My First Ikea Experience

Just this past Sunday, I forced my husband asked my husband nicely if he would "pretty please" go with me to the Ikea in Tampa. First of all, let me tell you that I had never been to an Ikea before this past Sunday. I had heard so much raving about Ikea that I'd been dying to go there myself! I like to call this my first "experience" with Ikea, because after spending time at Ikea I know it's truly an experience and not just a measly visit.

Those darn Swedes have designed every moment of your Ikea experience, from the escalator at the entrance to the path you follow through the store. The escalator takes you to the showroom where you can "test drive" everything, from shelving units and desks to sofas and kitchen cabinets. After winding your way through the showroom, you head downstairs in a giant elevator to locate the goods that you "test drove" just upstairs. You view things, test them, find them, and then buy them. Everyone wins. I think?

Our main purpose for spending time at Ikea was to find a shelving unit for our office/den, but we also managed to pick up some other "organizational helpers" along the way. I blame the winding path through Ikea's showroom for making me lose my focus. Either way, we did get the shelving we were looking for, however, we did bring home some other lovelies too. Oops.

After browsing every square inch of Ikea the showroom and warehouse area, we brought home some goodies including the Expedit shelving unit, a couple of very handy Fintorp rails and hooks, and some other assorted things like boxes, baskets, and a closet organizer. I'm going to justify this collection of items from Ikea by saying that the prices are really affordable. You really do get a lot for your money, but do beware of things adding up quickly since you'll probably "need" many of the things that you see.

You can find just about everything under the sun at Ikea. Seriously. Everything. Be prepared to spend some time at Ikea, because it's not one of those stores that you just quickly run into for something. The size of Ikea alone can overwhelm you. Not to mention, the winding path through beautifully designed spaces can be a bit distracting. (As you can see from two pictures above). Take your time and enjoy the "Ikea experience". They even have a restaurant/cafe just in case you get hungry while browsing.

The incredibly interesting design of almost everything affected me the most during my Ikea experience. I couldn't help but feel inspired by so many out-of-the-box solutions for organizational and small space issues, and that is something I can appreciate since we live in, what I think is, a relatively small apartment. All in all, my first Ikea experience was a good one. (:

What do you think about Ikea?

Love it... or hate it?

* Join me on Monday

and see how we're using the items

that we purchased at Ikea! (: