IKEA Weekend

At the end of last week I said to myself, "self. Let's go to IKEA." I had to hand it to myself, as it was a fabulous idea (and totally in character since I'm super good at coming up with fabulous ideas).

I had been waiting long enough for an Expedit in my boys' room. It was the entire reason for our last trip to Salt Lake's IKEA in October... I just accidentally bought too much other stuff before making it to the furniture bay and couldn't find room in our car for the Expedit's 6-foot long box. Drat. My husband was less than amused. (But hey, it all worked out! I bought the RAST nightstands and hacked them up good!)

I knew it was risky to take my entire family and 70-pound dog on an impulse furniture shopping adventure, so we stopped at my parent's home in northern Utah, unloaded the car, and let all the boys out to do manly things like fly fish and watch "Despicable Me." My mom hopped in and the two of us continued down to Salt Lake for her very first IKEA trip; needless to say, she was overwhelmed and walked out of there with only a package of 100 tea light candles. (I didn't buy anything my first trip either... I felt like my head was spinning and I needed to just take it in...back then though, I lived 10 minutes from this IKEA and not 3 1/2 hours away... big difference. Critical mistake, Mom!)

It was all okay though because I did enough shopping for the both of us, especially considering we had gone down just for the Expedit. (Surprise, honey!)

 Please note this photo was taken before children, a large dog, luggage and fishing gear (which I, with the foresight of an oracle, advised against taking!) were added back into the mix. Like I said... the trip was risky.

So what did I get? Well.. hmm. A little of this, a little of that. Some baskets. Some feather pillow inserts, frames (can't leave without a few of those, right?), glass storage jars, decorative doohickeys... the kinds of things that don't seem like much at the time but illustrate my need for adult supervision in stores like IKEA(and Costco and Target).

 It was all worth it, though. Of course I'm very glad to have a larger jar to store the popcorn in, because my husband is almost militant in his ever present need to have at least a couple pounds of the stuff in our cupboards... but mostly, I'm just so happy to have this:

I do love a good toy-hiding basket in a cleanly lined shelving unit. The whole scene makes my heart go pitter patter. Now just to finish the room...