Ikea, the perfect place for INEXPENSIVE and NEW furniture!

Jeff and I went to the Ikea store in Charlotte on Tuesday and it was the most fun I have ever had in a furniture store! If you have an Ikea within driving distance of you, you have to go! It's like a theme park for designers/decorators. And the best part, they are reasonably priced! If you are looking for new furniture but still don't want to spend a lot of money, this is the place to go. When you go in, you start off with getting a "shopping list"and head up stairs. The shopping list is a piece of paper that you write down the things you like on it as you go through their show room, which is arranged as living spaces. On a side note, one really neat thing was that they had different full houses set up with square footage listed, so you would walk through these and see a bedroom, bathroom, living space, and kitchen and how you can shop for your space. Very cool. Anyways, so you walk through and everything is priced and on the ticket is listed where you will find the item on the warehouse floor and if there are different locations to create the look that they have made. The way they are able to sell their products for such a great price is that you do the shopping by yourself, you get the pieces that you like, and you have to put them together when you get home, even your couch! They come in fairly flat boxes and you assemble it all, from pictures and frames to beds and TV cabinets. I loved it and had so much fun going through the showroom and warehouse. The showroom is upstairs and the warehouse is downstairs. The cool thing to is that you aren't limited. If you find a print that you like, you don't have to put it in the frame that they had it in, you can choose your own!
Another really neat thing about Ikea is that they carry everything, not just furniture. You can buy kitchen and bath cabinets, you can buy counters, you can buy appliances, you can even buy the kitchen sink! And all for very reasonable prices. I also liked how they had people available to help you out, but they weren't hanging over you every where you went.
Overall, this was a lot of fun and I cannot wait to go back. I have my eye on a very nice china cabinet that I just need to make sure will fit and work for me. Check them out online if you don't have one nearby at www.ikea.com. You can design your rooms, design your new kitchen, and shop for what you want online. Enjoy!

Creating a Stylish Information Center

The above picture is what I did with a few of my glass vases as mentioned in yesterday's blog. I arranged them on an inexpensive mirror ($5 at an antique store) with some hankies and a little silver box.




So, today's blog is just continuing ideas from around my house and this one is about how to create a convenient phone/information center that is attractive and useful. First of all, let's start with a place. Mine is in my kitchen, which is where the line for the phone is fed. It's most convenient there anyways. My suggestion is to place yours where your phone/charger/answering machine/etc. are located. The piece of furniture that I used was actually my old desk from growing up. This desk was bought at an unfinished furniture store and was painted white. By the way, unfinished furniture stores are a great place to buy wood pieces to then either paint or stain yourself, especially if you have the time to do it. Then you get to design your furniture and you're not paying someone else to do what you could have done yourself. You can also find very inexpensive desks at yard sales and thrift stores. Back to the information center. Inside the desk is where I keep my calendar, Bible, notebooks, sticky notes, loose change, basically anything that you need to grab heading out the door, writing down important dates, or taking a phone call. Now, my desk also works double duty as my table linen storage. On top of the desk is my phone and answering machine. The red holder next to it is where I keep coupons and menus from local stores and restaurants. Again, all convenient to reach as needed. I also have a cup with pens, pencils, and scissors easily reachable at a moment's notice. The notice board above is an easy do it yourself project. All you need is an empty frame (you can find these for really cheap at thrift stores or yard sales, 50 cents to $5), cork board sheets (this can be bought at any craft store for around $5-$6), some ribbon (again, check a craft section in your local store), wood glue or hot glue gun, and push pins (mine match the ribbon on my board). Cut the cork board sheet to fit a little bit bigger than the inside of your frame and put glue along the backside of the frame and fit the cork onto the glue. After this has dried, cut the ribbon to fit in diagonal strips across the board and lay it criss-crossing on the cork board (important, make sure the ribbon goes all the way to the frame on both ends. Use the push pins (I used flat headed push pins for this part) to hold the ribbon in place where the ribbon touches the frame and anywhere the ribbon criss-crosses. Then, cut the ribbon in strips long enough to border the inside of the frame and use the pushpins to secure the ribbon around the border. Tadah! You know have your own stylish cork board to place important business cards, invitations, and phone numbers and all for about $10-$20 depending on what you had already). Simply hang it above your information desk. Hope this helps you establish your own convenient place for all of your important contact and calendar information. Feel free to let me know of your own ideas or of any questions!