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The Wonderful World of IKEA
The Swedish furniture store still offers versatile and affordable items for the home.
When we were first married, we had very little. Our big night out was Friday night at the local Greek restaurant at the corner of Hodge and Bryant in the city of Buffalo. It was a block up the street from the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo where I worked as a nurse. We could get two souvlaki sandwiches, a beer, and a glass of wine for $10.00! If we were “flush” with cash, a trip to Sweet Tooth across the street was in order for a Dole frozen fruit pop, adding another $4.00 to our big night out.
We were careful with our money and sought affordable options for furniture. We found the furniture at IKEA met our needs but the nearest one was over the bridge to Canada in Ontario. Still, we went. We got a futon and not much else.
A few years later when we moved to Maryland, outside Baltimore, another trip to IKEA was in order, thrilled to know a store was just up the highway near the White Marsh Mall. This time we bought a grey leather couch and a “Poem” chair. That chair is still in use today, at our son’s apartment. We upgraded couches as we had more money. But the poem chair moved everywhere we did, until this last move to the cabin — it's 30+ years old and still in great shape!
Our first born was had in Buffalo, New York — we moved back after a three year stint in Delaware and Maryland. Buffalo was more affordable for housing and the suburbs had good school systems, plus we had family in the area. We wanted to start a family — and Buffalo was the place to do that.
After his nursery grown out of, he had a Looney Tuned themed room — wall paper boarders were big in the 1990’s and it was a fun space with red metal bunks. The storage any small child needs was found at IKEA. Two pine units with four bins each. The bins were bright orange and red, just right for the Looney Tunes border. Those bins with all three of our boys, through 23 years in Wisconsin, right up until last June when they were sold in our garage. A teacher I know bought them for her pre-k classroom. She was thrilled and so was I! They last!
When we built our cabin, in 2007, we bought our kitchen table and chairs from IKEA. Now, 16 years later, it’s…
