the love-hate relationship continues
My best friend K.C. and I {and our seven children} took a shopping trip to IKEA yesterday.
I love that it is close enough to just pop in on a random thursday morning.
I hate that even on a random thursday morning the play area was full. Only two of seven children made it in.
I love how inexpensive daily-use items like paper napkins and juice cups are.
I abhor those terribly wonky roll-all-over-the-place shopping carts.
I love the textile department. Curtains are long and affordable {these are my absolute favorites}, you can buy striped fabric by the yard, and down pillow inserts are super cheap.
I hate that long trek through the warehouse once you make it out of the showroom to checkout. Especially when the pager is going off because your hour is up and its time to pick up the kiddos from Smaland. It seems to take forever.
I love self checkout. I’m serious. It’s like playing ‘store’ for grownups.
I really don’t love how sweaty I am by the time we make it back to the car. The whole experience is exhausting.
But I sure do love unloading all my goodies and seeing what was thrown into the cart this time.
1. simple picture frame {ribba}
2. non-slip carpet mat {stopp}
3. plaid throw blanket {hermine}
4. cocktail paper napkins {fantastisk}
5. striped throw blanket {eivor}. I’ve had my eye on this for a while. Not sure where it will go, but stripes are always a welcomed addition to my home.
6. clay pot {mandel}
7. juice cups {reko}. $1.49 for six. This is what my kids use as drinking cups. They chip eventually, but replacing is so inexpensive, I don’t mind.
8. fabric by the yard {sofia}. Nice canvas weight. I’m thinking about cutting some on the bias for diagonal stripe curtain trim.
9. faux greenery {fejka}. Pretty cheap looking, but from a distance, it adds a nice pop of color.
The items I come home will always make the trip worthwhile, but you probably won’t see me and IKEA together for quite a while. We need to take a break from each other so we can fall back in love.
I posted to the JDC facebook page yesterday and I’ll ask you again here … how do you feel about IKEA? Are you a lover or a hater?
{p.s. I don’t usually use the word hate. I sort of cringe at it because it is so strong. I don’t actually hate anything about IKEA. Well, except for maybe the sweaty, exhausted part.}
Courtney Keller
I love Ikea and our only non-thrifted furniture in our house has came from Ikea BUT I HATE their carts….My kids hang on them and the carts go crazy. We signed up for Ikea family so they get 1 1/2 hour in smalland but that might be after a half hour wait. I have a love-hate relationship too.
Melissa | ISLY
I’m definitely a lover of Ikea! I buy everything there now since it’s just as close to me as our closest grocery store.
I HATE those carts, too. I can’t go to ikea in cute shoes. I have to wear grippy sturdy shoes in order to manage the cart.
rachel
I feel exactly the same way! Although our IKEA is over an hour away!
And how funny… we were there last Thursday too!! It was actually a pretty productive IKEA trip though. Meaning, found exactly what we needed (college stuff for my son), not too long, not too much money, & not too grumpy! 
Anja
I LOVE IKEA. Seriously. But like in every good relationship there are a few things that you’d like to change about your partner. Like the quality of my dining table top (the first two chips in the paint were on its second day). Like that I sometimes drive there to buy something that I need and it’s not in store. But overall, IKEA and I have been going steady for almost twenty years now, so I think it’s love
PS In Germany Smaland lets you leave your kids longer than an hour. Not that I’d know, I’d only sometimes like to leave my husband there when he starts complaining
mollie's mom
I love.love.love everything about IKEA. If there is anything slightly annoying about IKEA it is vetoed by all the positive things that are so wonderful about IKEA. I am not far from the Atlanta IKEA and I love any excuse to go there!!! ( well, the Atlanta traffic getting to IKEA is a negative but that’s on Atlanta not IKEA – LOL!)
Marcie
shelley
You pretty much summed it up! I love my Ikea. But after a trek there, I do need to take a big long break before I would ever dream of going again. Like more than a year! I just moved a week ago, so now I’m excited to go scoop up some stuff we need. I always start on a high, and by the end of the warehouse, I bid Ikea a fond, exhausted adieu!
Hannah Bunker
Ooo! I love all the stuff you bought! I’m a sucker for black and white (my blog is mostly b&w with some natural textures)…so I’ll probably head to Ikea tomorrow to get some of that fabric and the b&w striped blanket.
And I totally feel ya on the love/hate thing. I always wear workout clothes when I go to Ikea because it’s seriously like working out. lol
Christi
I feel much the same about IKEA. I am glad that it is an hours drive for me, so that ensures that I do not go often. But when I do go… I usually have a list a mile long! I love that plaid throw you bought. I may have to scribble that to my IKEA list. — I agree about the word “hate”. I also cringe. Probably because my mother taught me to never say it. She used to say… you only “hate” evil and the devil himself.
Wendy T.
Love for sure. I can pick up one plate or bowl in a color I love to use as a container in my office. Great for photo props, too
I’m adding those juice glasses to the list. My kiddos will feel so adult using REAL glass.
Anna Caroline
Love- I experienced Ikea for the very first time about a month ago. Pretty sure it was one of the most ridiculous stores ever (in the overwhelmingness of options!!). My husband might be between love/hate as his very first comment was “Why is this store so weird?”