I had to call the store before it opened the next morning, so that someone could retrieve the stools from the display before 10 am (for reasons that I suppose make sense, items on display cannot be removed while customers are in the building). At this point I was exhausted, and I decided that the $12.99 stool wasn't that important to me. I jumped on the next boat headed back to Manhattan.
Fast forward to this morning. I woke up around 9 and decided that it wouldn't kill me to call IKEA to inquire about purchasing a Frosta stool. The stools were still in the store, they had indeed been discontinued, and I could stop by today to pick up one of the display models. Perfect. So, after getting some work done, I pulled myself together and hopped on the IKEA Water Taxi yet again. For the second time in as many days, I made my way to the self-serve help desk and told my Frosta stool sob story to the team staffing the desk. Within minutes, a cart full of the stools (all four of them) was mine. I hadn't intended to buy all four (really, I just wanted one to use as a plant stand), but once I learned that I would be getting some sort of discount for buying the floor models, I caved. Doubly so when I left the self-serve help desk and headed toward the "as-is" desk (which, by the way, is full of hidden gems -- I spotted a sturdy-looking dining room table and chairs set for $59.99) -- there, I learned that each of the remaining stools could be mine for $6.40 a pop.
And now, here's a picture of one of my new Frosta stools, serving as a happy home for my Valentine's Day plant:
And here's a shot of the snake plant that I bought from IKEA's Orlando outpost when I was home for the holidays. I carried it back to New York in a carefully wrapped package (thanks, Mom), and it has been thriving ever since. Apparently, the biggest mistake snake plant owners can make is to overwater them. I'm good at not doing that.
I'm waiting patiently for my snake plant to outgrow this little green pot. In the meantime, I'm brainstorming uses for my 3 remaining Frosta stools.
