My IKEA Experience

I’ve been wanting to go to an IKEA store for years.  Years.  Dani and I have talked for YEARS about making a trip to Atlanta but just never have gotten it together.  Finally yesterday the Charlotte store opened and I got a chance to go today after work.  I was on pins and needles all day.  I could finally see the pretty, pretty catalog in real life.

I tried to twitter the whole thing but twitpic started posting pics from my trash can and wow, that could be scary.

I’m not sure how all IKEA’s are set up but ours (and I do consider it ours) has two levels.  When you walk in the front door, you are led up an escalator to the showroom.  It is literally room after room set up with all IKEA stuff.  Living rooms, kitchens, offices, bedrooms.  I was a little confused on how to actually buy anything and had to ask, feeling pretty dumb.  Each item is tagged with a price and a location.  The actual store is located on the first floor, divided by department where everything is packaged nicely for you to buy.

I loved every room thinking I could probably live in each one.

Let me share what pictures I did get.  This is going up the escalator that greets you.  That’s a picture of the kids’ playroom.  You can drop them off there while you shop!  You can see there was a line.

Across the way there is the restaurant.

More of the restaurant…

I loved this set of toy boxes. We use a lot of these plastic bins in the room but I love how they’re organized here.

I love this bookcase.  I would love to put 3 of them in a row in my bedroom.

I couldn’t get all of this but this was a cute over-the-toilet cabinet.

I wish the lighting was better.  This was a much brighter green and I LOVED it.

I love, love, love this kitchen.  The wood, the island, the cabinets, the stuff hanging below the cabinets, the sink.

I know these leaves have been around for a while but they are just too cute.

OK that was all the pictures I took of products but I need to talk about the meatballs next.

Heather and Mom went to the IKEA in Canada.  And out of all that, Heather says today “Make sure you get the meatballs.”  I was all what???  All the cool stuff there and she wants me to get meatballs?  But Heather’s food opinion is trustworthy so I thought I might get some and THEN I get an email from Carolyn that says “order the meatballs (they are really good)”.  OK, ok, people.  I’ve never heard of these infamous meatballs and I’m not a huge meatball fan, but I’ll try them!

So I tried to order a kid size bowl but they said it’s just as cheap to order the kids meal.  So I got the mashed potatoes and a drink.  All in a colorful array of dishes :).

And while I wasn’t clapping and asking for more, they were good meatballs.  The mashed potatoes were REALLY good though.  Just as good as any high-end restaurant we’ve been to.  And there was some raspberry something or other Swedish juice that they supposedly sold there that was REALLY good and I’m not much of a juice fan.  But it looked like the IKEA-type thing to do so I got it.

So.  After all that shopping, there was a TON of stuff I wanted to get…cabinets, lamps, dishes, pictures, desks, chairs, etc but this is what I brought home

That would be 3 bamboo-type fabric organization boxes, a desk pad, vase and flowers for the girls’ room, two dimmer switches, a set of 6 shot glasses (not sure if they’re actually called that but they are to take my Isagenix in the morning) and a set of 6 short glasses that I think will be great for the girls and a set of really cute napkins.

OK, so I get home two hours past normal time go to get my stuff out of the car and I have no purse.  And I realize I had left it in the buggy.  In the parking lot.

All I can say is thank goodness I had my phone in my coat pocket.  Otherwise I’d have been hysterical.  Who cares if someone steals the debit card, just don’t touch the iPhone.

I call IKEA as soon as I walk in the door.  Their phone system is a NIGHTMARE.  I finally talk to a customer service rep who has to call the Charlotte location for me and they say no one has turned it in and they won’t go look for it.  I leave the description of the purse and Scott’s cell number (since my phone is dead at this point).  We pack up everyone and head back up to Charlotte to make the 30 mile trip.  IKEA calls on the way and says it was turned in.

The kids are crying they are hungry.  Scott is sleepy.  But I really want Scott to go see a few things I really want so I suggest we run through the showroom for him to see it and eat some meatballs at the restaurant.  Well, you apparently don’t really run through the showroom.  It’s sort of on a one-way track you follow and we ended up going through the entire showroom. But as I thought, Scott loved the stuff there and didn’t seem too upset.  The girls were very well-behaved and were enjoying following the signs to the Restaurant and the arrows on the floor.

The kids vetoed the meatballs and got yogurt instead.  Scott tried the raspberry drink and liked it.

Oh and I got my purse and everything seems to be there.  But.  The strap is broken beyond repair.  And it’s my red Gucci purse from Chinatown.  Maybe that’s what I get for buying a purse behind a fake door.

And all of that gives me new meaning to the phrase “The IKEA Experience”.