Over several years I have been told by quite a few people that I just MUST go to IKEA. After receiving several catalogs in the mail, I decided I must NOT go to IKEA because it wasn’t my style. And I had a bit of philosophy that ran contrary to IKEA.
Then my friend recommended I go take a look as she has some things in her home that looked like good deals from the place. Well, OK, maybe someday I’ll check it out.
Then my eldest daughter asked to go on her birthday so the pressure was on. I figured it would be a sad day anyway since I miss when she was a little baby so many years ago.
On July 1st, off we went with a van load of people to the massive blue and yellow store. On the way we picked up our tour guide, Mr. Joshua Blanchard. Here he is waiting for us to reorganize ourselves for the tour.
He was a great tour guide, particularly with all of his giggles when twirled in a circle.
So, what did I think of IKEA? It’s a mixed bag. Within a few minutes I wondered if anything in the store would make it to the status of antique. It seemed like it would all be disposable within a few short years. Shortly thereafter I wondered if there was craftsmanship in anything – either by hand or even one piece of turned wood. Everything was straight. Everything right angles. Everything fit into a grid. Not too long after that I wondered if there was anything that exhibited multiple colors on a single item and then I found this … !!!!!! I am sure that James will want one of these for his birthday.
Amid this socialistic furniture bonanza, however, I found oodles of organizational ideas and better ways to do things. The trip ended up being a smashing success for space-saving, stream-lining, and brainstorming. And the 250 square foot apartment, complete with living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bath convinced me that I can convert anything into compact living space. Actually, I figured out some new ideas for dog kennels based upon these compact ideas. I’ll just have to convince the dogs that running in a small circle is just as satisfying as running across a field.
I was so impressed with the quantity of ideas (not the furniture so much) that two days later I took my husband there to take a walk. He said some interesting things. In the kitchens he said, “Hmmm.” In the living rooms he said, “Hmmm.” In the children’s section he said, “Hmmm.” In the bookshelves-carts-cabinets section he said, “Hmmm.”
Finally I said, “Why hmmm?”
“Because I can’t believe that you would like anything in this store. Where are the aesthetics?”
Well, there weren’t any aesthetics but we found great ideas to aid the functioning of our home. It reminded me of music. It used to be that composers really wrote music. They breathed it. They lived it. They had all of the turns and trills and intricacies. There was such pathos. But nowdays, so much of music is stream-lined, computer-driven, and aesthetic-deficient. Neat little grids to fill our ears.
But, I’ll be back to IKEA when we need those grids for organization.
As to the rest of the day, we kidnapped our adorable, and I mean adorable, tour guide for the day. He never fell asleep all day. He was absolutely precious. And he helped soothe a mama’s heart who misses having her babies. They are growing up too fast.
