IKEA ....... Ohhhhh SHINY!!!!

So Sunday we took a trip to IKEA - my first visit ever to an IKEA. As everyone predicted, I LOVED IT!!!

Our first stop was the cafe for Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce. OMB so good!!!!! And Keith and I split a piece of chocolate cake that was also really, really good.

We weren't there for lunch however. We were there for FURNITURE! Sitting on lawn chairs gets a bit old after a while. Plus we figured after sitting on the futon from hell for a year we deserved some comfortable living room furniture.

On the plus side, they do have cup holders!

I had been looking online so I knew pretty much what I wanted. The EKTORP line sofa and chair, although we briefly considered the love seat/chaise combo but figured that might be awkward if we had company.

We also needed some bookshelves (is anyone surprised that the book lover and former bookstore owner needed more space for books?), end tables and a coffee table. Well that's what we needed THIS trip - we have a kitchen cart and another storage unit for the bedroom on our wish list.

I enjoyed the showroom and seeing how they have things laid our in room type settings, once we got to the Market Place I was in heaven!!!! Pretty much everything down there was an ooooohhhhhhhhh shiny moment for me and I think Keith must have thought I was on crack the way I was flitting from one thing to the next. I did get a new set of whisks but held off on the new wok!

So once we managed to pull me away from there, we went to the warehouse to pick up our boxes. By the time we were done - three pallet carts full of boxes. There was no way the boxes for the couch, chair and coffee table would fit in the car so we arranged for delivery. I guess there is a plus side to being temporarily unemployed since there was no question I would be home to accept the packages!

Once we got home I got to work on assembling the bookshelves and end tables. Yep I am a goofball and installed the one back panel backwards. Oops! You can't tell so much now that it's filled with books.

Ummm.... oops!

Boxes!

Monday the couch, chair and coffee table were delivered and I started with the chair so I could work my way up to the big stuff. My assistant/supervisor (aka the cat) was not quite as helpful as she thinks she is what with her whole lack of thumbs and all, but we managed to get everything built.

I have to give IKEA credit, their furniture is relatively inexpensive, goes together easily and is comfortable as all get out! I think we made some good choices!