You might be wondering what 'IKEAholism' is. Well it is a term that I coined to describe a little addiction that I have. Yep, you guessed it! I cannot stop myself from shopping at IKEA. My home is a veritable showroom full of IKEA products and I just LOVE it! This might just be the only addiction that could actually work towards enhancing family life. I wish that every city, town, village and tribe in the world has access to an IKEA store, not because I actually want to pollute every corner of the globe with plastic, but because IKEA products make home living joyful and easy for families! Let me qualify this statement by showing you evidence from my own place:
EVIDENCE #1: COMFORT
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| When we moved to Australia, we simply brought what we could carry, which was essentially our clothes and my daughters collection of Roald Dahl books. We purchased all of the above furniture from IKEA. |
I decorated my previous home by trawling through op shops, garage sales and second hand furniture stores in New Zealand. I found fabulous and much loved quirky pieces that were mostly antiques in english oak and rose wood. Since we didn't know that our move to Australia was going to be permanent, we left all of it in storage back in New Zealand.
I had to furnish our new home quickly and on a budget. In comes my fairy god IKEA with the most incredibly affordable, fabulously designed and well made furniture and people I don't get paid for saying this!
This is why this living room works for us:
- There are no sharp edges on corners of furniture that kids could hurt themselves on.
- The covers come off and can be machine washed.
- All the surfaces easily wipe off with a sponge and no polishing of surfaces is ever required.
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| All the pieces mix and match easily. The furniture is tough and durable. |
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| The room is comfortable and welcoming for children and adults alike. |
EVIDENCE #2: ORGANIZATION
When Nietzsche the German philosopher said "one must still have chaos within oneself, to give birth to a dancing star", he was definitely not thinking of a mother of four children all under 9 years of age. Chaos in my household within or without breeds 'chaos' but no dancing stars! It took me years of frustration and children driving me bananas to figure out that "I" needed to get organized. Since moving to Australia and discovering IKEA, organization has become not only easy but so much more enjoyable.
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| I have a woven black IKEA basket to collect all the strewn toys at the end of the day. |
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| All of my toddlers IKEA train set is stored easily in one large and colorful IKEA basket. This makes tidy up easy for my toddler at the end of play. |
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| My school age daughters homework station is an IKEA storage unit. It is attractive to look at, as well as functional. |
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| My little son has a corner, all to himself. He mostly uses it to eat his snacks and meals during the day. |
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| Keeping the children's toys sorted and accessible makes life a lot easier at tidy up time. I have a unit like this for each of the children's toys which means that each child is responsible for their own mess at the end of play time. |
EVIDENCE #3: MEMORIES
I am a strong believer in the power of gratitude. The more you are aware of, show and feel gratitude towards the things that are positive in your life, the more it will happen in your life. For this reason, I have pictures of my family all over the house representing the love that we have for each other and all the happy memories we have shared in the past. Every time that I look at these framed photographes, I am reminded of all the things that I am most grateful for!
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| Sometimes I like to mix colors, shapes and sizes. |
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| IKEA frames are cheap as chips. I have them scattered all over my walls. |
I am a IKEAholic and proud of it! Hope to see you at an
IA(IKEAholic Anonymous) meeting one day! This is one magic fix that keeps on giving...lol.
