MY TRIP TO IKEA ~ and not enough time in the day

About a week ago, I was having breakfast with a dear friend of mine. Breakfast was wrapping up way too quickly, as usual, and we were heading out to our cars. As we were hugging and saying goodbye, my dear friend (I’ll call her Miss M) asked if I would ever want to go to the IKEA store that was about 3 hours away.

WHAT??!! Who wouldn’t want to go to a huge warehouse full of prettiness with cheap….um everything and have fun with a friend.

YES!! I screamed said excitedly.

Well, we headed out to Charlotte, NC yesterday. Me, Miss M, and Miss H. I was so excited for our adventure, I couldn’t sleep the night before. Like a kid on Christmas morning.

I volunteered to drive because I have the biggest vehicle (positive thinking for filling it up to the brim with goodness!!)

I dropped my two girls off at school, picked up Miss H and Miss M and we were off.

When we arrived I was shocked by the size of the IKEA store. It was HUGE!

I didn’t get a picture…. another Kodak moment lost 🙁

I was giddy with excitemnt as we walked into the “foyer” of the store and on display were the most beautiful dressers. We stroked stared at them for awhile and continued on.

My favorite places throughout the store were:

1) any place that had beautiful fabrics, they were everywhere

2) window dressings

3) rugs

 My sweet friend Miss H found some beautiful curtains as did Miss M. Look at the rugs behind her. Beautiful!

I’ve needed a floor covering in my dining room since I repainted everything here. My beautiful friends are putting my new rug into the cart while I get out of working  take pictures. It cost $139 for a 7’x10′. I couldn’t get that anywhere else!

4) couches and couch slipcovers (BEAUTIFUL!)

 

5) candles  (thousands of them)

I bought this pretty candy holder for $9.98 and the pretty apple green candle was .25. Yes I said 25 cents!!

6) plants (artificial and live)

These planters came in all different colors. These are fuschia and, YES, the price tag says $1.99. They are ceramic not plastic and I love all the colors they come in. I bought two purple ones for Miss T’s office redo. The artificial plants were $5.99 each. WOW!

7) the restaurant (YUMMY) ~ the store is two stories tall so after we were finished with one floor, we took a break and had lunch in their cafeteria style restaurant. Miss H and I had swedish meatballs and Miss M had salmon. We all LOVED our meals. It was a nice little break before heading out and tackling the next floor.I wanted to look for things for my house as well as Miss T’s office (You can read about it here). so I had my eye out for purple things for her purple office. Lots of purple!

 

I also wanted to find shelves for her degree wall. She has MANY…little smarty pants!

 

I bought two large white shelves called Ribba Picture Ledges for 14.99 each.

These beautiful babies were in a corner and I saw that beadboard backing and had to get a closer look. We’re going to build built-in bookcases in our family room SOON (hoping the LOML can hear me!) and I could copy these. The bead board and trim work are just what I love. The LOML likes the doors on the bottom. The glass doors are pretty too. So many ideas, so little time (and money!!)

 

Here’s a more straight line unit that was very pretty. I love the rooms IKEA has set up all through the store to give you some wonderful ideas on furniture placement, colors, accessories, and lighting.

All through the displays, you could always find cute little accessories like these. Kind of disturbing but cute at the same time.

Beautiful lighting ideas were hanging over our heads as we shopped and ate and………

NAPPED!!!!

Miss M really wasn’t sleeping. She was either trying out the chair for her son’s room or she was praying that I would stop taking pictures of her. Not sure which one (or a little of both!).

We had such a great time yesterday. We didn’t even scratch the surface of the store though. We’re making a date to go back soon. Thank you Miss M and Miss H for making my IKEA experience so fun and for allowing me to put your pretty faces on my blog! Love ya!

Have y’all been to an IKEA store? I have lived a sheltered life until yesterday. Now I can die a happy woman 🙂

Linda