I recently took a “pilgrimage” to IKEA on a home staging shopping mission. Home staging is the fancy way of saying, decorate a house for sale with furnishings so that the owners wish they never sold it in the first place! I joke, essentially, it's making the home look spacious and styled to appeal to a future buyer. IKEA is one of those places where “you can’t get there from here” (Adam Sandler SNL reference, anyone?). But seriously, it’s a haul from where I live northwest of Boston to south of Boston. Routes 95 to 93 to 24 are “for the birds” as my grandmother says.
Personally, I love IKEA. I like the fun showroom staging, the simplicity and creativity of their products, and the prices. For some, IKEA is considered their worst nightmare. It can get crowded, and they create a rat maze so that you have to look at everything before you can get to the Kuggis and the Kvissle that you want to buy…I’ll let you look up what those are!
The tricky part, other than driving there and often dodging the crowd, is making sure that you don’t overbuy. It’s easy to buy more than you need when the prices are right. I even found myself, who is somewhat of an under buyer, inclined to load up my cart because “oh, I could definitely use that and it’s only $3.99!” This may be one of the few times where bringing your kids to a store could be helpful…think hard on that one though.
Within an hour’s time, I did load up my cart to the brim with Ullkaktus, Dorethe, Frakta and more. My intent on this trip was staging a home with some new furnishings and decor. By the photo, you’d say I hit the mother lode.
While I shopped, I also scoped out the show room and marketplace and found some really great home organization tools, which I’m sharing with you my favorite reader (yes, I’m talking to you)! If you have bins and systems that work already, stick with those because there is no need to buy more. If you’re looking for some new systems and tools, here are a few IKEA faves that I’d suggest. I recommend them both for functionality and price value. You can order them onlineor venture to the store if there’s one in your area. Perhaps enjoy a plate of Swedish meatballs while you’re there if it tickles your fancy.
Here are my 7 favorite home organization purchases at IKEA. Disclosure: I don’t get paid by IKEA to share this, but if they’d like to pay me to promote them, I’d be happy to!
The Lighter Home’s 7 Favorite IKEA Home Organizing Products
1. Variera box $4.50
The Variera bins come in several sizes and are perfect for storing toiletries and hair accessories in bathrooms, dry goods and boxes in kitchen pantries, and toys and arts/crafts in playrooms. They are sleek and sturdy, and with the open top it makes for easy accessibility — no dealing with removing and replacing covers.
2. Sortera bin $9.99
This bin was displayed in the IKEA showroom as a recycling bin. Great use! In fact, it’s that and more. This is a nice bin to store your dry cleaning, compile your closet clothing donations, and store loose toys. The slanted top flips up, so you can even stack them!
3. Variera plastic bag dispenser $2.99
If you follow my Instagram @thelighterhome, I gave a little love for the Simplehuman plastic bag dispenser. It’s still one of my personal favorites. This little Variera plastic bag dispenser is a nice little runner up at the price of $2.99. You can store plastic grocery bags or even a roll of garbage bags in it. Say goodbye to plastic bag tumbleweeds with this inexpensive solution!
4. Skadis pegboard $24.99
Peg boards are appearing more regularly in home decor and organization. What was once used in a garage or work studio is now more stylish than ever. The Skadis peg board comes in several sizes and price points, and some include accessories to store papers, pens, clips, etc. I personally like this pegboard for an office or a playroom. Add some colorful office supplies to give it a pop!
5. IKEA 365+ dry food jar $3.99
Dispensing dry food can often be a space saver and adds a little color to your cabinets. For little people, they can see the food and with these IKEA 365+ containers, they can pour food like cereal themselves. Along with function (which I’m all about!), they file neatly in the cupboard so you can pair a few side-by-side.
6. Kallax shelf unit $79.99
This 9-cube storage shelf is slightly bigger than some I’ve seen in other stores and the Drona storage cubes boxes that pair with them are roomy as well. IKEA has taken the reverse approach to pricing, where the shelf is priced on the higher end, but the boxes are less pricey than most others out there. A “loaded” Kallax cube with 9 storage boxes is about $104 plus tax, which is a pretty good deal for a large storage solution.
7. Drona box $3.99
The Drona fabric storage boxes are really roomy and slip perfectly into the Kallax shelf. At just $3.99 I haven’t seen anything beat it for price and quality. Enough said!
Whew, that was a pretty good list! I’m sure on my next trip I’ll have more. There may be some returns in my future, so stay tuned. In the meantime, tell me — what are some of the favorite purchases you’ve made at IKEA? Please go ahead and share in the comments. Adjo! (That’s Swedish for Goodbye.)
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