ikea

fifty six reasons why i love ikea

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I decided to walk around my house and survey everything Ikea. Sadly, what I am about to show is not everything, as there are retired items in the basement – the place where things go to die. To clarify, we once lived in Montreal and spent many Saturday mornings dining on $1.99 breakfast and strolling around the store – making some of these pieces vintage … who says Ikea doesn’t last?!?

Do others have this much Ikea? Let me know! 

The entry and hallway: 1. Discontinued? (similar)  / 2. Siguard Bench (no longer available in red, pitty) / 3. Portis Hat and Coat Stand / 4. Olunda framed alphabet poster (discontinued?)Hallway1 Entry1Hallway2The kitchen/living/dining room: 5. & 6. Assorted glassware / 7. Bekvam Step Stool (stained black) / 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Kids dishware, placemats and a glass pitcher / 13. Garbage bin for dog food (similar) / 14. Paper napkins / 15. Serving bowl (discontinued) / 16. Blanda Blank Serving Bowl / 17. A sampling of my collection of assorted pictures frames / 18. Read about our fauxdenza here / 19. Blomster Candlesticks (set of 3) / 20. Tejn Faux Sheepskin / 21. Marius Stool / 22. A sampling of my collection of assorted flower pots / 23. Bud vase (discontinued but similar options here)Kitchen1 Kitchen2 Kitchen3Kitchen5 Kitchen6Kitchen7Kitchen8Living1Living2Living3Living4The bathrooms: 24. Patrull Bathtub mat / 25. Dannskar Bathroom Faucet / 26. Lillangen Sink Cabinet / 27. Step Stool (similar) / 28. Mirror (discontinued but this is a beauty) / 29. Stacked narrow cabinets (similar)Bathroom1 Bathroom2 Bathroom3 bathroom4The office and playroom: 30. This is an Expedit (RIP) but the Kallax is similar  / 31. Alex Drawer unit / 32. Erik (discontinued in red) / 33. Trofast (perfect for lego!) / 34. Liatorp Sideboard / 35. Mala Easel / 36. Mula blocks with wagonoffice1 office2 Playroom1 Playroom2 Playroom3 Playroom4The bedrooms: 37. Similar / 38. Ol’ faithful (aka Poang!) / 39. Soften Rug / 40. Raskog Utility Cart / 41. Lillerod Rug / 42. Henry 2 (Gosig Golden) / 43. Smila Stjarna lamp / 44. Nyponros Duvet cover and pillow case (2 sets) / 45. Rast 3-Drawer Chest (stained blue) / 46. Tveblad Cushion cover (discontinued) / 47. Fagleboda Handles / 48. Bekvam Step Stool (stained blue) / 49. Alang Table Lamp / 50. Hemnes 3-Drawer Chest / 51. Valby Ruta Rug / 52. Hemnes Nightstand / 53. Fjell Bed Frame / 54. Malm 6-Drawer Chest (similar) / 55. Jute rug (similar) / 56. Wardrobe (similar) David1 David2 David3 David4 Master1 Master2 Master3 Spare1 Spare2From their website: To become a leader in life at home in the Halifax marketplace we need to truly connect with people and helping them live a better everyday life at home. Before the store opens, IKEA will do 100 home visits, interviewing people in their homes to get a deep understanding of their needs, dreams and frustrations in and around the home. The new store will reflect the market with relevant, affordable home furnishing solutions and local architecture. Our intention is not to mirror what people have in their homes today, but to help people live a better everyday life at home and show them new ideas to solve their needs.

Ikea, call me.

Read here for my Ikea wish list.

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Tomato, tomahto

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You say Ikeya, I say Ikea!

Now that we are finally getting our beloved Ikea back, it is time we all learn how to pronounce it.

It’s Ie-KAY-A, not I-KEY-A. I know this because I watched this YouTube video AND it’s how I had always pronounced it … until recently, when I finally jumped on the Ikeya train. Never again my friends. Never again.

Text from Erin:

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But I digress. What I am actually here to write about is, what’s on my wish list for the big opening – in 14-16 months. I get to visit Ikea once a year when I make my annual pilgrimage to the holiday office party in Montreal. Jessica happily joins me in a slow stroll through the store and she listens to me say over and over “It’s just not fair” … “Do you think I can fit this in a carry-on?” … “If only Halifax had an Ikea” … “Did you know Halifax once had an Ikea?” … Honestly, I annoy myself with all the whining.

That’s why it was so exciting when I got the news that Halifax is getting a store! Turns out, the whole city freaked.

Now I’m no fool, I know what good quality is and I know that Ikea is not always known for that. I also know that if given the choice, I’d much rather furnish my whole house from Design Within Reach… but my budget does not match that store. So with this in mind, here are TEN items I have been ikying (get it? eyeing):

VITTSJÖ Shelving unit, white or red, glass, $59.00 ::: because it’s crisp, clean and an easy-to-spray piece of shelving. I’ve seen people spray it gold and it looks 3-x-fancier. However in red, I think it will work in our non-existent basement rec. room.
ea5bc56c9b44b65b095d001738e72830STOCKSUND Sofa, Ljungen light red, $849.00 ::: because it’s red and sharp. It’d be more awesome if they release a navy or deep green version in 14-16 months. Just saying.
ba39e4ec29dd452ef8aa615bed7faf59KNAPPER Standing mirror, white, $49.99 ::: because we do not have a full length mirror in our house. I never match because I can only see 1/4 of myself at a time.
fd0943820378af7412ec90db50a72cd5ALVINE RUTA Rug, flatwoven, white/yellow handmade, $299.00 ::: because we need a new rug for our living room. this will do but in all honestly, it’s not the one… I am still looking.
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STRANDMON Wing chair, Skiftebo green, $399.00 ::: because it reminds me of the movie Beetlejuice, in a good way. It makes me smile.
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TURBO Clothes rack, indoor/outdoor, black, $49.99 ::: because my wardrobe (an Ikea wardrobe) is literally busting at the seams and we do not have closets in our house. A few of these would be awesome in our dressing room… which is actually the spare room (I will explain another time).
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SINNERLIG Serving plate, assorted colors, $12.99 ::: because they look like Denby but a lot cheaper.
905d794d31eee10c738a33de89c8e611NORDLI Bed frame, white, $349.00 ::: because at some point in the future (14-16 months) I’d love to have a proper spare room and get rid of the crappy futon we make our guest sleep on. It’s very sad. No wonder no one visits.
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STOCKHOLM TV bench, walnut veneer, $499.00 / and STOCKHOLM Nesting tables, set of 2, walnut veneer, $299.00 ::: because I need furniture for our non-existent basement rec. room.
a8ed47d3758429594220056968f4aca5stockholm-nesting-tables-set-of-__0212224_PE350629_S4How about you? Are you excited? I am.

This is PART ONE of my Swedish celebration. Check back for more posts including: My current collection, my Ikea favourites, and more!

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Good night, room. Good night, moon.

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We did a little bedroom update this weekend. I’ve decided it is time to declutter and to do so, I need to rethink the space I have.

I ordered the book “the life-changing magic of tidying up – the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing“ by Marie Kondo because true to its name, I have actually read several life-changing stories from people who have practiced what Ms. Kondo preaches.

And without even reading the book, I knew the first place to start was our bedroom. It’s small (11’x12′), the ceilings are sloped, it lacks a closet and the window is low to the ground. Luckily we have a spare room that holds all of our clothes (aka. worst guest room ever), but dressers are like gold in an old home so I wanted to maximize the space by getting a bed frame with storage underneath and a big dresser for linen and extra bedding. IMG_2627 IMG_2628 IMG_2629 IMG_2630 IMG_2632

To do so I knew I needed to purge and the first thing to go was the bookshelf full of books (gasp!) As much as I love my books, why do I need to fill my small space with so many? It looked cluttered and led to side-sweeping, rather than walking along the foot of the bed.

Good riddance warped shelf and secondhand dresser*.

Sadly however, the Ikea assembly party is over and I now have a much bigger, messier project ahead. Remember that guest room I mentioned and all those books? Here’s what it looks like now: IMG_2625

At this point, everything from our bedroom, the linen cabinet, the hallway dresser, my office and the bathroom are going to be dumped in this room for strict evaluation and hopefully, over time, I can sort it all out and donate/sell/toss a bunch of it and allow this guest room to be the most lovely guest room it can be.

What about you? Any good tips on purging and/or organizing? Want to buy some used books? I plan to start an online yard sale so stay tuned!

*Disclaimer: The secondhand dresser did not go far… it moved one room over to my office but who said purging was easy?! IMG_2634psst. If you like what you’re reading, please subscribe and share. xomeg

*   *   *

  • Ikea’s Fjell bed frame with storage, Hemnes 3 drawer chest, Hemnes nightstands (already owned) and Valby Ruta rug
  • Paint colour (already painted): Benjamin Moore’s Touch of Grey, which is actually more lavender than grey and looks great with the red and dark brown wood.
  • The lamps are from Homesense (2 years ago)
  • Window shade from Sears (6 years ago)
  • Clock from L.L.Bean (4 years ago)
  • Chair from Wicker Emporium (6 years ago)
  • Dish from J.Crew (1 year ago)
  • Bedspread from The Bay (9 years ago)
  • Quilt made by my aunt!

meanwhile, elsewhere

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Friday’s online finds: Inspirational, educational or just silly. Here is what I found this week…

meanwhile_3 meanwhile_8 meanwhile_9 meanwhile_4 meanwhile_5 meanwhile_7 meanwhile_1 meanwhile_6 meanwhile_2

Have a lovely weekend and happy March Break! Swish swish

psst. Congratulations Alison Sampson on guessing Pump Up The Volume.  If you have not seen this classic, watch it this weekend! 

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breakthrough

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“Perhaps I can get in the pool once a week this winter.” says me, every year, no joke. I love the idea of swimming but I just am not disciplined about doing it.

There was this one time when I got pretty serious about swimming; it lasted a few months and I managed to improve enough to ‘comfortably’ swim 1000 metres. My cousin talked me into doing a duathlon (swim 750m and run 5km) and lets say it was not pretty. You know the sympathy clap? When everyone cheers for the last one out of the pool? Yah, that was me. I managed to make up for it with my run but it was a good lesson to learn – swimming takes practice and I need more of that. Plus, legs only and breaststroke are not ideal for these events. So, will this year be the year? No promises but I can say, not everything about this post is a FAIL.

One of my to-do items for the summer was buy some art. Not sure where this came from, but likely because I have a surplus of frames waiting to be filled (thanks to a 50% off sale and having a good friend in Montreal who buys me stuff at Ikea).

So what did I buy? A print from someone I pinned a long time ago. I love her stuff, so much so, it was hard to pick one. Honestly, it came down to two things.

  1. There is a palm tree (or what I believe is a palm tree) in Breakthrough
  2. It fits one of my frames with no need for cutting, cropping or purchasing a new matte

Here is the print up on the wall – next to the portrait of Henry. In the dead of winter, while watching one of the many dreary Netflix series online (currently addicted to The Killing), I can glance over at my swimming girl and remind myself to swim more. It really is the best.

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Check out more of Samantha French’s paintings here

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