ikea haul

We had a big Ikea day this weekend.  But then again, every Ikea day is a big Ikea day.  Why is it impossible to do in less than 4 hours?  Even if you don't look at any furniture?  Even if you skip the meatballs?  Mind boggling.  It took the major part of our saturday, and left us comatose for what was left of it.  But the time and energy spent is less than or equal to the money saved, and I think we did pretty well for ourselves, restocking some basics that we needed, plus a few little luxuries to make me smile.

The details and the rest of our loot...

ikea day

We spent a day at Ikea last week (including the trip there and back it was about 6 hours, so yeah, basically an entire day) and picked up some really lovely things.  God, I just love it there.  Now you may be asking yourself why I would buy things for the home when we're leaving in a year (ok, only two of you out there know that, but there you go, now you all do), but we only picked up a few essentials that are going to vastly improve our quality of life over the year to come.  That's how I justified it at least. 

These are the little things that bring happiness...

loveseat

I've been thinking we need a loveseat.  No, we don't have room, but maybe we can cram it in.  I'd put it in our shared light-filled office, and it would be a place where we can stop working, step away from our desks, and curl up with a book, together or separately.  The more time I spend tied to my computer for work, but more I appreciate the importance of occasionally sitting elsewhere, even just for 10 minutes.  As it stands now we just have one comfy chair in here, but if Husband beats me to it I'm forced to either sit in a dining chair, or go into the much darker living room.  And wouldn't it be nice to take little mini-breaks together?  Just a fantasy right now, but it may soon turn into an obsession, and I may have to take a mini-trip to a not-so-min-ikea some day soon.

ikea sunday

No such thing as a quick trip into Ikea, especially on a sunday.  It's a madhouse, and you inevitably get sucked in.  But we managed to accomplish our mission and got me a table for my sewing/work space in the back room, and a chair to go with it.

Bjorkudden and Bernhard

I love that Bjorkudden is solid pine and not your typical ikea laminate, and that Bernhard doesn't look like a standard desk chair.  Bernie's very comfortable though, and I couldn't resist the color!  (Does everyone end up calling their Ikea furniture by their original names or some shortened version thereof?  It's not just us, is it?  We have a leather Henriksdal chair that we just call Harry.  Harry's swell.)

But of course we got distracted and also brought home colored glasses, a mug, a mirror and some candles.

And then there's all the things we almost bought...