IKEA – Affordable, Sustainable and Stylish Scandinavian Design on a Budget
Posted: June 17th, 2009Today’s post written by Miki
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Mention Scandanavian-designed furniture these days, and chances are the very first brand that comes to mind is IKEA – www.ikea.com.au.
I am a rabid and unashamed fan of IKEA. I love the fact that as a company they take responsibility for using sustainable materials and ensuring a good working climate for their many factory employees. I love that the IKEA founder, Ingvar Kamprad (currently the richest person in Europe) still drives his 1980s Volvo and flies economy class. I love the tiny prices – although the instructional diagrams on putting items together have been known to beat me! – and most of all I love the clean, classy, thoughtful design.
The IKEA children’s range is just as good as the adults’ stuff. There’s a truly wonderful range of toys and small furniture for the kids, along with bedding and decor, right down to feeding accessories. A few of my favourites are below, but the POANG armchair rates a special mention as a brilliant feeding/nursery chair – so much more attractive than the ones you usually see in baby shops! You can also get a mini kids’ version which I adore too. IKEA stores in Europe have recently started stocking a rocking chair version of the POANG, so let’s hope it hits Aussie shores soon!
If I had to pick just one other favourite, it would be the DUKTIG children’s cooking series. It must be said that a lot of what I love about this series is that it’s unisex. As the mum of a nearly-two-year-old boy who loves pretending to cook (bless him), it drives me mad that the vast majority of play kitchens and tea sets on the market are so overwhelmingly pink! The DUKTIG range is not only extremely tough and durable, it also looks great and has barely a smigeon of pink on it! Hurrah!
If you live in a city near an IKEA, you can make the pilgrimage in-store. For the rest of us you can order online from the IKEA Perth Store (the only IKEA to offer Australia-wide delivery) with IKEA Direct. There is a minimum order of $200, and IKEA will phone you with 24 hours of your order placement to confirm and advise delivery costs – minimum postage is $15 and then depends on weight and destination. Click here for more information.
Editor’s note: We are also big fans of IKEA at our house. We have Sniglar beds, an Expedit bookcase, the LOMSK Swivel airchair (which we know as ‘The Big Egg’: this toy goes on and on: even a 9 and a 7 year old played happily in it only last week! This is one of my top 10 toys for kids), the Rocking Moose, Vippig seesaw, 100% cotton fitted sheets, plates, bowls and cutlery, doll beds, dress ups, and many and various other toys and items, all of which were bought interstate and lugged onto a plane by moi!
1. SMILA SOL Ceiling Lamp, $39.95
2. VIPPIG Seesaw, $99.00
3. POANG Armchair, $159.00
4. LEKA Baby Gym, $44.95
5. DUKTIG 10 Piece Tea/Coffee Set, $16.95
6. EKORRE Rocking Moose, $69.00
7. ANTILOP High Chair w/ Safety Belt, $39.00
8. TROFAST Storage Combination, $499.00
9. IKEA PS LOMSK Swivel Armchair, $149.00
IKEA Logan (QLD) is stocking the Poang rocking chair now! I have the normal Poang chair and am seriously considering upgrading!
June 17th, 2009 at 11:28 amIkea online – too tempting!!!! Yay!
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 pm