A Susan-Sized-Ikea-Trip

The day started like any other… An awkward job “meet and greet,” traffic in Northern Virginia, and ikea. And let me tell you, ikea was not ready for us. Or so we thought. We came prepared and on a mission. We showed ikea who the bosses were.

And then ikea kicked my credit card in the boo-tay.

Welcome to my kitchen! How many I assist you?!

Is anyone else overly impressed by the teeny tiny, yet totally awesome kitchens, bedrooms, closets, offices and overall sweet spaces that is somehow created in this magical square castle called ikea? Pretty positive I could use the kitchen below to start my own paleo cooking show!

Like I said, we went with a mission. A mission to make my kitchen at my new home nicer and user-friendly. Well, I guess not so much friendly. More so just useable.

The bottom line: I need more counter space. And this Swedish hunk of furniture is my solution. The cute bar chairs and all!

As we wrapped up the part of the store tour that a human could easily live in, my mom was a bit flabbergasted that we were almost done. I mean really Mother, we were only there for about 2.5 hours!

It took the two of us, a flatbed cart, some logistical planning and the weight of my entire body for us to pick this butcher block thing up. Heavy duty doesn’t even begin to describe it.

And then I had to reorganize my goods and begin pushing like a lady about to give birth to 123 pounds of ikea furniture. It took everything in me to get this flatbed to the checkout without:

A. Letting my super sweet lanterns (that Michael will also love - compromise decor is tough for us) fall off the cart and break
B. Run it into a giant rack of other ikea-loveliness or
C. Take out the snarky lady that yelled at my mom when my mom simply tried to help her.

Scratch that, I totally meant to hit Mrs. Snarky McSnarkerson.

When we left HRVA we were both slightly concerned about taking Pretty Prius. My mom swore up and down that there was no way I could fit a Susan-Size-Ikea-Trip into my tiny, but efficient Pretty Prius. She definitely had junk in her trunk, but Pretty Prius pulled through for me! We probably could’ve even fit the shoe cabinet I really wanted in there also!

I’m officially convinced that my Prius is the second cousin, twice removed, to Mary Poppins’ bag.

We made it home! Now it’s time to start building! And time to start making my next Ikea Road Trip Shopping List. Hint hint: This headboard is at the top of the list! (And no, it’s not $999! I swear! At that cost I’d be going to Pottery Barn and swooping up the bed frame I REALLY want.)

To those of you who live near an ikea… do you have problems with this store? Is there an ikea-obsessed-anonynmous group you can check yourself into?! Thankfully I live a solid two point five hours away from this glorious motherland of swedish bargain furniture. Otherwise we’d have serious issues. My obsession with Target wouldn’t even begin to compare to the problems we’d have if ikea were in my town.

They say God doesn’t put things in front of you that he knows you cannot handle… because Jesus knows I do not have the will power to handle an ikea that is any closer than 143 miles of my home.

(Yep, I google mapped it.)

http://www.blogger.com/profile/06054773556962984796 jessica

okay i almost bought very similar bath rugs. but i just couldn’t decide which color i wanted.

also, my sister and i ran into a snarky mcsnarkerson…we walked across an aisle that a lady who had a small toddler in her basket were walking on and we both said “excuse us” in our sweet little arkansan voices and she goes, “typical, walk in front of the lady with a baby” and rolled her eyes and stormed off. whew like what was shoved up her butt? some people are just rude.

also the head board is gorgeous! Oh and i’m sad and glad that i live 5 hours away from an ikea. lol. i do already have a prob with target which is why i have been avoiding the store altogether. and do you live near a homegoods? there’s one in the town where my lake house is (an hour away from me now) and if i had one of them in my town i would be in major trouble. i LOVE that store.

ok longest comment ever…
http://www.blogger.com/profile/16553438097415744075 El Bridge

And you did it all in a miniskirt! REAL WOMAN! haha