The Swedish Store

[LionsandBears]

I am currently researching the I.kea catalogue and website as we prepare to move to a new house. I find it a bit addictive. Naturally, I cannot afford all that I want, even though it's still cheap furniture. We recently sold all our Billy bookcases and I'm now pondering Expedit options for the living room & home office/spare room.

I thought other Swedish Store lovers would like to discuss what works for you.

I'm making lists in preparation to going shopping but it keeps getting longer and longer

[~me~]

I love it!
The Expedit is a favourite. I love the fact you can buy it first then if you want, go back and get drawers and inserts for it. We have the 4x4 and it is holding DVD's, photo's, books at the moment.

I like their nick nacks, my apple slicer would have to be a favourite.
Their pasta pot is another great idea, had one years ago, had to throw it, and just replaced it. It's a big stock pot size, the lid has half straining holes and the other side is solid and you turn it to lock so you can strain your pasta in the pot.

My sister has just ripped out her Kitchen and put an Ikea one in. It looks amazing. She used external contractors to fit it for her as the Ikea wait list was too long and to fit it yourself requires patience and things are not always square or fit where you need them.

[Sopdet]

I've got the expedit 5x5 (in the light colour) for the books. The square glass unit for display (can't remember the name - it was one of the "family" discounts), the expandable dining room table, coffee table, corner desk, bed, bedside tables. I also have one of the treated pine shelving units for the shoe boxes (the large one & I got the milkwash from there to paint it).

They work well for moving as they all flat pack down.

[LionsandBears]

We have an open plan living/dining. I've been debating with myself about getting a 5x5 Expedit or a 4x4 AND a 4x2 to lie on the side, so it looks like a step effect. The 2nd version isn't economical though, as it costs more for less room. Also, as the room has tall ceilings, I think the 5x5 will look good without being overwhelming.

I'm also thinking of getting a 4x2 to put behind the couch as a side table/ extra storage, but that may need to wait.

We could save room in the office/spare bedroom by putting 2 Expedit desks with matching 4x2, but that would be about $600. Given we have desks, though mismatched, DH is not going to go for that option.

Then there's Lack shelving, which I thought could look funky. There's also odd bits and pieces like towel rails etc I'm looking at. The new place has almost no storage and no broom cupboard.

Has anyone been to the Springvale store? It's twice the size of the Richmond store. So you can combine shopping with exercise

[Cassius2]

Has anyone been to the Springvale store? It's twice the size of the Richmond store. So you can combine shopping with exercise

i love your perspective lol!

my all time favourite swedish store buy still has to be the cheese grater. i love that baby.

[meow]

my all time favourite swedish store buy still has to be the cheese grater. i love that baby.

OMG I'm obsessed with my cheese grater too! I keep planning on buying everyone one for Christmas I love it so much

[MummyNaomi]

My house could double as their showroom, Love Love Love the Swedes!

I just kitted out DS's big boys room and he has the Kura Bed with IKEA mattress, a 4x2 expedit and the Malm tallboy and bedside, and in his robe is a 2x2 expedit for more storage. He also has the FÅNGST for all hsi soft toys and there is one in the nursery too.
In our playroom we have 2 4x2 Expedits for all the toys, a TV table, 4 x Billys for the DVD collection and a 2 seater sofa
In our main living area we have a 5x5 expedit for books and niknaks, a lack side table and coffee table and in our entry we have a 4x2 expedit for shoes and bags etc.
The Dining area has an IKEA buffet
There are also more IKEA pieces in the nursery
Our Garage is lined with the Gorm storage system too - it rocks

OMIGOD we have 6 expedit systems in our house!!

We have some other IKEA shelving (Leksvik) around the place and lots of kitchenware including our dinner set and I agree with Heather, we love the apple slicer too

I guess I am an addict

[LionsandBears]

MummyNaomi- that's a lot! how do you use the 4x2 in the entry? I was looking at console tables but they are quite expensive so was thinking about using a 4x2 Expedit and maybe putting it on legs, if possible. I want a place to store car keys and DH's spare coins. Otherwise they'll end up on the kitchen bench again and I want keep it as clear as possible. I hate clutter on the kitchen bench and ours is slowly taking it over.

I'll have to look at the GORM system too. We'll be selling the garden shed, as it takes up too much room, so I want to be able to store things off the floor in the garage.

[Mak]

L&B the Springvale store is massive - we loved it so much we went back 3 times in a week..... No help with the storage as we haven't the right set up to use it. I often end up with random bit and pieces on each visit as I love the veg peelers and bag clips (to close opened food bags etc). We do have an Ikea NORDEN extendable white dining table and black chairs in our living room and they have been great!

[wysiwyg]

I can't believe we are talking about the Swedish store and the meatballs haven't been mentioned yet :-)

I will only go if can have a meal there. We have a fair bit of IKEA stuff too (our bed plus bunkbed IKEA), love the bargain bin (we got our mattress from there 1/3 price just because had an oil mark on it where plastic had ripped).

I want an Expedit thing to replace a screen thing we have, there seems to be limited stuff in other places where look as good from the back as the front. I can also feed my fabric obsession by creating middles for some of the squares out of fabric, as we want to let light through but still have some privacy (behind is bathroom and bedroom doors) and don't want boxes in them all (got the idea from the recent catalogue).

I also like their fabrics which I think are quite reasonably priced.

As we live in a small flat I like the fact alot of the stuff is catered to small spaces in the magazine at least, although the stores still are a bit to Aussie in the size of their fridges etc.

The only thing I dislike is the fact all over the world things then become the same - our friends in Spain have same storage system in their kids room etc.

[MummyNaomi]

MummyNaomi- that's a lot! how do you use the 4x2 in the entry?

I'll have to look at the GORM system too. We'll be selling the garden shed, as it takes up too much room, so I want to be able to store things off the floor in the garage.

Yes, yes its a lot, but um, well, someone has to contribute to IKEAs profits, it may as well be me
The Entry 4x2 is just actually on the ground (no legs) and we use the bottom row for shoes and bags (not heaps otherwise it looks way too untidy), and the top row has books and photo's. Then on top we have a few ornaments and a mirror in the entry way. Its a nice neat piece thats useful as you enter the house..

I just realised we have the IKEA hat rack for our hats and coats next to it, gosh, I should do a stocktake of all the products I have! I'm a little mad really, but I have an obsession with decorating and storage!

And yep, totally agree with WYSIWYG, we always time a visit with lunch for Meatballs too

A photo of the Gorm so you can see how it works and how awesome it is for storage! (The cute kid is probably the only thing we didn't bring home from IKEA)
https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...orm-garage.jpg

[BlackRose]

Yep, we are an !KEA household! DH is the one who is obsessed but I have to admit, it's pretty good quality for the price. The only thing I won't get thru !KEA is the bed/mattress / couch but everything else in our house comes from the good people in Sweden!

[RockingBaker]

I wish we had one I browse a fair bit online and I love it

[No.5]

I loooooooove IKEA! It's my favourite place!

I love they're candles and glasses too. I've got expedit book shelves. Was thinking about getting the big one for DS room but sadly he has too much stuff and it just won't fit

[OceanPrincess]

We just hit up the Swedish store on Sat. Apart from the fact that I lost DD for five mins ( ) we got some new stools for the breakfast bench for $80 each so we were pretty pleased with that.

We are in the process of ditching a Freedom chest of drawers for a Malm or two... DD has one and it is great. We've also got stacks of Billys and DH has made his own Ivar-inspired shelving for our storage room.

We also picked up some glasses this time, got home and one of them was chipped so that wasn't too good.

We loved that bed Nay! DH wants to build something similar for DS.

[OceanPrincess]

That looks great Nay! Maybe when my Freedom change over is nearing completion I'll do that too...

[AnyDream]

My favorite hobby in the whole world is playing "spot the Ikea products" on telly and in the movies.

My sister is a mad ss freak, and was abetted by living just around the corner. I've never found that it gelled with my existing decor, because I have a lot of imported carved type furniture that doesn't match the light wood/black/white style.

BUT I do have a wall of billy bookcases which I love love love. DD2 has their faber soft furnishings and a very cute little bed, and we also have a very early model sofa bed - which is amazingly comfy to sleep on. eventually DD1 is getting a whole room makeover, but we're still playing with the floor plan

[AnyDream]

And we eat the meatballs too, but not very often as it is opposite side of town to us.