Friday 15 January 2016

The warehouse of dreams: Ikea haul



Wednesday Mr B and I made the impromptu decision to go to the blue and yellow warehouse of dreams...A certain Swedish furniture store.  I even left a freshly made cup of tea on the kitchen table....it killed me to do so.  Within 10 minutes of deciding we were going we'd bundled Rupert in the car and off we went.

Here comes the confession...I haven't been to an IKEA for years.  Over my renting and home owning years we've done a couple of furniture shops there but having big, bulky items we've always had it delivered for ease.  Of course that also means that you don't have the temptation of 200 food saver clips, enough tumblers to quench the thirst of an army, or a mini greenhouse for your windowsill, which you really don't need because you've never kept an indoor plant alive for a week before.

I'd forgotten how magical it is.  It has whole apartments set up and about 4000 kitchens for you to pretend to make dinner in.  I very quickly I decided that we needed ALL THE THINGS and had to be physically restrained by Mr B, who held the purse strings for the shopping trip.

Brought back down to earth I was very sensible, I'll have you know.  (Although, as you might have guessed, I did succumb to the mini greenhouse, and don't regret it for a second.)

So, what did we buy?  We've been making a list for months about what we needed.

  • We got a rug for the sitting room. 
  • A mirror for over the fireplace (not that we have a fireplace yet)
  • A coffee table.  Our old one was long and narrow and because the sofas are two meters apart it not only looked a bit stupid, but was useless as it's original purpose because no one could actually reach it when sitting down.
  • Two bedside tables.  Mr B and I haven't had space for our old ones since we moved, which hasn't been ideal.
  • A floor lamp, because....light...!
  • Three reduced stacking stools to use as side tables.  They were £3.90 each in the reduced section, so were a far better deal than getting actual side tables.
  •  A chest of drawers for the TV to sit on.  It was really reduced so is perfect for now.  It doesn't completely fit my vision for the room so will be replaced when I think of what I want there, but will be reused in a child's room.
  • The mini greenhouse (yes, purely because it was pretty and I had a case of the "I wants".
  • Two big drum lampshades for in the sitting room.



It required a certain amount of tetris to fit everything in the car (and we have a people carrier) but we managed it without breaking anything.

....although I may have almost broken the mirror once...

.
Oh hi there Paw patrol.  You are the bane of my life...just saying...


I'm starting to really love our sitting room, as we decorate it to our tastes.  (although have just noticed how far forward the right hand sofa has drifted and it's really annoying me...not enough to move it and then take another picture though....)  

It really feels like home...which is pretty much all I want from my house.

The next thing we need to work on is the fireplace.  I want to reinstate it at some point as this house gets absolutely freezing with it's single glazed windows...although they are the beautiful original sash windows so we'll overlook that...and some days I long for a fire, but having it reinstated will be costly as who knows what we'll have to do to the chimney.  

So for now we're going to focus on getting a fire surround in keeping with the house's Victorian roots, and a cast iron insert and will look into getting it working later.  The wall just looks so silly with nothing there.

I also want to smarten up the shelves in both the sitting area and the play area (behind the right hand sofa).  Maybe add some cupboards to keep the board games and puzzles hidden, with a narrower bookshelf above.  Possibly we'll remove the shelving in sitting area alcove and make better use of both of the alcoves in the play area.  It might help bring the spaces together...but that would depend on how much we can utilise the space for many, many books.


I do love Ikea...I don't trust people who don't.  You know what you're getting will be well made and will stand the test of three small boys, and can get what you need on a reasonably small budget.  No, it's not a beautiful vintage mango wood side table, but I have three young children.  They are constantly covered in food, using the first thing they find to wipe their sticky fingers on; are clumsy so knocks and spills happen...a lot; and certain three year olds don't think twice about drawing on furniture if there's no paper right in front of where they're sitting.  It's not worth the worry at this point in our lives.  There'll be lots of time for antique persian rugs and expensive olive wood but now is not that time.

...and I tell you what....I'll still be firmly in the flat pack furniture brigade, when I'm 90.




www.mrscraftyb.co.uk
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7 comments

  1. Ah the rug and table look great! I love Ikea, but unlike you, I go ALL the time! It's a dangerous place for me and my purse! Becky x #MakingHome

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  2. Your living room looks lovely! I think the rug really complements the room and adds a really stylish look. I love Ikea, I don't understand people who don't either! I could spend HOURS in there.

    Lyndsay

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  3. I LOVE Ikea and I am a big fan of your floor lamp. I have one too ;-) #MakingHome

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