So you want a couch from Ikea…

February 25, 2012June 20, 2012 ~ Crystle ~ 5 Comments

Last weekend, Isaac and I went to Ikea in Federal Way, WA where we walked around the show rooms and made ourselves belligerently comfortable on all the furniture (I’m talkin’ feet propped up, garments thrown about). We were in the market for a big, inexpensive couch and Ikea was pretty much the perfect fit. I learned a lot that day.

Here’s a little FYI:

1. Ikea has some very firm sofas

2. Ikea has some very comfy sofas (one of which we selected)

3. All these sofas will come in weird shaped boxes

4. You will have to assemble that thing

5. You will ultimately love it.

We found exactly what we were looking for…that was the easiest part. After making our final selection we had to go to the warehouse area, caravan a bunch of oddly shaped boxes to our rental truck, and haul it home. Then the unpacking and assembling began:

The design and packing was really genius. The cushions were packed in the hollow portions of the unit. The covers velcro onto the sofa which is also brilliant for two reasons: first, this makes cleaning a breeze, and second, it means you can buy a cover in another color and boom! New couch!

I made haste on the getting covers on the cushions, Isaac had the hard task of actually putting it all together. We play to our strengths, clearly.

Et viola! Our new couch is paradise! Here’s an uncanny twist: about the same time we finally got this thing set up, I plopped down and read through NPR’s stories. Here’s one that struck a chord: The Deep-Seated Meaning Of The American Sofa. So many new memories will be made right here; we can go ahead and mark the assembling memories off the list.

Washingtonian in Training

February 20, 2012June 15, 2012 ~ Crystle ~ 4 Comments

I’ve done it again. I’ve gone off for another visit to my future stomping grounds. This time I spent more time in the area I’ll actually be living in, Tacoma, WA. We also purchased a new couch (or paradise found, as I more fondly prefer to verbalize it). More to come on that later. For now, check out my new town! I’ll be there in a matter of weeks.

Isaac went ahead and made us the newest members of the Tacoma Museum of Modern Art. Now we’ll be privy to all the new exhibits and we’ll get discounted admissions to the other museums in the area. They all have some very interesting exhibits. I’ll be honest, I was more fond of this MoMA (and the Glass Museum, for that matter) than the one I was married at!

I’ve been in Oklahoma for nine years now, the downtown masonry of Tacoma was much like the downtown areas of Norman and OKC. The familiar materials in an unfamiliar territory definitely made me feel more at home.