More Ikea Purchases

All the excitement about the sectional beat out the excitement of a few new pieces around the house, also from Ikea.  These accessories were actually purchased during our first trip to the store.  We've always planned to replace the black jars we had, but once we saw these glass containers with stainless steel lids at Ikea for a great price, we decided to replace them sooner than later:

When we lined up the containers available, they weren't proportional, so instead of buying various sizes that looked mismatched, we chose one size and bought 3 of them.  Here's an older pic of the kitchen, where you can see the black jars we had (leftover from "college decor"):

This is what we have on the cabinet in our kitchen now:

Much better!

We have flour, rice, and sugar in them and now that we have clear containers, I can tell what is in which jar. We also purchased a taller, skinnier one for pasta:

Our other purchase was this lamp that we had to have once we saw it in the store:

Here it is in our house (you may have noticed it in the background of some of the pictures of the sectional set-up):

(Excuse this pic of it - we only had one bulb that was the correct size for the lamp).  We were worried that little Parker may be interested in the lamp and scratch or chew at it, but he hasn't even seemed to notice it.  (I think the sectional caught his attention instead - but he has behaved wonderfully with it so far! Yay!)

So what do you think? Any new additions to your home lately? Anyone buy anything from Ikea? How did it work out?

Sectional Set-Up

So we visited a few more furniture stores yesterday and decided that there weren't many sectionals that we liked (or if we kinda liked it, there was no white, or no leather available).  We also found ourselves continuing to compare it to the Ikea Karlstad in white leather.  Sooo... we decided to buy it and pick it up all in one day!  That wouldn't be such an extraordinary event for one day except for the fact that Ikea is four hours away from us!  We woke up bright and early this morning and left around 6AM because the store opens at 10AM.  We were there for about 45 minutes to an hour and left the store at 11AM, putting us back home around 3PM.  Whew!  Did I mention it rained and rained and rained today?  Thankfully Ikea packages the sofa parts in a cardboard box wrapped in plastic, so we didn't even need the tarp we brought with us.  Yay!

We knew we'd have to put it all together, but it actually wasn't so bad since the leather versions come with the leather already attached (the fabric versions require you to put the slipcover on each part of the sofa before you put it all together).  I tried to remember to take a few shots during the process, but I'm usually more of a before and after person, so there aren't many.  Scroll down to see the process and the finished project.  We do realize that the choice is one of those "you either love it or hate it" kind of things, but we love it!  It was a bit of a stretch out of our comfort zone, but sometimes it's good to mix things up.

Here's what it all looked like taken out of the boxes:

(The Chaise Attachment)

(The Karlstad Sofa)

First, the legs had to be attached, then (after removing the arm) the chaise had to be attached to the sofa:

(Aww, look my handy hubby)

Then the arm had to be attached to the chaise.  It did not take us long at all, which was the best part because after driving for so long, we were ready to be home and to relax on our new sectional! :)

Ta-da! Finished project:

We definitely needed some white to brighten up the room since the walls and the floor are dark and we think this does it.  So what do you think?



Hello Ikea!

So I usually receive catalogs from Ikea, flip through them, and make mental notes for later about pieces I like or decorating ideas I may want to use.  However, I've never been to an Ikea store because the closest one to us is a little over 4 hours away.  My husband and I both had a four day weekend this weekend, so we decided to make the drive on Saturday to check things out.

Our main reason for going was to look at their sectionals because I've been pricing and comparing various ones and since their sectionals are relatively cheaper than others I've looked at, I wanted to see them up close before I made a decision (we wanted to see what we were really getting without having to order it, and possibly return it).  Wow, all I can say is that store is huge!  I don't know if any of you have been to one, but I could've walked through it a couple of times adding to my wishlist each time.  We did find one sectional that has made our list, but we still aren't quite sure about it yet.   See, we like leather sectionals (think two seats plus a chaise) but we don't really care for a lot of tufting.  Ikea's leather sectional that has a chaise attachment only comes in tufted leather.  While we are going for a more modern look in the den, the sectional almost looks retro with all the tufting.  However, it's the closest we've found to what we want, and you can't beat the price for a leather sectional, so it's made the list, but a decision hasn't been made just yet. 
                            

Here's a link to the picture of it: Ikea Karlstad Sofa Sectional .  It also has leg/feet upgrades that you can purchase (the silver/metal ones were really pretty with the white leather).

Why leather?  Because we have a dog that likes to sit with us on the couch and we plan on having kids one day.  A leather sectional would make clean-up easy.  We were worried about the dog messing up the leather, but we've recently purchased two leather club chairs for our living room and he doesn't scratch them (or have accidents on them) and I don't have to vacuum them constantly to remove dog hair (I can just wipe them down if needed - so much nicer!).  We also want to get a white sectional.  Yes, white.  No, we aren't crazy. :)  Hence, the choice of leather.  We are crossing our fingers that it will work out since we can wipe up any spills rather than having to try to remove them from fabric, while still having the look of a white piece of furniture to lighten things up in the dark gray room. 

So anyone have any experience with Ikea or white sectionals?  Any suggestions on other furniture places to shop at?  Feel free to share any info/experience/expertise you may have by leaving a comment below.