It's Ikea for my UK edition of My Scrapbook Nook

I'll be honest, I didn't enjoy my first trip to Ikea, the parking lot and store was packed full of people and we had tired hungry cranky teenagers with us. Add in that were with hundreds of people and all of us acting like we are salmon trying to go upstream not knowing where we are going on the crazy Toys R Us floor plan that's like a maze winding us through the entire store until we finally reach the cashier area. Top it off with having to BUY a bag to put our purchase in and having a fee added to your credit card because you want to use a credit card- well it wasn't the best start to a consumer relationship with that store.

Now the past 2 times I've gone shopping in Ikea with my husband we left the kids at home- believe it or not it made a vast improvement on our shopping experience in the store. Also, knowing what you are looking for helps- we shopped on line, looking at items there and in the catalog.

I've been using google and looking at many different websites, checking out what other scrapbookers and stampers here in the UK are using in their studios and crafting spaces. After looking at and studying some of the sites that have rooms similar in size to mine, I started measuring and seeing what I can do to improve mine and make it a more functional space while improving it's over all look.

So here's my latest haul from Ikea

The wire baskets (above) and rail (below) are from the Bygel collection for the Kitchen. The prices for these will amaze you (yes they are inexpensive). I've been looking at things like for years in scrapbooking magazines and Creating Keepsakes even sold some stuff like this although it was too pricey for me. I've always liked the idea of using a rail but I put that idea on my list of future plans. I bought 2 long and 1 short rail for this room.

I'm also putting one of these rails and 2 of the larger baskets in my kitchen above my stove for store items like my every day spices and kitchen utensils
The Slom jar from Ikea- comes in 4 different sizes, this is the 1.8 size and it's a great size for storing ribbon or pasta (I bought several jars- for each of those things).
The Billy Collection- I'm loving this collection, have bought a few Billy items and they are great! This is going to be mounted on the wall, it's cubbie spaces are perfect for me to store those Slom jars or the Malla baskets (see below). They are 40 inches long and I bought 2 to use in my space.

My new work area- the Fredrik work station. It comes in 3 different colors and I decided to go with white. I'm going with a new clean look. White isn't a busy color, actually it's not a color at all but a clean pallet- so here I am, with a clean pallet to work from.
The new drawer unit- This is from the Alex collection and it the tall drawer unit (there's also a shorter wider version). I'm purging myself of my addiction to plastic carts- I know it's hard to believe right? I want clean lines and a clean look, not a jumbled looking mess. And right now I have plenty going on in the mess department!

The Malla basket-found these gems in the closet organizer section of Ikea. I had looked at these cute crochet baskets but they were just too floppy! I wanted something that was more box like and not like a crocheted tote bag. Granted those crocheted totes were pretty darn cute but just not what I was looking to use for this project- may have to get one for my yarn though ;-)

Smadal Bookcase with glass doors this is where the Malla baskets will go- holding all types of crafting goodies. There's a large drawer on the bottom to house things that you don't want on display.

I do see a good relationship being forged, all because we decided to give Ikea a second try-and frankly I'm glad we did! I'll probably be making another Ikea run soon, I will need another Bygel rail and some more of those nifty baskets to house my scrapbooking embellishments, tools and my little jars of Prima flowers. Now for me to get upstairs and help my husband by clearing out all of the items that we're replacing with furniture from Ikea. Stay tuned for my before and after pictures of my UK version of My Scrapbook Nook.