Ikea Highlights: Don't ever go to paramus on a saturday edition

We will be moving soon, which in our house ineveitably means another trip to IKEA. I have a love-hate relationship with the big blue mothership. While I love the inexpensive, stylish finds, I hate the particleboard, crowds, and omfg-i-will-kill-you-assembly-process. Joe just has a hate-hate relationship. The minute the word IKEA is mentioned, he breaks out into hives and gets the shakes. My friend Colleen was in town last weekend and had never been to the big blue. Knowing a willing victim when I see one, I suggested that we go to get some furniture for Tilda's room. Here were the highlights.

When I saw these sheepskins for $19.99, I instantly grabbed one for Tilda. When visting my Latvian grandparents in NH, Tilda was partial to their animal-skin decorating scheme. I knew she would cuddle right up the wooliness. These make great stroller liners, playmats, and barf rags. Also, contrary to popular belief, they are machine washable.

Because we already own the incredibly stylish and versatile MALM in the color "fakeydoo light wood," (also known as "birch effect") we have decided to give Annie the gift of a matching set of fakeydoo light wood furniture. We like the cube storage of the EXPEDIT bookshelf, and I have this delusional fantasy that all of her toys will be stored neatly on the shelves instead of in the pits-of-hell buckets we use now. I had been planning on sewing curtains for Annie's room, probably from some Amy Butler August Fields fabric. But, then I did the calculation, and realized that I would need like 15 yards of fabric, which would be very expensive. These curtains, which seem very Orla Kiely-like to me, fit our criteria of mucho-colorful and not pink, and also NOT A MILLION DOLLARS. I think I will pull out the orange and blue, and decorate around those two colors.

Because of our high brow desire for matching furniture, I wanted to get my fingers on the newly released birch Gulliver. Sadly, the Paramus store did not have any instock. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the College Park IKEA will not disappoint. Oh, and I also picked up some fabric remnants. IKEA has the most fabulous cotton fabrics. They are wide, and colorful, and 100% cotton, and cheap. None are over $7.99 a yard. Unfortunately, Paramus on a Saturday is CRAZY crowded, and there was no one to cut fabric. I picked up a few remnants, but that was it. There were also some cool things that I did not get. My husband and I have attempted to make a no-buying-except-for-necessities-pledge. Not getting the following items was me sticking to this pledge. Ignore the purchses above.... clearly fabric is a necessity. Isn't this chandelier fantastic? It is constructed from strings of LED globe bulbs wrapped around a frame. It is actually outdoor lighting, but it looks so modern and fabulous. At some point, I would like to get this for Annie's room.

I like both of these dressers MUCH MUCH MUCH better than our hideously unstylish MALM, but showed enough restraint not to buy either of these. Sadness ensued. I am seriously considering buying this dining table. I love its mid-century lines, and it is actually made of wood, not the usual IKEA crappy fake woodness. But, I think I would rather buy an actual vintage table. Luckily, we've got time to ruminate on this one. As always, IKEA was exhaustingly crowded on a Saturday. As we left, I asked Colleen what she thought of her first glimpse of the stylish Swedish behometh. She said, "I think one trip to IKEA may have been enough for me."