Our Day At IKEA

I am about to say something that is shocking! No, I mean it, every time I say this to someone their jaws drop, and the last time I said it the same thing happened. Except this time I was able to be schooled in a way that I was honored to be a part of. Okay, so here is what I say that makes people’s mouths hang open…

I have never stepped foot into an IKEA store.

Now I can no longer say that because I was recently invited to get a tour of the local store (which just happens to be right down the street from me, another point that makes jaws drop) and learn about some new products that they have out or that will be coming out soon.

I say that I was schooled because I always thought that IKEA was a really expensive store that I could never afford with furniture that I didn’t like. Boy was I ever misinformed…

I brought my daughter with me and right off the bat we were greeted by three women who were awesome, not only for taking the time to give us the tour but because they included my daughter. They talked to her, pointed out things that she would like on the tour, heck they even gave her a bag full of goodies like they gave me. I find that highly pleasing because they showed that she was a person too, I love it when companies do that.

My daughter and I got the complete run down on the store, and as we were walking through I was very surprised to see they had stuff everywhere that was so stylish looking and very reasonably priced. It was my turn for my jaw to drop…

During our tour my daughter completely redid her bedroom in her head, and later on paper when we got home. We will definitely be going back to write out her wish list, and for that matter my wish list too! And as an added bonus we were given their new catalog before it comes out to the public and I drooled over everything! I don’t know how, but over the years our home has become a smorgasbord of mismatched furniture and I crave a complete living room that all matches and I saw about 4 of them I wanted at IKEA.

One of the things we were happy to learn about was how green IKEA is. They are taking the charge, ahead of the 2012 schedule, to phase out incandescent lighting in their store and in its place IKEA offers lighting solutions that are efficient and have less negative impact on the environment. I like that about a company and will definitely do what I can to support that.

I had a great time with my daughter while at IKEA and we will be making return visits to redo my daughters bedroom, and maybe even a couple of other rooms in the house (hint, hint to the hubby). And I no longer will make people’s jaws drop because I haven’t been in an IKEA