The beaver is a proud and noble animal

My Ikea jones is satisfied for the next little while. We got all what we wanted, plus some unexpected stuff (as this is a trip to Ikea after all), for what'd we'd allocated money-wise. Also, shockingly, all the items we wanted were in stock in the self-serve aisles. That's never happened to me before.

For the kitchen, we got:
LEKSVIK Gateleg table and some cheap folding chairs until we have a bit more money to get some nicer ones. We did get some cool cushions to put on them though. I also bought a magnet board where I'll be able to put most of my collection on. As per the tradition, I also bought some cooking utensils – a pierced ladle that I can use to deep-fry things.

For the living room, we got:
EKTORP Three-seat sofa (in white) as well as a nice multi-toned beige rug and a really nice tryptich of a landscape printed on canvases. It's really pretty.

For the master bedroom, we got:
LEKSVIK Chest of drawers with 4 drawers for my clothes.
LEKSVIK Wardrobe with 3 doors for Katy's clothes, with extra storage for towels and bedding.
ASPELUND Bedside table as cheap and nasty bedside tables.

Choosing the bedroom furniture was the worst of all, because the chest of drawers I originally wanted wouldn't have fit in the place we wanted to put it, and then neither of the original two choices for the wardrobe ended up being suitable. In the end, we found an acceptable compromise with the LEKSVIK furniture.

We also bought a nice duvet cover that'll match the paint scheme and feels really, really nice, as well as some plain white muslin drapes. I'll need to measure up a proper curtain rod but that's no biggie.

For the office, we got:
MIKAEL Corner work station (in birch) which will really help with the organization of the loose paperwork and bills :)

All in all, it came to just over £1000, which is what we'd budgeted. When we have a bit more cash to spend, we're going to get a shelving unit for the kitchen (GORM) and see if we can get a storage chest for the bedroom, as well as another bookshelf (either the second bedroom or the office – probably NORREBO).

Der Spiegel reports that, in many German cities, IKEA is giving “corporate welfare” a whole new definition. The Swedish furniture retailer's cheap cafeteria food and complimentary child-care services, intended to be perks for shoppers, have caught on with a much wider audience:

From Munich in the south to Kiel in the north, Ikea is increasingly turning into a welfare center for pensioners, young moms, low-earners and the unemployed.

Many low-earners prefer eating in the familiar atmosphere of this temple to consumption to standing in line at the soup kitchen. Indeed, the stigma of poverty is hidden behind the company's cheap and cheerful designs. What started out as an extra service to improve customer loyalty, has developed a life of its own, separate from the shaky wooden furniture and fold-out sofas. Many people feel that they belong when they mingle among well-off customers — even if all they can afford is a hot dog. …

More than food-scroungers, though, IKEA workers fear lazy parents. Around 150 three- to 10-year-olds are deposited daily at the Hamburg-Schnelsen store's play area — a complimentary offer to allow mom and dad to wander in peace through the showrooms. But many people misuse the service as a free babysitting service. Sometimes moms just set their loved ones down among the colorful balls, with the nursery girl watching — and hurry to the hairstylist or the tennis court. The desperate store announcements asking the mother to please pick up her screeching child then go unheeded.