IKEA

I took a friend to IKEA today. She had never been there before and just got a new house. Now if you have never been to an IKEA store before, you should know that it is huge! It is like this warehouse but you don't feel like you're in a warehouse because they set it up so that there is a variety of rooms. It is like being in several different houses. They showcase different rooms in the house filled with items you can order in the store or online. They have a living room area where they put together several living rooms using the IKEA furniture. Then there is the kitchen area, which I love to walk throug and see the different styles and new items they have for the kitchen. After that you walk through the bedrooms, some of which have bathrooms attached with more things to see and possibilites. Downstairs they have all the small accessories including lights. Now I used to think that lights were just bulbs you put in a lamp or overhead. No, when you visit this store the whole "lights" concept is totally different. You have wall art lights, funky ceiling lights, modern lamps and all sorts of small lights that you can hide to add emphasis on certain objects or decor. Then there is the art/pictures area. This place always gives me ideas on what to do with the travel pictures I take. I saw this picture of the Eiffel Tower that they blew up to about 4 ft by 4 ft size, and I realized that I had a similar picture I took when I was in Paris. So you can create a totally modern room filled with your own individual taste at reasonable prices from stuff you find at IKEA. Normally I only spend about two hours max in this store, but I didn't count on my friend's indecisivness. By the time we left, it was four hours and my feet are aching. They need to add more benches in the store though. But overall the day was good, just hanging out with a friend and getting ideas for my house that I shall someday have. =)