During a recent etsy browse, I came across the following Meadow wall graphic. I thought it had a beautiful shape, and the silhouette could add a nice touch of nature to any room. I like that the graphic (made of Vinyl) can be easily removed, making it nice for rented spaces. If you take a look at ellynelly’s other items, you’ll find a lot of other nice designs as well. They all seem to be reasonably priced, too.

[image from item’s listing]

I think I’m just a huge sucker for plant silhouettes.

This past Saturday, Sarah and I took a day trip to Cincinnati, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post. We went so we could go to the Cincinnati Art Museum and the new IKEA which had just opened a couple weeks ago. I almost got lost on the way to the museum, but the driving was okay other than that. It was a bit stressful, but mostly because I hate city driving. But I digress…

Before we went into the museum, we had a picnic lunch in the park surrounding the museum. My mom had surprised us that morning with a cooler and bag filled with a delicious lunch. It ended up being really cold for a picnic, but we persevered and enjoyed it anyway. The Museum was really great, partly because it was free. Admission there is always free, except for certain exhibits. There was a Rembrandt exhibit at the time, but we decided not to go to it, mostly because we didn’t want to be at the museum all day. There happened to be a really neat quilt exhibit up, so it was neat to see such great handicrafts on display as art.

After a couple hours at the museum, we decided to take a trek a bit north of Cincinnati to the new IKEA store. Neither one of us had been to an IKEA before, and we were both really excited. I had been wanting to go to one for a couple of years, ever since I heard about the stores. But the nearest ones had been too far away. With the new store opening up within a couple of hours from us, it seemed too good to be true. So we decided to make the trip. I don’t think we could have been prepared for the rest of the afternoon that was about to ensue! I feel like there needed to be a first-time-at-an-IKEA manual for newbies. This is the store we saw as we approached:

I don’t think this picture even quite captures the massiveness of the store. We even saw a sign for alternative parking which utilized a shuttle van to transport customers to and from the store. Mercy.

As we got nearer to the store, we realized the parking lot seemed more like an amusement park parking lot than a home furnishing store parking lot.

And that’s only one little piece of the entire lot.

After we parked, we took a deep breath and went into the store. I won’t go into detail as far as how the store is set up, because I don’t think I could describe it adequately. It will suffice to say that the entire time I felt like I was a cow being herded through an enormous showroom and warehouse. Many beautiful things, but we both went out empty-handed. I don’t know how that was even possible. Well, I think neither one of us were in the immediate market for any substantial furnishings, and it would feel ridiculous to wait in line for one small decorative item. Besides, I saw really cheap mugs I wanted to buy, but I decided to walk through the rest of the store and come back to them if I didn’t see anything else. If you have been to an IKEA, you know that was a mistake. It seems impossible to turn around in that store! It’s a maze of beautiful things, really.

I’m glad we went, but oh my goodness. It took me until today, I think, to really recover from my first IKEA experience. At least next time I go, I’ll know what to expect!

The other day, I randomly wandered into Value City Furniture in my quest to find a couch for my future apartment. The following couch was on clearence, in a beautiful brown.

[image from Value City Furniture]

They had one with a small scuff on the leg (fine with me…touch it up!) that was on sale for $450. While I was examining it, a salesperson said I could probably get it for $400. Agh! It seemed like a good deal for me, but I have no place to store it. It would get ruined in my parent’s basement, and it just wasn’t practical to get it when:

A) I could use my tax refund for more practical things,
B) I don’t even have an apartment for next year yet, and
C) I don’t even know what size I would need for the space.

Oh, well. I’m just glad to know I can find aesthetically pleasing, reasonably priced, starter furniture. In the meantime, I’ll continue to dream!