Eye-Key-Yah

Yes, I will admit, I love IKEA. I know it seems to be a dirty secret for many. But I will admit it.

When you think about it, what is not to love about IKEA?

Their furniture has a good warranty, it goes through rigorous testing, and I discovered last year that their cafeteria is GOOD and really, really CHEAP. So make a day of it! The things at IKEA that are pretty much unbeatable? Mattresses, down duvets, slipcovered furniture, lamps, curtains, wood dressers and wood tables/chairs. Oh, and on the cafeteria note their penne pasta with marinara for $1 is totally unbeatable!!!

I know people diss the “IKEA look” and say the stuff is cheap and falls apart. Well, okay, maybe sometimes this is true. These people are the ones buying the $5 stools and hoping they last 20 years … they won’t and yes, they will look cheap and like “classic IKEA.” But for people buying the middle of the road products you will find them happy with their purchase years later and you probably didn’t even notice that their furniture was from IKEA. Honest, you should check out the store with fresh eyes.

And the best part, when something does get broken or lost, go to the parts department and they will give you a replacement part, most times for FREE. Yes, I have been several times to get additional pieces that were lost in a move … or that were missing from a piece I bought second hand. And most of their products and assembly methods don’t change often, so you can come in LOOONG after you got your piece and still get help. I have been with a roommate of mine to recover a new bolt for a 15 year old Poang chair that his mom handed down to him and low and behold, they had it.

I’m not just talking here. I LIVE my love of IKEA LOL. Most of the furniture in my house is from IKEA. When Mr. Somewhat moved in with me we had conflicting decorating styles to say the least. I had a light and airy beach vibe going with light wood and white and beige … and he had an Asian inspired thing going on with dark wood and burgandy and golds and moss greens. So it got mashed all together. I did what I could to mesh everything but there were some things that just didn’t work out. And when it came time to move I decided that I was going to sell 90% of the furniture we had and start fresh. And that meant frequent trips to IKEA. I was on Maternity Leave then and I had lots of time at home to take photos and post on Kijiji. When Mr. Somewhat would come home from work at night I would shove a wad of $20s into his hand and tell him to “go to IKEA tomorrow and get blank and oh yeah, I sold blank and blank today …” All our bed frames and matresses are from Ikea. Our dresser. So is our TV stand, end tables and desk. Our dining set it also from Ikea. And most recently I have added the beloved Ektorp armchairs to our living room. I wasn’t prepared to pay full price for them and I have been stalking Kijiji for years hoping to grab some for cheap but I always missed out. I missed getting the four different free ones I have seen, I missed a few in the $40-60 range and a few around $100. Then I found out that the white slipcovers are now $24!!! What!? So I kicked it into high gear and got really aggressive and I GOT my chairs. How much you ask? I paid $25 each, plus $24 for the covers, so that is $49 each, when new they are $250 each! And they are as wonderful as I imagined they would be and I know they will live with us Happily Ever After for a very long time.