am stumped and need some good, critical outside the box thinking here. In order to get completely unpacked and settled we need a place to put the books and decorative items that are still boxed. My solution is to get 2 of these IKEA bookshelves and put them side by side on a tall wall in the second bedroom. That give me 50 cube slots for all this clutter.

We need bookshelves that come knocked down because the only way up is a circular staircase. And I want a cheap ish solution as this is to hold over flow stuff in a room we don't use. I would be happy with the pictured bookcase which is approx. 73" x 73". Shelves need to be white.

IKEA is happy to ship me the bookshelf. One bookshelf is 215lbs. So the $199 bookshelf will have $279 in shipping. Waaaaaay too much.

The next thought is to rent a cargo van and go and get the 2 bookshelves.

BUT... this is a self-serve item. Today they have 5 in stock. We have no idea what they will have or if they will have any on Friday or the weekend. Under no circumstances will they allow me to buy 2 and they will hold them. That appears to be unfair to someone who may want to come in and buy one and take it with them. They do not seem to see it as poor customer service that I may drive 4 hours and rent a van and not get bookshelves. You can check inventory online but I wonder since they do not appear to be very helpful just how accurate their online inventory actually is.

AND... to rent a cargo van the van people suggest we do that at least 48 hours in advance so we can get one. But since we don't know if there will be any bookshelves to be had we don't want to rent a van in advance.

My best thought is to wait until close of day and check IKEA's website and see how many they have in stock, also calling all the van places in town to see if anyone has a cargo van. Try and get the van as early as possible if one is available at that late date, drive 2 hours to IKEA before the store opens in hopes of being there before all the other people who want this bookshelf may be arriving.

If anyone has a better solution I'd love to hear it.