Purchasing new furniture is fun and exciting! It can update the look of a room and enhance the surroundings, while adding a touch of luxury to everyday living. However, if there is assembly required it can be a whole other story.

The typical process of ordering furniture is comprised of ordering, receiving and assembling the pieces. Most furniture is delivered via freight, in a box, on a pallet. Recently we encountered our own experience when Dwayne and I ordered a wood dining room set for my mother. It was delivered to my mom in 3 boxes on a pallet.

Upon opening the boxes, my mother and I discovered that all the hardware, screws, lock washers, flat washers and the Allen wrench were missing. None of the necessary hardware and tools were included in the box. In addition, the instructions were with the missing material, MIA! It was incredibly frustrating because the table, pedestal and legs needed to be attached but there were no instructions. We couldn't even find something on the Internet. We simply didn't know where to begin, so we went to Ace Hardware where they set us up with the hardware. Then we "winged" the assembly.

The next step was putting the chairs together. For this part the instructions were included, but they were just drawings, no written instructions. The drawings were very vague as they were designed to be universal for all countries. The hardest part was trying to make out the details. There were these peculiar pieces of hardware, called barrel nuts, with no instructions on how they work. We spent 2 hours trying to assemble the chairs when I finally said to my Mom, "I will take them home to Dwayne and have him figure it out." So we loaded all the miscellaneous pieces into the car, and I took them home. He was able to put them together because of his mechanical aptness by simply looking at the pieces. The next day I drove the chairs back to her house, ready for use.

We also ordered bedroom furniture, which we were informed is on back order for 4 months- I thought this makes the 2-3 month wait we have for stone furniture look pretty acceptable in comparison. Which brings me to a valid point: when ordering your outdoor furniture, you don't want to order something that will come in a box that needs to be assembled. When you order stone furniture from Stone 2 Furniture, it is delivered completely assembled and is ready to be placed exactly where you want it. This will save you time and aggravation, and you can begin to enjoy your furniture as soon as it arrives.