Yeah, so, I'm planning on moving out
sometime in the future (next summer, to be specific
), and I wanted to find out how much I should set aside to "do" my new room. So I went on an imaginary shopping spree at IKEA.com.
I got a bed, a mattress, a bedside table, a wardrobe, a bookshelf, a desk (with an add-on unit), a mesh chair with armrests, blinds, a quilt and two covers, a pillow and two pillowcases and two sheets...for $500.
$500.
My best friend (and future housemate) is planning on spending more than that on just a mattress (although, to be fair, she does have severe back problems). In fact, you could spend easily more than that on any
one of the things I bought. But here's the kicker - she's getting her mattress from IKEA, too.
So I guess
that's the cool thing about IKEA. It's not just that they have supercheap stuff. They have a whole variety of things at different price points, so that when you feel like splurging on something (half of that $500 went to the desk and chair) you can still get it on the same place on the same trip. If I wanted to, I could go even cheaper - below $400, easily - and outfit the room just the same. Or I could spend $1,000 or $5,000 or more. Whatever your budget is, IKEA expands itself, like a magical gas, to fill it. With plenty of $2 candle holders to fill in the cracks.
I hope we get an IKEA in Vegas soon. (IKEA has stated that they consider opening a store in a city once it reaches two million people, which we officially reached last year.) But even if we don't, we're planning on making a trip to the Burbank store when the time comes to outfit our place. (Yay flat-pack furniture!)
I could go on, but I won't. I suppose you either "get" IKEA or you don't. Like, I know that $20 bookshelf, or even that $125 desk, won't be an heirloom any time soon. But I don't think it really needs to be. That's not what IKEA is about. They have affordable furniture for where I'm at right now. And to be honest - I'll probably replace the furniture long before it wears out, anyway. Because I can. Because it's IKEA.
