Heaven on Earth

EA came into town for the holiday weekend, which isn't really a holiday for those of us who have to be at work even earlier on a day when everyone else is at home sleeping late...but whatever. Saturday we cooked breakfast and were sitting around watching some classic Saturday entertainment of Beverly Hills 90210, discussing what we wanted to do that afternoon. Then an inspiration sent from above, and the perfect Saturday plan came about. We had been plotting it for months but were never able to make it a reality until this predestined Saturday the Sixteenth of January in the year two thousand and ten. Me, being the gracious, twenty something daughter every mother only dreams of, extended the invitation to my mom because I knew she had been tying to embark upon this adventure as well and what better explorers to embark with really?

Thus we departed for perhaps one of the greatest rainy Saturdays one could hope for. Sincerely my eyes have been opened to a world it has only dreamed of...a decorating Mecca, full of furniture and accessories as far as the eye can see, accompanied by the cherry on top of cheap, I mean dirt cheap prices. Ladies and Gentlemen...I have been to IKEA and I am certain I shall never be the same. It was better than anything I have ever dreamed it would be! It is it's own tiny universe of pleasure and delight where my imagination ran wild with possibilities! If I lived closer to Charlotte I am fairly certain I would never go to Wal-Mart again. The only necessity other than food that they did not have was toilet paper, and darn it I could just steal it from the restrooms. I had visions of Novalee Nation in Where The Heart Is living in Wal-Mart, only Sweedish, and classier.

At first sight of the JAM PACKED parking lot these three IKEA virgins thought we had perhaps bitten off more than our small Target minds could comprehend. But the store, was surprisingly the antithesis of Wal-Mart and though there were hundreds maybe thousands of people in there it felt as though it was your own personal experience! I never felt crowded or a lack of personal space, and I hardly noticed the other people for my constant drooling and desire to soak in every single detail. We strolled through every single display room they had jaw dragging the floor, ooohing and aaaahing at their ability to put together rooms down to the finest creative detail including the sample clothes hanging in the sample closets! They had entire display living rooms set up for less than $1,000! It was the most user friendly shopping experience, similar to a Disney World of home goods complete with Child care, lockers, and arrows pointing you in the direction to travel through the display room so as not to miss anything! Once we walked through the doors it was as if we had stepped through the wardrobe and entered the world of Narnia, or perhaps Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and all of a sudden everything was color! With each display room they had a pamphlet with every item in the display room, how much it costs, and where you could find it in the textiles section, I mean this place left no stone unturned when planning the shoppers experience!

Similar to how you can study a foreign language for years and still suck at it until you study abroad and spend some time immersed in the culture and people only speaking the language thus forcing you to catch on, the IKEA website suddenly makes much more sense after now seeing the items live and in person as part of a larger room. We spent approximately 3 hours in the store, but one could never really know for sure as you lose all sense of time once you enter the magical doors, and I assure you I could have spent countless hours more drooling over the rooms. I feel like I missed so much, and there is so much hidden potential! I have no doubt that I could create some stunning storage systems in my house now, but I would have to invest in more crap to fill them! Should I ever have another warm soul move back into my house and thus need to sacrifice the use of the second closet I have a perfect storage system picked out to ease the transition.

I entered the experience expecting to love looking at everything but covet little due to my narrow ill-informed mindset that all the furniture would be uncomfortably modern with minimalistic straight lines. I was impressed with their traditional options and furniture that would easily feel at home in my traditional cottage like abode.

At the end of the day with a mind strung out on interior design crack I bid farwell to my new best friend IKEA.

For the bargain price of $83.00 I am the proud new owner of the following IKEA products:

Nevermind the fact that the largest spoon is in some random metric measurement, I was in need of some new measuring spoons!
The woes of being a calorie counter are measuring everything, thus my measuring cups are constantly dirty from the latest hopes of being less round measurement.
While it's not exactly a micro planer it should be close enough to avoid future injury.
Hello largest butcher block cutting board in the world for $10, don't mind if I do! You shall be an excellent replacement for my tack-tastic plastic one!

And people...I am not even playing around when I tell you that a set of thick, not even cheap looking, white curtain panels was $15! I thus bought enough panels for the entire front of my house, 7 windows total, 4 packs with 1 panel to spare for $60! I am working on plans to modify/personalize them some, but more on that later. Let's just continue to bask in their quality yet uber cheapness.

Things I have my eye on for a return trip:

- that storage system shall stay stored in the back of my mind, no pun intended, until I need it

- slip cover for the chair in my bedroom but measurements will be required

- parsons chairs for my dining room which I have been obsessing over for years

Thus I proudly proclaim to you, that I my friends, am an IKEA virgin no more.

UPDATE: While dragging my ignorant body to a new workout class with mom I was reminded of several items I failed to mention in this ode to IKEA, one of which I have already forgotten however my newly sore muscles are constantly reminding me of the other. At one point while seriously shouting with glee over ever morsel of a display room EA happened to sit down on a bed, I think potentially more out of a need to step out of the way as my mom and I ran past her to devour the most stunning closet system we had ever seen. As EA's tiny tush landed upon her first IKEA mattress the most delighted sound I have ever heard came out of her mouth beckoning mom and I both to rest our hineys for a bit. Upon tush contact it was the most heavenly bed I have ever experienced in my life. I kid you not, I did not want to get up again. It's a good thing their stuff is cheap because I am certain whoever owns that bed is unemployed due to inability to arrive at work period much less on time. It was like memory foam on steroids coupled with a down comforter that must surely be down from angels wings as it was unlike anything this fallen sinful body has ever touched.