Afternoon Class.

A dear friend and I took a class at IKEA a few weeks

ago and had a blast. It was a great project and we both

went home with two different sized frames with dried

flowers. Taught by the amazing DIY Mommy, it was an

honor to be there with my friend and to be taught by a

real life blogger! I'm hanging my frames in the studio.

Have you taken a class lately? Or time off for yourself?

~ Chy

Finally, Ikea!

After 33 weeks at home, only going in to town for

groceries, gas and an occasional trip to Indigo where

we felt safe, we have not ventured in to any other

establishments to minimize all our Covid~19 risks.

I've been waiting FOREVER to visit Ikea! And finally

we got to go this week. No line ups, very small crowds

and we even felt safe enough to have some lunch. My

dd had fries and garlic toast, and I had a spinach salad.

After a yummy meal, we ventured out to the various

floors to see what was new. Clearly, our Ikea has been

redesigned and it was fun to explore all the new areas.

Finally, we made our purchase and headed home to

build my new Raskog cart and put up a bar in the art

studio to hold metal tins for all my supplies. Finally!

Do you have an Ikea close to your home?

If you do, do you get to shop here often?

~ Chy

Counter Decision.

We've finally made a decision for the Art Studio. Our cabinets are now all installed, the shelves and drawers are in, the walls are painted, the lights are almost all in and next on our list was the counters. We wanted to find a wood look and came across these counters from Ikea. The Karlby line and the fit will be perfect for our contractor to work with. He  has used these a number of times in kitchen remodels, so we're trusting his judgement. And right now, Ikea has a kitchen event, so we'll be getting back 10% on our purchase today in gift cards that we can use for future purchases. Today, a friend of ours with a truck is meeting us at the store. We'll pick out the ones we want and then he'll transport them out to our acreage for us. Our counter guy is hoping to come on Wednesday to do the install. Just waiting for his confirmation. Once the counters are installed, he'll then do the baseboards, our floor guy will come and install the flooring, we will then put the cabinet doors and drawer fronts on, and the hardware, and then my dh just has to put up the last two lights ~ we were waiting for the counters first so we can align the two lights over the island just right but needed the counters there first. This has been a long dreamed about project and I can't believer we're almost ready to finally use our new Art Studio.

Ikea Shopping.

Ikea was created in 1943 by 17 year old Ingvar Kamprad. It is the world's largest furniture retailer with 373 stores in 47 countries. We are fortunate to have a great Ikea location in the big city next to us, and with the new freeway, it takes us about 10 minutes to get there from our country home. A favorite place to shop as a family. A trip always ends with a $1 ice cream cone. Reward for our travels into town.

We first discovered Ikea the year we were married, in 1984. My grandmother wanted to buy us a solid wood table and chairs for the kitchen in our new house. Someone suggested Ikea and our "love affair" with the multinational company began. We ended up with an amazing pine table with 4 solid chairs and had that set for the first 20 years we were married. It was a great investment and looked good in all the kitchens we had as we moved around. As we are collectors of antiques and vintage furniture, we personally don't have a lot of Ikea furniture (though our children are all huge fans and most of their living spaces are Ikea based), but we  have a lot of the storage lines, kitchen knick knacks, dishes, picture frames, candle holders and linens. 

It's fun every summer to receive the Ikea catalogue in our mail box and to spend time searching for ways to keep life organized or add a splash of "new" to a room. On a recent trip into the big city, I found these sweet little bags that can be used for gifts, goodies or as they had them displayed, with the tops rolled down and a plant set inside. Very sweet! I may go back and buy a pack. They come in white as well. 

Here's another new item: ribbon on a roll. I didn't buy these but again, may go back. I love the green combination and the pinks as well.And you can never argue the price!

Do you have an Ikea in your community or close by?

What's your favorite Ikea item to purchase?