Today I took a trip to the local Ikea in search of a small, inexpensive lamp. I know that many people find Ikea to be annoying - hard to navigate, cheap furniture, overwhelmingly large, and, for a while (after leaving my Ikea decorated studio apartment in Manhattan) I, too, tried to ban all things Ikea from my “real” home. In part the ban had to do with the fact that my husband was almost incapable of putting the stuff together, and I only got married so that someone else would be responsible for putting the stuff together or fixing the broken stuff.
But I am now back on the Ikea bandwagon. It’s just a great place to find all sorts of little household goodies, AND there’s free childcare. As an aside, back in the day before my youngest daughter came into our family, I was a college teacher and I would go to Ikea on my days off, put the kids in the fun room, go up to the cafeteria, drink coffee and grade papers for an hour. Don’t worry, I always bought something in exchange for the babysitting. I didn't totally take advantage.
Our little miss A is still too small for the fun room (note to self, get platform shoes for the two year old for future Ikea trips), so she stuck with me as we strolled through the immense warehouse (which counts as my aerobic exercise for the day week) Part of the appeal of Ikea is the presentation: they make you want new kitchen utensils,
or fun lamps like these,
or these,
or this...
And no one cares if you child is running around like a maniac, climbing on furniture or man handling the candles. In fact, I’m not sure why there aren’t more toddler play dates organized at Ikea. Our trips always end with lunch for under five bucks including frozen yogurt.
But my favorite part of the Ikea shopping trip is being able to say that I got the Jonsbo Ilsbo for my living room, which I think looks sharp against the green walls.
I also picked up three stalks of bamboo which are very feng shui. They should bring me happiness. It's that easy.
No comments:
Post a Comment