Ten Things Tuesday

The “Yes, I Am an IKEA Whore” edition.

Yesterday, De left a comment on my randomness post asking about Ikea. It seems she has need of some storage solutions and was kicking around the idea of getting such things from IKEA but needed a little convincing. My answer to her was that while IKEA doesn’t sell things that one would want to hand down to one’s grandchildren, if treated well, the furniture they sell lasts a long time and looks damned good doing it.

That gave me the idea to post ten items that the Chili family enjoys from the Swedish laminate-and-particleboard superstore. It just occurred to me that I didn’t take pictures of any of the little stuff that I love; the dishtowels (six for $2.99) or the beautiful glassware or the clean, simple picture frames; perhaps I’ll leave the smaller items for another TTT.

Before we begin, please understand that Mr. Chili pretty much singlehandedly assembled and installed almost everything pictured here; I’m good for putting a bookcase or two together, or screwing the seat on to a chair, but Mr. Chili is the magician with the Allen wrench.

1. First, we have our oldest IKEA piece:

(Do try to ignore the mess around it please; only focus on the furniture – that goes for all these pictures…) Mr. Chili had this t.v. stand/book shelf before I came into his life nearly 17 years ago, and it’s still functioning admirably and handsomely. I’d link to it, but IKEA hasn’t carried this configuration for about a decade or so, or we’d have gotten another to match it. It’s holding up the t.v. in the great room; we only watch that t.v. when there’s a serious conflict in viewing preferences in the living room (usually involving a sporting event of some sort), but it fits perfectly in the space and we still love it.

2. Next up, we have what the Chili family calls “the bouncy chair:”

IKEA calls it Poang, and it comes in almost a dozen different upholstery colors and a couple of wood finishes. I think we paid $79 bucks for the chair and $50 or so for the foot rest. we started out with this chair in off-white but, as you can tell from the feline accessory pictured above – who is there whenever Mr. Chili isn’t – that was a poor decision on our part. The blue holds up nicely and matches with the couch (an ektorp loveseat. Please note that the pillow is in an IKEA case; there’s a matching comforter just out of the frame). When Bowyer and I go to IKEA this week, we’re going to come back with a mate to this chair; the living room is off-kilter with only one.

3. Here we have a representative of the Chili family kitchen. Mr. Chili, who installed the cabinets brought home from IKEA in a rented van, made sure that the glass doors of the cabinets in the island lined up perfectly with the glass cabinets on the wall. He’s good like that.

I’m pretty sure that the cabinet doors are being discontinued; I’m considering buying replacements at least for the doors under the sink.

4. This is the sideboard that matches the dining room table (which I didn’t take a picture of because I’m embarrassed by the piles of stuff on it)

The doors on the left open out and the space is wide enough to comfortably hold lots of table cloths, placemats, and napkins. The door on the right hides seldom-used candlesticks and liquor. The drawers contain things like candles, more napkins, and small holiday items like napkin rings, birthday candles and table decorations (I believe I’ve got a bag of snowflake confetti, even). And seriously? The ivy on the top IS live, and has lived happily there in a vase of water for nearly three years. I’m scared to move it; I’m convinced that if I try to plant it in dirt, it’ll die.

5. Here’s a representative of the army of IKEA book cases we have:

These are the short ones and are stuffed to bursting with our DVD collection (now can you see why I started a 100 movie list?). There is a matching set on the other side of the t.v. that has more DVDs and our collections of National Geographic, Mac World, and Real Simple magazines. I’m going to pick up another pair of these on our trip, I think, so I can more properly distribute the collections. We also have tall bookcases, seven of them, on the east wall of the dining room holing our formidable – and always growing – book collection. As a matter of fact, Mr. Chili commented the other day that if I keep collecting books at the rate I’m going, it’s likely that the east wall of our family room will someday mirror the dining room.

6. Obtaining these made me SOOOOOOOO happy!

These filing cabinets really made a huge difference in my world; I was able to organize and put away my “teacher piles” and I love to death the fact that I can put my hands on things right away. The feline accessory in the basket on the floor did not come with the cabinets, by the way – and yes, it’s a different cat.

7. We had quite a time trying to figure out how to properly furnish our great room. We settled on four of these chairs, at 99 bucks a piece

The side tables are IKEA, too, Lack, for 13 bucks a piece. Punkin Pie is deep in a book at the moment, and each of the Chili family can often be found in this position (though I tend to sit sideways in these chairs, with my feet over the arm).

8. Here is where I spend my nights:

There are actually seven IKEA pieces in this picture: the bed, the side tables, the bedside lamps, the chest at the foot of the bed, AND the quilt and pillow cases (which I’m counting as one piece). Xena commented that the bed actually looks like a park bench (you going for that classic homeless look?), but I love it.

9. I think I paid $20 bucks for this full-length mirror. It came with a set of hinges, so that it could swing out and store things like necklaces or ties and belts behind it, but we mounted it straight to the wall:

If you look behind me (sorry for the lousy focus, you guys), you’ll see the six-drawer dresser that matches the bedroom suite (ignore the pile of laundry at my feet). I wish I could adequately describe how perfectly this space is suited for the pieces that are in here; it just feels good.

10. Finally, here’s another view of our wardrobe:

The truth of the matter is that I take up much more space in this piece than Mr. Chili does; I have more clothes. The drawers on the right slide out to give me easy access to workout clothes, sweatshirts, and a really cool, compartmentalized drawer that holds earrings and necklaces. It’s a great system, and I like it MUCH better than I would have had we closed that space off to make a walk-in closet.

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!