MY PICKS {IKEA SUMMER '18} — the Nouvelle nous

Lately I've been searching for a new set of dishes. (Something I'd like that doesn't have any immediate importance, so I can take my time looking for exactly what I want.) My idea is to eventually own a full set of neutral-colored dishes and settings of fun dishes that are mixed but all go together. This way I can mix and match and swap things up, but still set a very pretty table when hosting dinner parties. I've been looking at dish ideas from a lot of my favorite stores, as well as some more artisan shops looking for inspiration and debating if there's anything I feel strong enough about to pull the trigger and actually buy. So when some of Ikea's latest summer products popped up in my news feed, I was instantly stoked.

Does anyone remember the Valentine’s episode of 30 Rock, when Liz Lemon and her boyfriend go to Ikea to buy a dining table? Brilliant stuff. If you haven't seen it, drop whatever you are doing, watch it, and come back (the rest of my blog post will be patiently waiting.) I have a friend who dreads the very idea of going to Ikea. "It's too crowded," or "It takes too long to find what you need," or even "I get lost every time I go there." To anyone who feels anxiety any time someone suggests they go shop at Ikea, I have a quick word of advice: Never go to Ikea on a weekend during a holiday in China. You will immediately regret it and end up walking around with a new appreciation for people suffering from claustrophobia, getting bruised up like a salmon trying to swim upstream, and in the end, forsaken your quest to buy bedding for your new apartment decided that the airplane blanket you took of the plane is "good enough." (Someday I'll tell this story in full.)

Despite experiencing what equates to most people's Ikea nightmare come to life, I love shopping at Ikea. It even became a popular place for us to just hang out when I was living in China (it was just down the road, and you could grab an alcoholic beverage and a plate of Swedish meatballs. If that doesn't help cure homesickness, nothing will.) Scrolling through photos from the latest line of Ikea products to hit the store sparks lots of the ideas for how these products could fit with my style and at a price that doesn't make me feel like I need to cover up how much I spent on it from my parents. (Does anyone else feel the need to do that despite being an independent adult with a job?)

My Current Ikea Favorites

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