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Tag: ikea

  • A trip to Ikea

    A trip to Ikea

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    Last Saturday I decided to head to Ikea. Mark had to work like every Saturday, so I invited my sister to tag along. It was their BYOF – bring your own friend – day after all. I was really looking forward to some workshops with other bloggers, and getting some much-needed items for the kids bedroom.

    Specifically, on my list was a new laundry basket. I finally had enough of their little 1 ft by 1 1/2 ft basket overflowing after one day.  Before going to Ikea, I checked out some hampers on Wayfair, but I just wasn’t sure without seeing them in person.

    Most expensive laundry hamper
     
    Plus any hamper that has a price tag like this one had better wash and dry my clothes as well! 
     
    It took us way too long to get out of the house, but we finally made it to Ikea around lunch time. So we started by grabbing some absolutely delicious lunch. The kids enjoyed some chicken strips and fries, my sister ordered beef ribs that looked amazing, and I had the Atlantic Saithe.
     
    We were hoping to make it to the cooking demo after lunch but it took us a little longer to eat than we planned, and then we got distracted trying to find the workshops. 
     
    Ikea toys
     
    Ikea room display
    I seriously loved this room set up…but definitely not with all the white and small kids.
     
    OK so we finally made it to the workshops in time to see Melanie and Steffany from Find It, Make It, Love It.  From the papers description I wasn’t expecting the craft to be something I would necessarily want – birthday calendar and candle plate picture frames. BUT I was seriously wrong. 
     
    Find it Make it Love it presents at Ikea
     
    Just look at those picture frames!  This turned out to be exactly what I was looking for for a photo project I’m working on – post on that sometime next week. These gals are so cute, and are full of so much creativity I wish I had!  
     
    After we finished up these super simple craft tutorials, we headed over to the next workshop with Autumn from It’s Always Autumn.  I didn’t get a great picture during this one, but I did learn some great tips from her. Especially on the props part. I was easily able to translate a lot of what she was saying for photo’s of people to my food photography. I just don’t need quite as much space when I’m working with food. In fact, if you saw the Oscar Eggs Benedict yesterday, the plate that’s on I bought while at Ikea…and it’s actually a candle dish!
    Oscar eggs Benedict on an Ikea candle plate
     
    Finally we made it out of the workshops and displays – does anyone else get lost in Ikea? – and headed downstairs to the purchasing area. We picked up a number of things, including the candle dishes for the pictures and a new bath mat, before finding the laundry baskets. YAY for awesome laundry baskets!  
     
    Don’t act so surprised, I get excited over weird things like laundry baskets. Things that make my life simpler, my families life simpler, and our house more manageable are cause for joy and excitement. I mean just look at the difference between these two.
    Ikea Hamper makes all the difference
    Now normally I will not spend money on something for the home that I can get at a fraction of the cost if I sacrifice look. This time I decided to sacrifice cost and get something a bit nicer. Not only did it make a difference in the dirty clothes being an eye sore, but it set the tone for the rest of the girls closet. 
     
    organizing a kids closet with an Ikea hamper
     
    The kids have been playing with their toys, and PUTTING THEM AWAY ever since I got the laundry basket and reorganized their closet. They can reach their toys to get them out and put them away. It’s been 5 days, and their room has taken a total of 5 minutes each night to clean up. A huge difference from our normal hour of whining and hiding messes under the bed. 
     
    Like my new laundry hamper?  Ikea’s BRANAS Laundry Basket for $39.99.
    Don’t live near an Ikea? I found a very similar Wicker Basket on Wayfair. It’s a set of 2 and only $51.99.
  • DIY Ikea Chair Recover

    DIY Ikea Chair Recover

    While white is a beautiful color and allows any and everything to match it, it’s not very conducive for a home with many small children. Check out this Ikea chair recover, and find inspiration for recovering your chairs! 

    These Ikea chairs were so much fun to recover. Back in August I asked over on Facebook some opinions on different fabrics I had, and there was a 100% vote for the striped fabric. I was a little nervous, since I’ve never done something with so many curves – all my past recovers have been pretty straight-edged – but I had to give it a try.

    Three years and 4 kids, completely killed the white fabric from the original chair. I assume I thought the white fabric would be OK, because the fabric was removable. I was pretty good at washing the covers, but it didn’t stop them from turning very grey, and pen just doesn’t come out.  Mark suggested I try bleaching them, when I first mentioned my plan to recover them, so I gave it a try, but nothing changed.

    The recover began!  I wish I wrote down the name of these chairs, but Ikea no longer sells this particular style.  They are very similar to the Pello Chair though. From what I can tell the biggest different is the Pello Chair has some padding, while my chairs are just fabric stretched over a metal frame.

    I started the actual sewing process while the two older girls were at school and Prince L took his nap. Princess R enjoyed the time watching her favorite movies and eating snacks. It would have been great if I had a serger for some of the edges, but I had to make do with my sewing machine. If I keep up this sewing spree I’m on I may be able to justify buying one.

    It really was simple to do, and any easy sewer could figure this out. All I did was remove the original cover from the frame, and then carefully undo all the seams. Since I had two chairs, I kept one intact so I could refer to it later on how the seams were put together. Once I had the cover completely taken apart, I traced it out on the new fabric, giving myself an extra 1/2″ for any mistakes, and larger seams. Then I put it all back together.

    I forgot to take an immediate before picture, so this is not the greatest quality, but you can see what the original chairs looked like here in our home. 
     
    Do you like my new chairs? Guess what! I am selling these beauties!  I know I know, why would I go through all the trouble of recovering them, just to sell them. They do look good in our new home. My problem is what you couldn’t see behind the camera….a matching love seat set practically sitting on top of each other.  All in the name of a good picture.
     

    For more Ikea Chair recover check out these links I stumbled across while trying to find the name of my chairs.