Some household chores and tasks present tricky challenges from time to time. Furniture moving in particular. I’ve got a somewhat reliable system which involves scooching, tugging, pushing, and shoving, usually on my butt and with my legs. It may take me longer than what could normally be expected, but I get it done. Most times.

Over the past few months I’ve been gradually moving my office, such as it is, to the upstairs loft. It’s a largish room that overlooks the front entrance and a part of the living room and kitchen area (I have one of those “open” floor plans). The most difficult task was a set of bookshelves for my stash of paper backs and other books that were collecting dust and becoming a mountain for the kitties to play on. It was time to shelve them properly.

The difficulty with getting furniture and such upstairs lies in a rather awkward spiral staircase. A type of staircase that my builder vowed he would never again ever install in a house ever again. Ever. I managed to get the bookshelves up the staircase, unassembled, one box at a time, literally dragging them up and then assembling them upon arrival. Who needs a gym?

Today I attacked the problem of getting the office chair up. I came upon the solution in a round about way. Of course it was the logical and easiest solution, however I’m notorious for going at things ass-backward. I’ve dulled many a blade in Occam’s razor, believe me.

So I needed to get this chair…

…out of that room…

…and up these stairs:

I know most of you have already figured out how to do it in the simplest, most efficient manner. I ultimately figured it out, too. But first, I had to ponder it for a few weeks. Why? I was stuck on the notion that I would have to get a hoist to lift it up over the partial wall overlooking the living room.

While I was trying to figure out how to get it out of the room downstairs in a manner that would not require moving another piece of furniture out of the way in the little hall way, I had that annoying light bulb moment. Annoying because that’s when I saw that I’d been trying to make this a lot harder (typical) than it needed to be.

A quick scan of the chair told me what I needed. I made a trip to Lowes, purchased the tools I would need and after the required stroll around the flooring, kitchen cabinetry and appliances (a girl never stops dreaming about appliances…) I returned home to attack the task.

Of course the solution was to dismantle the chair, haul each piece up the stairs and reassemble it. Duh.

So now I’m in my comfy office chair up in the loft thoroughly amazed at my awesomeness – clumsy awesomeness, but awesomeness none-the-less. And I’ve filed this solution away for future use:

When in doubt, take it apart, dumb-ass.