Sunday morning found my friend Mary Elizabeth and I back at IKEA at 10 a.m. sharp. By Day #2, we were beginning to feel like semi-pros, even though our Swedish showed no signs of improvement. We had mastered the second floor; today we skipped the escalator, went backwards through the empty check-outs, and started in the "Marketplace" on the first floor.
The first thing we came to was what I go to IKEA for: Dinner Napkins. I love to entertain, but big, colorful dinner napkins are not only hard to find, but expensive when I do find them. The last package I bought was from Amazon for a special Valentine's Day dinner; with Prime shipping, they were $7.38 for
75 napkins.
IKEA has dinner napkins in almost every popular home dec. color and additional colors for different holidays and seasons (e.g. brown in the fall). And, they are only $1.99 for a package of 50 napkins. Since I don't make the two hour drive to IKEA often, I load up when I do go. On this trip, I bought so many packages of napkins that the shopper waiting behind me in line asked me what kind of party I was giving.
The Marketplace is as big as the second floor but if you follow "the path" from one section to the other, it's not so overwhelming.
Next we found ourselves in the Garden department.
IKEA sells a huge variety of both real and "faux" plants as well as a "farmhouse-worthy" selection of inexpensive pots to display them in.
Their faux plants look real and all are priced very reasonably. The plants sized like the ones below (I bought four different ones) were $4.99 each; the galvanized pails to display them in were only $.79.
And here is my very favorite purchase (although I have no idea what I will do with them yet): a set of three
FJANTIG wall hooks, each only 5" tall, shaped like three different styles of IKEA chairs.
(Some crazy designer in Sweden must think this stuff up just for women like me!)
I love these silly chairs so much that I bought two packages of them.
For only $5.99 per package they'll be fun (and practical?) to decorate with.
Mary Elizabeth fell in love with this
KRUSNIG lamp; it reminded her of a cloud! It's made of layers of paper (the small white and yellow piece behind it is a separate lamp. ) and comes in two sizes. The large one is only $12.99. It is packed flat and you puff it up at home when you hang it. Yup, she bought one for her
new apartment.
The IKEA Marketplace has
hundreds of styles of pillow covers on display, all 20" square. Both the covers and the "stuffers" are remarkably inexpensive . . .
As are their rugs, curtains, duvets, duvet covers, and bedding. I bought this sturdy indoor/outdoor
LOBBAK runner for our back hall.
I also picked up a pair of these
NORDRANA knitted storage baskets for $9.99/pair.
Mary Elizabeth loved all of the IKEA "rail systems" for kitchen (and office, bathroom, studio, etc.) storage. The rails and hooks come in white, black or stainless steel and the choices of hanging utensils and containers is almost limitless.
Another favorite section of IKEA is the Children's department. The kids' furniture is bright, whimsical, inexpensive and easy for children to move around.
There are many children's bedrooms on display to give parents ideas for storage and maximizing small spaces for kids.
And did I mention the stuffed animals? IKEA's stuffed creatures are the softest ever. They even had a wrinkly piglet, a rat with scary teeth, and a cuddly horse with silly wobbly legs. As might be expected, most were priced under $10.00. My favorite was this "Big Bad Wolf", who comes with Grandma. Kids get to rescue Grandma from his stomach - really! (Little Red Riding Hood is sold separately.)
After the Marketplace, you come to the huge warehouse section of IKEA where you pick up furniture and other large items by their aisle and bin numbers (the reason for the pencil upstairs on Day 1).
I think Mary Elizabeth was feeling a little overwhelmed at first, but she had written down the aisle and bin numbers of her KALLAX shelf and rolling cart so we found them right way. Although it is big, IKEA is well-organized with good signage to help newbies like us figure it all out.
The last stop was the Swedish Food Market just outside of the main check-out area.
You can buy frozen Swedish meatballs just like the ones from their restaurant . . .
As well as Salmon,
Lingonberry Jam, Swedish candies and cookies, including the world's thinnest ad best Ginger Snaps!
I bought these KEX cookies for my special needs daughter. Her name begins with "K' so it's her "favorite letter". I can already picture her divvying up the cookies with her friends: "K for me, vowels for you, K for me, vowels for you . . . ". Needless to say, the cookies spell "IKEA".
Our second day at IKEA was almost done and we were dragging. Now, we just had to figure out how to hold on to our "trolleys" on the steep cart escalator . . .
And navigate through the Boston tunnel, over the Zakim Bridge, onto 95 North and home to Maine.
Now that we're back and rested, here are a few of our IKEA purchases displayed in our homes:
Mary Elizabeth's "Cloud Lamp" (she bought the small one) looks beautiful in her bedroom;
As does her little "polka dot" IKEA rug.
She assembled her black
RASCOG Cart and it's already in use as a bar cart in her kitchen. She can roll it into the living room for entertaining! Martini anyone?
After a bit of reorganization, all of my new napkins fit in my under-bookshelf storage baskets.
I love the colors!
My four faux plants (love the fern!) bring a touch of Spring to "Elmer's tool box" at my house.
And the adorable trio of chairs?
I'm still walking around the house with them, looking for the perfect spot!
SKAL! (that's "Cheers" in Swedish),
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