The 62nd good thing about Lagos: a new apartment with new furniture

We've been in our new apartment for a few weeks now and it's starting to feel a little more like home. New construction here in Nigeria presents some challenges. I'm sure I'll have occasion to write about some of them in the future.

The company hasn't had many expat families to equip here, so getting us into these new apartments (we christened them the "Flamingo Flats" -- have I posted a picture of the outside yet?) sent them into uncharted waters.The company didn't have established procedures in place for how the process of choosing furniture would take place. At first they presented us with pictures of furniture on a CD and it seemed like we would have a choice as to how they would furnish our apartment. Then they decided that procedure gave too much control to individual expats. So they just chose and purchased the furniture for each flat, to standardize the furnishings. That was fine with me -- they were paying for the furniture, so that was their right to choose it. It would have been better if at first they hadn't given us the idea we would have a choice, because I certainly wouldn't have chosen some of the things we ended up with. But we can live with all of it. The upholstery on the couches and chairs is neutral and liveable and it looks good, but when you sit down, you realize that here they use extra-firm foam in the cushions. There's no squish -- it's kind of like sitting on a board with a bit of padding.

The furnishing I get the most "what were they thinking?" mileage out of are the horse lamps that we have beside the bed in our guest bedroom. Come to visit us and these can light up your nighttime reading, setting you at ease as you are transported to the Wild West. I guess as they chose them some Nigerian facilities person was thinking, "all Americans like horses, right?"