I Ikea'd

Last weekend I got to spend a whole entire afternoon at Ikea with my best girls. And I am telling you, it was right out of a dream. {The whole weekend was, really. But more on that later.} We took our sweet time and meandered through the gigantic store, floor by floor and bit by bit. And as anyone knows, meandering is a treat. Especially meandering with my best friends. It is a rare and fortunate blessing to find myself among them; the best of the best, all at the same moment in time. The ones who know me and love me still.

We filled our carts, heaping full and stretched our budgets, stretchy tight. I admire each of these girls for many reasons, the one particularly noted during this shopping and meandering being their design sensibilities. I truly love the way each of them has decorated her home. Their styles are not all the same but the one thing that is absolutely certain is that when you walk into any one of their homes, you feel cozy and warm and right at home. They are hospitable and inviting and warm women and their homes echo those sentiments.

More than chips and salsa or icy salt-rimmed margaritas, what I wanted most on Cinco de Mayo last May was a mosey through Ikea. On that very day we closed on our Leland Street house and the farmhouse was all mine. {Well not really all mine. It's not even really a little mine by ownership standards.} I would close my eyes and conjure images of dangling chandeliers and flowing drapes, matching bedding for the boy's new shared room and end tables for drinks and coffee tables for feet. The one thing I knew for sure was that I wanted this humble little house to be a place of warmth. A place that feels cozy and warm and welcome.
I would have snatched up the whole store that day if I'd had a semi-truck, and a bigger budget. I did get a bit of Christmas shopping done {like a tiny, minuscule bit}, and I also got some new throw pillows for our couch. They are soft, they feel down-feather filled and most importantly they have covers that can be unzipped and washed in the machine. Necessary! There is lots of eating and drinking and sticky fingers and spilling juice on our couch.

I also got a few things for these white shelves in our dining room. I love these shelves; formerly a black bookcase in our Leland St office and formerly before that a faux wood bookcase in our Leland St basement left by the seller and scored by us upon our move in. And really there's nothing better than free furniture given new life by a coat of white paint. These shelves are still not perfect. Last night I held up my Ballard Designs catalog to show Patrick what else I needed to buy to make the look more complete. His basic man response was save the money now and spend it on the next more long term place we live. I get that. But a girl's got to feather her nest, right? Those big white boxes on the bottom are among my favorite finds. At 2/$5, they are a cheap and still attractive storage system. With one marked "Henry" and one "William", each boy now has a place to put his school papers. And those have been flowing out of my ears. In a good way, but still. I'll take storage that's functional and easy on the eyes all for the price of one grande pumpkin spice latte {2 pumps, hold the whip}.