Ikea Trip Leaves My Head Spinning

Oh the joys of Ikea. I'm not ashamed to proclaim my love for Ikea. Besides the obvious Meatballs and $.99 Cinnamon buns, there is nothing as satisfying to me as an afternoon spent marveling at how easily they manage to outfit a 300 sq. ft. "apartment" in the middle of their sales floor. Tonight I took a spontaneous boat ride (!!!) out to the new Ikea in Red Hook and quickly fell in love with most of the furniture and decorative objects I encountered. Here are some of the standouts:

These fabrics are so different and yet I love them both so much. The first, I could see as some jumbo throw pillows for a couch or as cushions for guests to sit on when seating is limited. The second I think would look good as a cushion of some sort (See previous post on upholstered bench obsession)

How cool is this magazine file? It's basically begging to be painted fuchsia and labeled TEEN VOGUE (suck it, anna wintour!)

 Another craft project: I usually hate all things wicker and anything resembling a basket in any way. HOWEVER, this screen strikes me as particularly useful as a room-divider and/or general decorative object. I'm picturing a bright shiny China Red worthy of Diana Vreeland's living room. 

I've been obsessed with mid-century danish anything since I was in High School and watched too much HGTV with my Mother and Ben & Jerry. (Shut up. I was cool.) I'm even more obsessed with oval and egg-shaped coffee tables so this pretty much made feel with faint with desire.

I must be really into red lately (lately? who am I kidding?). But wouldn't this be sort of cool as a side table tucked into a corner with a small but delicate lamp and a bright bunch of ranunculus? PLUS it would be excellent storage for such living room necessities as extra batteries for the remote, pens and notebooks, coasters, Werther's Original Butterscotch candies and cat toys.

Alright so I'm into drawers and organization. I admit it. But how AWESOME would this be if used to store things like placemats and cloth napkins and dish towels and whatnot? You love it.

Last but certainly not least:

This sideboard made my knees weak. Like, I literally almost fell over from the thought of it used as either a traditional sideboard/buffet complete with tabletop minibar OR an interesting take on a TV stand. (Versatility!! Yeah!) It comes in both Black and Yellow and has three drawers for storage and two cabinets with two adjustable shelves each, which I envision rejecting in favor of room for liquor storage and a wine/martini glass rack.

Images: ikea.com