Ordering From a Catalog: Measure Twice & Then Again

Has this ever happened to you? You see something you love in a catalog or something that's been profiled here on AT. You plunk down your credit card and wait. The day it arrives in the mail, you're so excited, you stay up all night putting it together. And then when it's finished, it looks nothing like what you pictured. There's an old carpenter's rule we've modified and now apply to catalogue ordering...

Measure twice, visualize, and then measure again. In our case, it was a triangularly shaped bookcase from Pottery Barn that arrived on the hottest day of the year and took two people six hours to put together. We'd envisioned it behind our at-the-time camel back sofa, rising majestically from behind the swooped back like the Poseidon from the sea. But, when it was finished, it was barely shoulder high. Pottery Barn agreed to take it back in its original box. Trouble was, we couldn't take it apart. So we lived with it for a few months and finally gave it to our neighbor. Lesson learned: measure once, measure twice and then measure again and, in our case, do what you have to do to visualize exactly how big a piece is going to be. So, when we ordered a rug from Overstock, we spread out newspaper on the floor so we could see exactly how big our rug would be. Has this ever happened to you? How do you make sure that the picture in your head matches the picture in the catalogue?

[Image: aussiegall's Flickr, with a Creative Commons License]

I use painters tape and tape the exact measurements on the floor, wall, etc. I did this with a rug and got the right size. I am currently doing it with a wall mounted media center - still deciding. It is not as cheap as newspaper, but is much better for visualization.

I tried the newspaper trick with our Ikea Kitchen cabinets and opps! Since it was not 3-D we got in a pickle when the pantry door and dishwasher would hit if they were open at the same time. Thank goodness for Ikea's exchange policy on Kitchen cabinets!

posted by Robbybird on August 29th 2008 at 8:59am
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Did this recently when deciding about a rug. I put tape on the floor for a couple of days in the dimensions to see if I liked it. Turned out I did, but if I didn't, it would have saved that much money and time...

posted by inkstainedwriter on August 29th 2008 at 12:14pm
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This happens to me with lamps. Continually. Even though I do measure. And i don't really know how to solve it.

posted by kimg924 on August 29th 2008 at 3:26pm
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I had this problem with magazine files from Exposures. They are advertized as 4" wide, and my cubby is ~12 1/2" wide. Perfect, 3 fit. Ordered 3. Problem is, the magazine holders are ~4 1/4" wide or so and they don't fit. I'm annoyed.

posted by SanDiegoAT on August 29th 2008 at 7:21pm
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