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Shipping horror stories and new space

Most of us have the same problem after a couple of years in this hobby – we run out of space. Not only space for the clothes, props, boxes and all the materials we need for creative work. Space for the dolls themselves. Some people are in the lucky position to have a room just for the dolls, but I am not.

I like to store my resin dolls in the dark. Of course I could just leave them in their boxes, but I know from experience that dolls in boxes don’t get that much playtime. Thanks to IKEA it was easy to find a storage solution, in my case white BILLY cases with doors. I had quite a few of those without doors for my books already before I started with the dolls. But unfortunately the doors don’t fit on the old version of the BILLY cases. For the longest time I managed to fit my dolls into two cases, one 2m high with half panel/half glass doors and one 76cm high with panel doors.

 

The large dolls are in the lower part of the high case, and my KIDS, JIDs, Raccoon and Myou are crammed into the low cabinet. Some of the tiny dolls are in their boxes, and some sit on other doll’s laps.

Full house, and the only thing I could do was either stop adding new dolls or buy a new cabinet. And since I hope Raccoon will release KID dolls that match the mature Raccoons, and there are still some other future doll plans, a new cabinet it was.

And now I have to start a bit of a rant. I ordered the cabinet online and paid quite a bit of money for the delivery. The delivery was supposed to arrive a week after I ordered, but for some reason the IKEA system managed to mess up my zip code. Of course the delivery failed. I stayed home for hours to no avail, surrounded by a pile of boxes and stuff. I took everything out of my other book cases to make it easier to move them.

After I got the email informing me the delivery failed, I called the shipping company to ask what happened, and they promised to deliver on Saturday. Another couple of hours spent waiting for a delivery that didn’t come. On Monday IKEA sent another email with a shipping notice for Wednesday. On Wednesday I stayed home, eagerly awaiting my cabinet, and really ready to put all the boxes back where they belong. The delivery didn’t come. This time I spend about an hour on the phone with half of it hold time, and they told me the parcel was left behind by the carrier somewhere in a depot. Mind you, the hotline-people were really nice and helpful (and it wasn’t their fault of course), but I was still a tiny bit miffed. They eventually managed to give me another delivery date, the first Saturday in December, almost a month after the order date.

I used that as an excuse to order a tiny Monst Savage doll for consolation. I hope I will get her this year, and of course you will see her here.

And yesterday on Saturday the delivery really happened. Nothing was missing, nothing was broken. You can imagine my relief to finally start assembling and get rid of the mess. Since I have already assembled a couple of these cabinets, it was done in half an hour.

Billy case with Oxberg doors

 

But I spent half of my Sunday arranging and re-arranging stuff and shelves. With such a lot of boxes and and things it’s really a challenge to figure out how to fit everything in. Not only the doll clothes and props, but all my DVDs and craft stuff as well. It’s still far too much stuff, really. But I like the result. And I can’t believe all the dolls were in one cabinet before. Now even the small dolls can leave their boxes and have their space in the cabinet. And there’s room left for those to come :). I even found some spare fairy lights in a box and they add a bit of light.

 

 

If I could only find a way to minimize the dioramas in my other room, I would be perfectly happy. But having this space back to tidy and organized already reduces my stress level a lot. And the additional reflection from the white doors adds more light to the room.

12 thoughts on “Shipping horror stories and new space”

  1. I love your blog. This post was especially nice because I want a lot of dolls but not have them out all the time. I’ve been looking for a good storage option. I have a huge doll house/ diorama for my SDs. It’s designed to go back to flat if I ever put it away, all frames on hinges. It will be great to see what you do. Nina Tobin

    1. Thank you! I did make the SD diorama in a way that would allow folding the walls, but I know that if I put it away I will never use it again. But if you want doll storage, the IKEA Billy/Oxberg combination is affordable and you can squeeze quite a lot of dolls in there.

  2. Gosh, what a saga!!! But you got the shelves and so on finally. We moved about 4 years ago and I had to give up most of my storage space for dolls, but I figured, oh well, I’ll just get some Billys from IKEA… except then we had the pandemic and my poor dolls sat in their boxes for these last several years with no shelves. Just this past summer, I was finally able to get the Billy shelves – due to shortages, they were always out at our “local” store. And I live in a very rural place so they won’t deliver here either – which considering your problems, is maybe a good thing…? LOL We have to go and get these things in our own truck. At least I know where they there in “shipping”. My dolls are out of their boxes and organised now! It’s hard to enjoy your dolls when they are packed away. Congrats on your new set up!

    1. They were out here too, that’s why I ordered them. I would have preferred to go to a store and just get one. The problem was probably more with the carrier than with IKEA. I am glad you got your Billys and your dolls got out of their boxes at last so that you are able to enjoy them again. Thank you!

  3. Space … yes I absolutely know what you are talking about that. I’ve been in the hobby since 2009 and while a lot of dolls have come and gone through here, I still manage to run out of space. I actually can’t really buy more dolls. My BJD cabinet is groaning from how crowded it is these days even though I haven’t been able to do anything with my dolls for the past 2 years!

    I’m glad you finally got your cabinets in the end but what a lot of pain and stress that could have been avoided if the delivery company just got it right the first time.

    1. Thank you! I hope you will have the chance to do something with your dolls again. I am glad, too, I hate shipping problems. The shipping company has very bad reviews, so I guess I am not the only one who had problems.

  4. Seeing your photos is inspirational, it makes me look even more forward to my doll room, dolls that are visible whenever you open the closets is the best thing 😊 All the trouble was awful, so I’m very happy for you that all ended well.

  5. I’m the type that stores dolls in boxes inside a dark closet, but honestly your diea of the cabinets is great!

    I’ve never had such an issue with Ikea, but goodness! It is truly a horror story! In any case, I’m happy the delivery arrived. Your room is truly precious, I really like it!

  6. Space… The biggest problem for us. I can only agree!

    The delivery horror story was really horrific. I’m glad it ended well. And new cabinets look great. Yes, the space for dolls to come… xD

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