Another large delivery of furniture for our Molinar townhouses arrived today. Peter, our maintenance colleague, received it together with Elena, our interior architect. And what is in the many boxes on the freshly made pavement? The contents are furniture such as beds, side tables for the sofa and the dining room tables.
Furniture: theory and practice
There was once again the difference between theory and practice. All 8 tables had at least slight damage. So poor Peter had to pack everything up again, dismantle the table that had been set up for a test run. And make sure it went back to the supplier.
And Elena goes in search of other tables. Too bad, really beautiful tables. Why they are all damaged is also a mystery to us. It probably happened on the way to Europe.
Furniture - Buying in Mallorca: it's complicated ...
In fact, it's not so easy to buy furniture in Mallorca. There are countless dealers, but no one has the large quantities we need in stock. Just imagine: we furnish 8 houses with three beds each. There are also individual special requests from tenants. And a bed consists of different components, which often come from different suppliers. And you can't go anywhere - maybe even IKEA sometimes - and say: "Load 24 beds into my truck, I'll pay by card".
An island with two mountains
Like Jim Knopf, we are also on an island here. Here, too, there is only a meagre railway line. But the way to the island for furniture inevitably leads across the sea. Which is expensive. And slow. That's why furniture dealers often exclude island deliveries.
We have been on the phone with Spanish dealers. With French traders. We have offered to organise transport. To sum up: The furniture industry is not the most flexible. And the furniture dealers who are the most flexible are the well-known big brands.
From IKEA to ZARA Home, Maisons du Monde, SKLUM and so on and so forth. The processing works relatively well. Delivery times are halfway according to the specifications.
In this sector, too, I suspect that the online share will increase dramatically. Since the retail sector could convince neither with stock-keeping nor with great professionalism. At least in our shopping attempts.
Fortunately, the main part of the delivery, consisting of the bed bases, worked great. Peter will assemble the bed base in the next few days. Then the so-called "headboard" will be added and the mattress will be placed on the bed.
Not only furniture is different ...
Our customers then have to be aware when buying bed linen that in Spain bed covers are different, as they are generally in Southern Europe. More the concept where you crawl under a duvet that is "clamped" under the mattress.
What happens next?
The kitchens are 60% assembled, the refrigerators are also installed. We are still waiting for the final assembly of the cupboards in the living room and the bathroom furniture.
Why wood by the sea?
I have often been asked what the difference is in the façades. What makes our houses look so beautiful and others perhaps a little paler. I think a big part of it is the traditional wooden shutters, the persianas. We had them painted according to our colour concept. And have prevailed over the "practitioners" who prefer to use aluminium. Yes, that is more practical. We don't have to discuss that at all. Especially as close to the sea as the Molinar Townhouses are. But flair rarely comes from pragmatism.
This was another small update from Molinar. From our Molinar Townhouse project. We are very optimistic that we will be able to welcome our tenants to their new homes on 01 July, according to our plans!
If you are interested, here is a short list of what still has to happen:
- Alarm systems were installed twice, so one is enough for each house....
- Testing of all technical installations (started on 03.06.2022)
- Completion of the KNX programming
- Draining of all pools (started on 02.06.2022)
- Setting up the new tables that will hopefully arrive in time
- Connecting the lamps in both bedrooms
- Multiple thorough site cleaning
- Planning the move-in and move-out of our new tenants and the relocating tenants
- Completion of the tenancy agreements
If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, feel free to use the comment box below. I will be happy to answer all your questions.
Kind regards
Arnd
