Sunday at IKEA

If the subject line doesn’t give you a proper indication of my weekend, I’ll say it again. After receiving this baby in the mail this week, I decided to spend my Sunday at IKEA.

And when I say I spent my Sunday there I mean it. If you’ve ever been to an IKEA you know that it’s an all-day affair. They put a cafeteria on the second floor for goodness sake. You may be thinking, who needs to stop and eat when shopping for furniture and accessories? Believe me I laughed at it, too. And then you realize you’ve been on the 3rd floor for 2.5 hours and there’s two more floors to go.

Must. Fuel. Need. Energy.

So I spent my Sunday at IKEA. The best (and worst) day to spend there. The best because Sundays are the only day of the week you can justify spending that much time shopping at one location. Especially considering the slightly cooler, yet gorgeous temps we’ve been having here in Chicago. The worst because every one else knows your secret plan of spending the majority of your day at IKEA. And they are coming too.

If you’ve never experienced IKEA, then you might know that you start on the top floor and work your way down.

Now arriving at Level 3, the show room.

Level 3. Where you begin your journey of building your dream kitchen with apron sinks, dark cabinets and backsplashes, oh my! You snap photos and smile for selfies to avoid the fact that you don’t have a house to put this make-believe kitchen in nor do you have any means to build it yet. (sigh).

Two hours and two bathroom stops later you make the final turn to complete level 3. You think about the two hours you spent running the day before and actually have to weigh which one made you more exhausted. There’s no time for contemplation. Next stop, level 2.

I know I spent a lot of time on level 2, but I must have blacked out because I have no photos to show for it. But I did manage to document this find:

What’s that you say? Only the coolest dog butt hook you’ll probably ever hang on you wall! Needless to say after I found this gem I was re-energized for the remainder of the visit . And just a short 4 hours later, we were back home and ready to put together everything we bought. Did I mention that part of the joy of IKEA is putting everything together yourself? Aw, yeah.

Fortunately, I had someone who equates putting together IKEA furniture to a warm up lap around a track. I know because I timed him. He had bookshelf number one assembled in less than 12 minutes. Record time in bookshelf assembly, but I’m sure he’d want me to clarify he could probably run 8 laps in that time.

I wish I had better before and after photos to share with you but 1) I almost forgot to take a before at all and 2) my place is small so it’s sort of difficult to get a good shot of the scale without actually being there. So come on over and I’ll introduce you to my new bookshelves.

I’m still working on the decor but am happy to have more height to bring the pieces together. Still to come is a shelf above the TV and new frames. I’m an amateur when it comes to bookshelf styling so suggestions are welcome. For the time being I just recycled what I already had plus a few accessories I found in my 4 hour tour of IKEA. More than anything, I’m just happy to have somewhere to put my cookbooks. Nerd alert!

While the bookshelves perhaps made the biggest impact in the room, I am test-driving some new pillows for my couch as well. I’ve been looking for new pillows for my couch for years now with no success. Apparently the pillows that came with it are such a unique size that no cover or pillow form exist to replace them. Enter IKEA. Where the pillows come in just about every size (just kidding only 2 sizes) but the covers are not as substantial as you would like. One day I’ll have room for a sewing machine and make the damn things myself. Until then, here’s what we have:

Believe it or not I managed to make a real meal Sunday night too. I know, it’s crazy right? For all you know I haven’t cooked in weeks thanks to my recipe hiatus.

I’ll have a recipe for you later this week, but welcome your comments or suggestions on the decor (as long as you don’t completely hate my taste) anytime. Have a great week!