...always changing probably...: A Day at IKEA

We forgot our camera today but you probably don't want to see a bunch of photos of IKEA furniture. The store looks much like it does at home but much smaller. Anyway, we had decided it was time for a trip to IKEA which is quite an excursion for us. For one thing ... we live out in the country and most decent shopping is 45-60 minutes away from us. Stores like Target or Best Buy which are maybe 10-15 minutes away from our house in the states. IKEA on the other hand is almost a 2 hour drive for us here in Sweden! Plus, we have the problem of figuring out how to get the things we want to buy and get it home.

The trailer we borrowed from Maj & Ingvar.

Our main goal was to buy the TV/Media unit that Fredrik forgot to buy in January (sheesh, he only had a list of a few hundred items!) and a table and chair set for our deck. These things will not fit in our car, even if we fold down the seats and dump the kids at Farmor's or Erik's house. Delivery was not really an option because we live outside their delivery area so it is either renting a truck (a little overkill for the small space we need) or renting a trailer to pull behind a car. However, our rental car doesn't have a hitch! Farmor's car does have one so now we just need a trailer. We asked on Saturday when we were at Maj & Ingvar's if we could borrow their trailer and if it was in good enough shape which after some welding ... it was. :)

So, a plan was formed! Erik (who also had a hitch) would take the trailer to his mom's house on Saturday since they were planning on returning home and you drive right past her house on the way. Then Sunday, Farmor would take the trailer to IKEA and we would follow in our car. YES! We think this will work and it is definitely the cheapest option.

We left the house around noon and decided to stop by Anna & Erik's house before going to IKEA. They just moved into a new house and they live right next to IKEA. They also have a table they want to get rid of that we could potentially use outside. They had it in an enclosed patio but it is not an outdoor table. Since our deck is only partially enclosed, Fredrik thought it might not be a great idea and we would have to find another table in a few years. I thought it would be just fine but I do see his point.

At IKEA, we ate lunch/dinner around 2:30pm and then shopped for about 3 more hours. It was exhausting! We did get everything that we really needed ... and then more because it is IKEA of course and you see things and just dump them in your cart. We spent $2,300 on furniture and bed linens and filled up two cars! Then we went back to Erik & Anna's for some "fika" at 6pm and they made a rhubarb pie/cake of some sort. It was really good with a vanilla sauce to go on top. The kids had popsicles. Then we were ready for the long drive home and put the kids to bed around 10pm.