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UPDATE with purchases! --Can't miss IKEA items?

alisoncooks

By alisoncooks,
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alisoncooks

alisoncooks

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I'm going to IKEA for the first time ever, in just a few days. What should I check out?

I'm finishing up a kitchen and bathroom reno, so items for those rooms are on the list. Windows treatments and storage boxes as well. Also, DD wants a desk and storage, so maybe a Pahl + Alex combo...

What food do you like? We'll probably eat lunch there. 

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Mbelle

Mbelle

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The kitchen drawer organizers have been great.  I do have ikea cabinets though so they fit right in.  I love their drawer/cabinet pulls for the kitchen too. Their cutting boards are great.  I did oil them before using and they are holding up well.  I can never resist a few pack of colorful napkins!!  And tea light holders and the tea light candles!!  

I have a few of their inexpensive wastebaskets for bathrooms.  

I also have one of their wicker chest and it's so cute!

I could just spend away in IKEA! 

I usually eat the meatballs with fries.  

 

 

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Knock

Knock

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I always stock up on their little battery-operated tea light candles. It's the weirdest thing, but I find myself using those a lot, especially around the holidays. 

I also like the spice racks for book shelves - if you're not familiar, google it! I went from picture books to now putting "read these at some point this month" books relating to what we're studying in history and science, even with my high school kids. They're also handy in the bathroom - google that, too!

Have fun, and definitely try the meatballs with fries. 

 

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milovany

milovany

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For your bathroom, the thick-piled white bath mats.  I use these in my Airbnb (and at home) and they hold up SOO well, plus they look sumptuous. I get the rectangular ones; I did try a round one once and the edge started falling off, but that could likely have been from me ripping the tag off to robustly. You DO want to wash whites with whites to keep them white and not dingy. 

I like their bamboo bathroom organizer stuff (soap dispenser, for example). 

If you're interested in the kitchen drawer organizers mentioned above, make sure to measure your drawers before you go.  I bought a bunch and they didn't fit my drawers at all. 

If you want the true iconic IKEA experience, yeah, get the Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce.  I like their salmon, too. 

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ktgrok

ktgrok

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3 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

Hemnes bookshelves are my life.  I need to buy four more.

 

I really love their lamps too, for clean and inexpensive.

I have three Hemnes bookshelves, the Hemnes desk, a Hemnes sideboard, and a Hemnes cighstand that I use for a printer stand. All in the grey/brown color I think it was called. And they went and discontinued that color!!!!! I would love another set of bookshelves but I'm not going to get a different color!

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Farrar

Farrar

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I like my meatballs with the mashed potatoes more than the fries.

I think you just walk around and see what catches your eye. The furniture you need is an obvious one, but I feel like you never know what will catch your fancy if you don't go too often. When you have youngish kids, the play stuff is basic, but very simple and well priced. I still buy the Mala rolls of paper there. The organization stuff is fun to go through. I get wrapping paper there. And colorful napkins. The textiles are all great. The rugs. It's experience shopping.

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Farrar

Farrar

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1 minute ago, Arctic Mama said:

Are there any IKEA ottomans/poofs or stacking chairs anyone recommends?  I need some for my new place for our bible study group.

We have had a couple of Ikea ottomans and I have to say it's been one of the rare Ikea dud items for us. One was just way too unwieldy and the cover never did right. The other was more of a puff and didn't hold up (though I think that one is too old to still be in production). I have almost all great things to say about our Ikea stuff, but not that... Obviously there may be some other ones though...

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alisoncooks

alisoncooks

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Thanks all.

I have some ideas of what I need. For the bathroom: bath mat, shower curtain, waste basket.   For the kitchen: tension rod, storage boxes of a certain size, maybe a stool. For DD: a desk (maybe the Pahl, if it adjusts big enough), storage (maybe the tall Alex), floating shelves, a mirror, a lamp. (Kiddo finally parted with her giant doll house in exchange for "cool, teen" desk setup.)

I already use the spice rack in our bathroom to hold stuff, but they're so cheap I may get a few more for books and stuff... Thanks for that reminder!  

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xixstar

xixstar

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A stuffed shark toy -- thanks to the hive, it's at the top of my IKEA shopping list. 

Other things I like: small led lamps, either clip on or stand-based ones. These have been really useful for so many things. For kitchen storage, I love the white containers with clear plastic lids. They're listed for dry goods, but I use them for the fridge. I love that I have 3 depth containers that all use the same lid. 

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Mbelle

Mbelle

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29 minutes ago, xixstar said:

A stuffed shark toy -- thanks to the hive, it's at the top of my IKEA shopping list. 

Other things I like: small led lamps, either clip on or stand-based ones. These have been really useful for so many things. For kitchen storage, I love the white containers with clear plastic lids. They're listed for dry goods, but I use them for the fridge. I love that I have 3 depth containers that all use the same lid. 

 

Thanks to the hive, we have a stuffed shark toy! LOL

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cintinative

cintinative

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Other than what has already been mentioned:

They sell magazine holders--they are white cardboard that you have to fold--very cheap--I use them every year for workbooks and other non-hardback curriculum. They are a bit thinner (width-wise) than they used to be, if you have bought them before. ETA: called FLYT, $1.99/5 pack

We have tons of bookshelves too, but ours are the Billy bookshelves. They are a bit cheaper I think?  They used to sell "deeper" Billy bookshelves but I think they stopped.  

Their high heat resistant spoons for cooking (black plastic) have held up well for us.

 

 

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cintinative

cintinative

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17 minutes ago, MelAR05 said:

I love, love, love their white Corelle-type dishes(another recommendation from The Hive). They are lightweight, stand up well and take up very little room in the cabinet. 

 

Are they resistant to breaking like the Corelle?

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BarbecueMom

BarbecueMom

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I have a Raskog cart in my kitchen that I use for produce like apples, bananas, potatoes, onions... and apparently leftover juice boxes from DS4's soccer team.  I also have the plain white dishes and love them.  Haven't broken one yet.  And the bath mats... love those too.

Something cool that I found there that might be discontinued are these art frames with clips on the front to change the picture out frequently.  The name is Byarum, but I can't find them on the site anymore.  I have three in the living room that I let each kid put their current favorite art work in (DS8's current favorite work is a well-drawn toilet, ugh).  We also have Dignitet clips and wires in the dining room/school area and in each kid's room to put art or pictures or cards on.

Each person in our family also has an IKEA reading lamp by their bed and desk, either the clip-ons or the ones that are still flexible but screw into the wall to save desk space.  They do start to droop after a while, but we're probably a bit rough on them.

And we have IVAR bookshelves in most rooms of the house.  I wasn't thrilled with the corner units but the rest of them are awesome.

As far as food, the kids love those rolls of chocolate/vanilla sandwich cookies with the heart shapes cut in them. 

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KungFuPanda

KungFuPanda

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On 5/5/2018 at 3:50 PM, Arctic Mama said:

Hemnes bookshelves are my life.  I need to buy four more.

 

I really love their lamps too, for clean and inexpensive.

 

I went to buy a new hemnrs shelf and the design is completely different. I have an old one and it has more substantial feet and a nicer top. I can’t even find an online photo of mine anymore!

 

ETA: phone photos and YAY! PHONE PHOTOS!!!

75768A70-A460-4833-99CD-C5BC2A370045.jpeg

37930C43-435C-4430-8D3C-F919FE4E5650.jpeg

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KungFuPanda

KungFuPanda

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Yeah! They wouldn’t line up for a wall of bookcases, but we have the billies for that. I just wanted a half sized one of these to go with the two I have, but NOOOO. It doesn’t even come in this color anymore.

They even changed the expedit and took away the thicker frame. They didn’t even consult me about either decision!

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Mbelle

Mbelle

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17 hours ago, vonfirmath said:

 

 

...Why the stuffed shark?

 

I have no idea, but there was a thread on here about the shark and then a few days later I was at IKEA and of course I had to take a look.  DS2 was with me and he just HAD to have it! 

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G5052

G5052

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I love, love IKEA and plan to get some furniture this summer.

I had their bookshelves on an entire wall and around to the window in our old house. I didn't bring them with me because they were 20 years old and bolted to the wall. We may also get a dining room table; the one we brought is actually just a 4-person "game" table that is 35 years old. I want an actual dining table with six chairs. 

I like their rugs too, but I'm degating to DD to pick that.

We'll see. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

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G5052

G5052

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1 hour ago, Roadrunner said:

I have billie bookcases but they are starting to sag now. 

 

Yes, my old white Billie bookcases weren't looking that great. The realtor said to take the books off so the sags wouldn't be apparent and clean them up.

Definitely worthwhile though for what we paid.

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Carol in Cal.

Carol in Cal.

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Billy bookshelves are great, but the backings are just thick cardboard, be warned!  If you get a dark color like the brown/black, that won't be so obvious.

The candles are good quality and quite inexpensive.  I love the tea lights and the pillar candles.  Also, you can get large glass vases that are very inexpensive and look quite heavy.

I like their dish drying racks that fold flat to stick under your sink compactly.  Also, they have very inexpensive throw rugs, like for in front of your kitchen sink. 

When I set up an office for DD where I work, we bought all Ikea stuff, and it held up really well.  We have tall Billy bookshelves in brown/black, short ones with doors in birch, a birch corner computer desk, and a small square birch table with two leaves that double it in size.  Also an Expedit birch tall bookshelf that we put on its side with foot square storage baskets in the cubbies, and the big maps (bought at Costco and mounted on foam core) on top, leaning on the wall.  Henriksdal chairs are amazing--we put 4 in her office, and 6 more in my conference room.  They are comfortable, the slipcovers come all the way off and you can wash them in the washing machine, and they look pretty professional.  We got one of those sling chairs (Poang), child sized, for the reading nook.  This was comfy but kind of a bust once I found large rectangular dog pillows at Costco and bought a stack of those for her to pull out to play games on the floor--she ended up cuddling up on the stack to read, mostly. 

Definitely have the meatballs for lunch--they are awesome!

 

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Moonhawk

Moonhawk

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Food: meatballs and cinnamon rolls. 

Latest buy by us was the electric stand/sit desk, it's held up well. Doesn't look exactly trendy, but we're very happy with it. Agree that the rugs are pretty good, too. The Hemnes bookshelves with the glass doors do not show too much sign of sagging after 5 years of heavy use. 

I can't think of anything else to really recommend that hasn't been covered. Ikea is one of my favorite trips of the year, hope you enjoy it! Time seems to slow down in there for me though, lol, so try to give a little extra time than you think it should take. 

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alisoncooks

alisoncooks

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Y'all!!  IKEA was fabulous!  I seriously loved it, though my feet were tired by the end (and DH has vowed never to return, lol). 

Here's what we ended up getting:

All said and done, I spent about $250.  The scary thing is, I could've spent much, much more (and I'm not typically a big spender!)

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cintinative

cintinative

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23 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

Y'all!!  IKEA was fabulous!  I seriously loved it, though my feet were tired by the end (and DH has vowed never to return, lol). 

Here's what we ended up getting:

All said and done, I spent about $250.  The scary thing is, I could've spent much, much more (and I'm not typically a big spender!)

 

And you didn't even buy a bookshelf! That's self control right there!

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alisoncooks

alisoncooks

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20 minutes ago, scbusf said:

We have those step stools!!! The kids used them for years at the kitchen table because they were tipping their chairs and driving me crazy.

we also have so many of the picture ledges. We use them as book shelves!!!!

I'm going to use it at my kitchen desk. I don't often sit there, but wanted something I could tuck up under, out of the way, but pull out if needed. 

 

And nope, no bookshelves. Just as well...I don't think we could've fit any more stuff in the car!

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alisoncooks

alisoncooks

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2 minutes ago, Farrar said:

We used to use the picture ledges for small Lego projects.

The ledges will be in DD's room, holding who-knows-what. Right now, she has a bazillion tiny animal figurines crowding her bedside table. I think they might move to the picture ledges. We think the Alex drawer might partially become LEGO storage. 

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alisoncooks

alisoncooks

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1 minute ago, Ktgrok said:

I have their small forks and spoons for the kids, and that stool. I sit on it all the time when reading to the kids when they are eating at the table, and also when supervising them working at the table. 

The cutlery we use most is the small stuff (salad fork? tea spoon?). We have big ones, too, but everyone prefers the smaller size. So, naturally, that's what has gone missing/dwindled over the years. I've been able to find small spoons I like at Walmart (sold individually) but never forks. Thank goodness for IKEA!

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prairiewindmomma

prairiewindmomma

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2 hours ago, alisoncooks said:

Y'all!!  IKEA was fabulous!  I seriously loved it, though my feet were tired by the end (and DH has vowed never to return, lol). 

Here's what we ended up getting:

All said and done, I spent about $250.  The scary thing is, I could've spent much, much more (and I'm not typically a big spender!)

I stained my Bekvan turquoise too!!! Besties!!! Lol...

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ktgrok

ktgrok

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It never occurred to me to paint that stool! I should, it is looking.....well awful, lol. Filthy. Scrubbing doesn't help, the dirt is ground into the wood. Hmmm..what color. And can you paint it if it is already dirty? I mean, I'd clean it, obviously, but there is not getting it all the way clean at this point. 

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alisoncooks

alisoncooks

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I absolutely love this little wooden tool box! We'll be using it to hold our jars of pencils/crayons/pens (which were getting crowded in a different box). And the handy handle means I can quickly remove it from the table when we have company and don't want school stuff crowding us. IMG_3314.thumb.JPG.d6a4fc37ea9653dbc037080907bc220d.JPG

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ktgrok

ktgrok

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7 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

I absolutely love this little wooden tool box! We'll be using it to hold our jars of pencils/crayons/pens (which were getting crowded in a different box). And the handy handle means I can quickly remove it from the table when we have company and don't want school stuff crowding us. IMG_3314.thumb.JPG.d6a4fc37ea9653dbc037080907bc220d.JPG

Where is that in the store?

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