IKEA

Okay, so if you know me, you know that I have many obsessions, one of them "all things Ikea". If you've never heard of it, then go to ikea.com and look around. I appreciate their"minimalist" furniture to some extent, but some of it is "too funky" for me. The furniture comes packed in boxes that try to minimize the amount of space needed to ship it. But shipping from an Ikea store or warehouse costs at minimum, $125, and I thought "NO WAY" -- I'll just go there...


So, in December, I went. To the Atlanta Ikea and enjoyed every minute of it. I got there about an hour before they closed, so I only managed to get one big blue bag full of stuff... I promised myself: MORE NEXT TIME!


Meanwhile, I had fallen in love with the EXPEDIT shelves and, for months, would talk of nothing else until I made my friend Dolores drive me to Charlotte in her minivan so that I could buy my first shelf, a 2x4 square shelving unit that now holds baskets (from Ikea, of course!) and some of my scrapbooks (that are actually finished! yey, me). This was in May and David's Mother's Day gift to me was putting the shelf together. Oh, there are toys in the baskets -- not just empty baskets hanging out there.


Then, over the summer, I got this new job and a desktop/laptop combo with printer was coming my way, and I needed a place to put the thing. After more weeks of whining, I was able to stop at Ikea after taking Kara to the airport and pick up my new desk:



Now, keep in mind, this was packed into my Accord, and it was no laughing matter getting the desk in there. In fact, I think I probably provided some wonderful entertainment for the folks in the cafeteria, who had a great view of me trying to shove those boxes into my car with the strange trunk. Don't ask. Oh, minivan, how I long for thee. Anyway, blood, sweat and some tears were involved in the loading process (yes, blood!), and I can say that I worked hard on that desk. DH did a lot of the putting the desk together, so that was a bonus!


In July, during *another* trip to Ikea in Charlotte, I bought these BILLY bookshelves, with doors. For years, we have considered having built-in bookshelves installed on the sides of our fireplace, but really never got around to calling a carpenter to see how much it would cost. But, after seeing these shelves in that magical land of Ikea, I bought these and thought they would work, and they were within reason financially. I think that the total cost of both of these shelves would be less than the cost of one carpenter made shelf, but we'll never know, will we?

(Note Brendan in the corner, practically laying on the coffee table. Yes, that's how he eats his lunch.) (And we don't always leave that door open over there.)

I do like these shelves. I'm still finding things to put on the individual shelves, so it's still a work in progress. AND, we've discovered that they're not exactly 100% stuck to the wall, but David is working on that. You see, the BOY managed to jump off of the fireplace and bring down that left shelf with him. He claims it "just fell on him", but that's not 100% correct. Fortunately, the shelf fell on him in such a way that the doors landed on him and all of the frames/glass items crash-landed on the floor above him. Hey, it was the first time I used my vacuum in months! Plus, I felt like supermom when lifting that big old shelf off of him...how's THAT for adrenaline??