We have an Ikea within a 45 minute drive of our home. As we have worked to make our homes our own and more efficient, we have visited an Ikea about once a year.
What draws us to Ikea every year? Their bath towels are some of my favorites. They are inexpensive and have a hook sewn into the towel making it a good option for my kids to use. The towels stay in place when they are on a hook with my kids flying in and out of the bathrooms all day long. Their smart storage options are also some of my favorites.
Ikea is an expert in efficient small spaces. Neither home we have owned has been enormous. Walking through the mock rooms and living spaces has given us ideas on how to maximize the space in our own homes. Ikea also has cute decorating items that help us decorate on a budget.
My husband has gone with me on many of the trips I have taken. While he enjoys also visualizing how Ikea’s ideas can work for our own home, he whines and moans throughout the store. This past New Year’s Day, it was extremely cold for our area. Two of our kids had been sick for a few days, and we were beginning to feel some cabin fever. With everyone on the mend, I suggested a trip to Ikea. It was too cold to do anything else, and we desperately needed to get out of the house.
My husband had a decent attitude about making the trip, or so I thought. We had not been in a long time so there were several new room displays and items to consider for our home. The kids enjoyed winding through the store and trying out couches and chairs in the displays. Before we made it half way through the store, someone had a meltdown.
Surprisingly, the meltdown did not come from one of my three children ages 2, 4 and 7 but from my almost 40-year-old husband. He was suddenly hungry and tired of shopping. Knowing the store had a cafeteria, my solution was to send him and the two youngest kids to eat while my oldest daughter and I breezed through the last part of the store.
While waiting in line to pay for our items, I got a call from a still frustrated husband. The larger cafeteria was closed making the line at the small café extremely long. The soda at the store was either not real soda or something Swedish that he claimed to be the worst tasting carbonated beverage that ever existed. He was not happy.
Since that trip, I have made two other trips. I have taken our three kids on both trips but not my husband. I doubt I will ever take him again. Marriage is about being unified, but when it comes to Ikea, it is better for our marriage to remain separate.
Writer Bio: Summer Bolte
I spend most of my time and days with my three kids, husband and dog. My kids frequently play near me as I garden, cook, DIY and volunteer. My most unusual paying job has to be feeding fruit flies in a research lab, and my most fulfilling job was being an oncology nurse for seven years.
