our IKEA haul

Well, we survived IKEA last weekend  2 weekends ago (I've had computer issues keeping me from posting this update until now).  On the way up with Ben's parents we were telling them that the stigma is that people get frustrated at IKEA and it puts a strain on relationships. We joked about stepping away from each other if the other couple needed space to have a discussion. I can see how it can be an overwhelming place, but if you go in with a positive outlook and with a goal it's so fun!

{we hit up Starbucks on our way out of Eugene}

When we arrived we started at the food court. I felt like the IKEA tour guide, Ben had been once with me years and years ago and Ron + Debbie had never been. I pointed everyone towards the flow of traffic to get our lunches and we ate a quick bite. 

Next we headed through the show room to browse. Debbie was able to see the Expedit bookshelves in person for a craft room project she's been planning out and Ron found a desk chair he had to have. Ben + I had a fairly long list, but we weren't planning on getting all of it. His parents ended up getting the tunnels for the boys to replace a teepee they had gifted them for Christmas that sadly kept falling apart. 

We were able to compare the bunk bed we thought we were going buy with others and ended up getting something completely different! It was nice to have Ron + Debbie there to bounce off ideas. Debbie pointed out that they'd outgrow the small one, which oddly enough I hadn't been thinking about. I was just focused on what would work for us NOW. If we had unlimited resources we'd get the small one now, then a bigger one later...but we don't. So we talked it over, looked at the small one, went back to the bigger one and decided to buy it. 

I tested out IKEA's registry app on my phone, it was fun to scan items and have them quickly appear on a registry. It was easy to use but it made an annoying ding sound every time, and it drained my phone battery pretty quickly. 

We made it through the showroom and the Children's section in about an hour, then headed down to the marketplace. Ben + I had skipped this entire portion of IKEA when we went for the first time. We thought that downstairs was all warehouse. I discovered the marketplace when I went with my girlfriends last November and was pretty excited to shop there with Ben. So many great things at low prices!

At one point Ben + I had a misunderstanding when I was asking him to grab something from one aisle to bring it to the next one so I could compare size. I turned to Debbie and asked her to excuse us for a moment (alluding to the joke we made earlier), and she thought I was serious! It was pretty funny. Not only were there no quarrels but we had a fantastic time. Ben + I surely did not take for granted the ability to shop kid-free!

We browsed here and there, made a few tiny impulse purchases and then got down to what was left on our list. We made it through in less than an hour and headed to the warehouse. When we found the bunk bed we weren't sure it would fit in Ron's Tahoe, but he thought if we folded down one side of the bench seats in the back we'd be ok.

{forever a kid at heart}

We grabbed it, Ron's chair and browed As-Is with no success. I was surprised that things were discounted very low, I'd rather pay a little more for a new and undamaged item in the rest of the store. Anyway, we checked out the food section, grabbed my mom some chocolate almond cake and then made our purchases. Aside from the beds, Ben + I spent just under $30! 

I'm not expert, this was only my 3rd time ever at IKEA but by the end of 3 hours, Ben + I had mastered a few short cuts to run back to find things rather quickly. We maneuvered through the streams of people (literally half of them pregnant women- not exaggeration) and got back to where we had left off in just minutes. 

Once we got to loading, things got pretty interesting. It took several tries to fit the bed frames in to the back of the Tahoe. They had to fold down the bigger side of the back so only one of us (me) could sit back there, so the other 3 had to squish up front...but they did it! 

When it was done, Ron slammed the back hatch closed...onto a can of Pepsi that exploded all over me. None of it got on him, or Ben- who was standing right next to me. I was covered head to toe. I screamed because the loud sound and gush in my face was rather startling and then I cracked up when I realized what had happened. I had an audience of about 20 or so shoppers coming out with their purchases. Talk about embarrassing. I managed to clean myself up back in the restrooms and not feel too sticky for the 2 hour ride home.

We stopped to drop off our 3 giant boxes for the bunk bed and our bag of stuff before going to pick up the boys. Ben + my brother put the bed together the following afternoon. Nothing like 3 ginormous boxes crowding your living space as motivation!

As you can see from the photos, the boys love the bunk bed. I had a few mini heart attacks at first when Des mastered climbing on his own. He fell from the bottom of the ladder once when he snuck in there and hasn't tried climbing it by himself since.

Malakai loved sleeping up there at first, but I think he misses our nightly 2 minute snuggles because he's been hesitant about it. Still, he falls asleep fast and stays asleep all night so far. Desmond has actually been sleeping better in his part of the bed than he was before. It's afforded us a lot of extra space in their room, which we still haven't done anything with. We're still deciding which pieces of furniture to keep/move/store in the playroom as we transition it to nursery.

We got a handful of small things as well. Mostly storage solutions...

We stocked up on kids' cutlery, which the boys use daily. The other brightly colored items are ice cube trays. I can see them being molds for other fun + crafty things as well. The roll of paper was meant for the boys' easel, I didn't measure first and it's just slightly too long. Sad day. Not pictured above are the awesome tunnels from Children's Ikea and alphabet crackers from the food section that Ron + Debbie bought the boys

We also got a "BYGEL" set, which is the vertical metal bar, the basket, hooks, and black cup. It will go up underneath the kitchen cabinets for extra storage. The black item at the bottom is a folded up under bed storage box from the SKUBB line, which is my favorite of their storage boxes, they are sturdy but cheaper than many of their other options and come in a lot of sizes + types. And of course, we bought another giant .50 IKEA bag, which has about 101 uses.

So, there you have it. What we didn't buy from my wish list I added to the registry app or have on my own personal wish list for gift ideas. I don't know that we'll officially use the IKEA registry when it comes to our baby shower, since it's so far away. However, we do have plenty of friends in Portland that might be able to use it, so you never know.

What's your favorite IKEA find? Do you have one nearby or do you have to plan a road trip to get there?