Love and hate of IKEA.

I love and hate IKEA.

I love the clean lines of their furniture. I love the simplicity. I love their kitchens. I love their organizational genius. And, I love their prices.

I hate putting the stuff together myself. IKEA doesn’t actually write out their assembly instructions, they use pictures. {ugh}

I trekked down to the local IKEA store on Wednesday to purchase desks for the girls. The desks were easy to put together, but the “simple looking” chair almost killed me! I have the bruised to prove it.

Parker’s pink and black desk matches perfectly with her bedspread and room decor. Everything on the desk, including the chair and desk itself,  is from IKEA. I loved that I could choose the desk top and the leg colors separate. (Desk top $10.99; 4 legs $3.50 each; desk organizer tray $8.99; cardboard magazine files $1.99 for 5; pink wire pencil holder $2.99 for 2; chair $21.99.) She like sit too.

What does a pre-teen’s desk look like? For one thing, it will never be this clean again! Alex thinks she has to save everything little piece of paper, candy wrapper, etc., so clutter containment is a must.

She had her heart set on a corner desk. (Desk top $47.50; 5 pink legs $3.50 each, plus a chair, desk organizer, pencil holder and magazine files.) The cute “towel bar” hanging above her laptop is also from IKEA. I got the buckets at Target in the Dollar Spot last year.

This is a good place for Alex to study. And, she’ll need it. From what I understand there is a lot of homework in 5th grade! She stocked her desk with plenty of paper, pencils, erasers, laptop and desk lamp. I finally purchased a new wireless printer this week too. Now, everyone can use the printer downstairs no matter where we are in the house. Setting up computer equipment is the only thing I hate more that putting together IKEA furniture.

The tree trimmers were here yesterday cleaning up the big tree in the front yard. It’s kind of sad that the tree isn’t a large umbrella anymore. I know that the dead stuff had to be trimmed out for the health of the tree. And, in a few years I won’t even know they were here. But, still, it’s sad to see all those branches go. On the upside there will be less leaves to rack this fall.