ikea

"There are not enough words to describe my love for IKEA" - this would be a perfectly adequate blog post on its own. And yet, though its conciseness would convey my seriousness, I have way more to say on the subject of IKEA!love.

1. First, good font choices on signs etc. - everything is easy to read and friendly. (Somehow I missed the recent controversy - I am a much bigger fan of Futura.)
2. The carts at this store run amazingly smoothly (?). It's like ice-skating on a freshly-Zambonied rink, except way LESS DANGEROUS. It's like the carts pull the customers along on a ride through a land of home goods. If I were to create an amusement park, IKEA would be my favorite attraction.
3. I haven't checked it out, but there's a whole place for kids to go play! And there are really good deals on kid-sized meals and the furniture is so much cuter for kids.
4. I could probably talk about any given room in any section of this store for an hour. I will refrain.
5. The IKEA scene in 500 Days of Summer is one of my favorite parts of any movie.
6. I LOVE that there are maps everywhere and arrows on the floor telling you where to go - but also "shortcuts" to different parts of the store. It is so cute. And so organized.
7. The single word product names (most of which are Swedish) are just so fun - but also really useful, because there's no mistaking similar objects (so long as you get the name right).
8. The restaurant serves delicious desserts and decent entrees! There are some great things in there...I highly recommend stopping to eat on your next IKEA visit.
9. Everything is really well explained. Like, why do I have to clear my own table? How do I find my furniture once I've picked it out? And even, from an otherwise somewhat ambiguous entrance, where do I start shopping?
10. It is impossible to leave without getting something that you hadn't anticipated - but this isn't a bad thing. There will be something that you didn't even know that you needed, but once you see it, you feel somehow...complete. Successful. Happy. Now, I'm not really a shopper, but there is something very satisfying about falling in love with a cute product and then instantly obtaining it (as opposed to online shopping or even going to a cute store and expecting to find something cute and then getting it).
11. It's not just consuming - it is an entirely unique experience, and everything is arranged in a way to make me happy. It's easy to understand, but not boring; I can walk through at my own pace and linger in one room for twenty minutes and then skip three entire sections - but it's just laid out so nice and clear that it is way more fun than a regular store. It's like you're supposed to interact with the furniture, test it out and have fun. It's like they took my ideal furniture store right from my brain and created it in a real warehouse, and everything is the way that I want it to be - except they don't have every possible piece of furniture that I would like to buy (if you're looking for something specific but it's not in their catalog you will not have a fun shopping experience). Otherwise...it's just a fantastic place.

That all said, I think that IKEA would be a terrible place to go with someone who you don't know very well because of the overwhelming possibilities for disagreement, from whether a bookshelf is tasteful or not to how long you really need to spend looking at rugs. It's also a really exhausting store. Thankfully, they have food strategically placed at the end of the top floor and right after you check out on the bottom floor, so you really could spend all day in this wonderful world.