Furnished.

My furniture was finally delivered yesterday afternoon. The delivery van was more than an hour late, which annoyed me quite a bit, as I was given a 4-hour delivery window during which the stuff was supposed to arrive, and well, I waited for those 4 hours and then some more. But finally, the phone rang and the boxes started appearing. 

Now it's time for a story of love and hate for IKEA - from it's very start. 

My New York apartment came completely unfurnished. I've rented places before, but they all came either fully or half furnished, limiting the options for decorating etc. This place is the first one for which I had carte blanche to decorate it my way. On a limited budget, but still MY way. Or, to be a bit more honest, the IKEA way ;)

I did a bit of homework before even seeing the apartment. I took advantage of many a cool resource on the internet and got useful tips on how to furnish and decorate a small studio on a budget, but still give it a personal touch. Those tips helped me prepare a looooooong shopping list for IKEA with multiple options for each piece, respective measurements and prices.

The first step last Friday, after cleaning the apartment, was to take a measuring tape and thoroughly measure the apartment. Then I draw a floorplan in scale and made two copies of said floorplan. This helped me remove the redundant pieces from the IKEA shopping list, as I now had precise measurements and a clear vision on how I would arrange the furniture.

Here's the basic idea: full bed parallel to the windows in the right corner, reading corner diagonally opposite, breakfast nook within the kitchen area. Working corner next to the bed by the windows, in the left corner.

Also, the full-sized air bed gave me a nice visual idea on the proportions etc.

Now to the pieces. Given the options, I went for a white-black scheme for the furniture, with blue and turquoise accents. I thought that would go really nicely with the cream color of the walls and the warmth of the hardwood flooring. 

BED: I decided against the classic bed frame + headboard, as I don't really need it and it takes up space and money. Instead, I bought a white foundation to support the mattress and 4 tall legs. It looks really nice and the height is super comfortable. The pictures show a bare bed, but worry not. I do have blue linens on now (they were in the dryer when the picture was taken). To add a bit of privacy and a touch of elegance, I seriously plan on getting a simple hanging canopy net from BedBath&Beyond. I've always wanted one!

A black LACK side table functions as bedside table and a HOLMÖ floor lamp on the other side provides soft lighting. I added a small blue dream catcher on the wall above the bed and a poster of Canova's "Amor and Psyche" from the Louvre. 

READING CORNER: That was a bit of a pickle as I needed the most pieces to complete it. I needed a bookshelf, something soft and plush, a rug and a lamp. Classic sofas take a bunch of space and cost an eye. A friendly blog provided the optimal solution - to get just a part of as sofa, since IKEA sells parts of their modular sofas separately. Enter, a white EKTORP chaise longue, which is the side extension without the armrests. I was not convinced ad first, but after seeing them in the showroom, I was sold. It's soft, pretty and big enough to sprawl with a book in hand. Plus, it fits perfectly in the corner. I added a second HOLMÖ floor lamp, a striped rug and a white 2x2 EXPEDIT bookshelf. I completed the corner with a turquoise blanket and a poster of Hemingway's "A farewell to arms". A black stepladder functions ad a side table to put down the book and coffee. And it will function as a stepladder, too, as I have a really high ceiling and a superhigh top cabinet in the closet. 

EATING AREA: I'm not much of a chef or entertainer, so there is no need to get an enormous dining table or a fancy chopping station. But there is basically no countertop space in the kitchen and I do plan to have people over from time to time, so a breakfast table was a must. But most of all, I needed flexibility. Instead of the classic chairs, I opted for 5 stackable stools that take up very little space, are the perfect high and the color is spot on. 

I also got a free standing mirror that has nice hanging hooks in the back. Those are perfect for my scarves, umbrella and other practicalities. The shape of the mirror is also perfect for hiding the folded ironing board (which photobombed the picture below, but I promise, it indeed lives behind the mirror) and iron. 

I really like how the place looks. There's still a lot of space and I intend to keep it that way. It obviously has that unmissable cookie-cutter-IKEA feel to it, but I still love it. What I didn't love was the not-really-pleasant trip to IKEA and the delayed delivery. I mean, you are given a 4-hour window during which they can show up at any time, but still they manage to be more than one hour late. Luckily, it's over and I have all of my stuff nicely arranged now. I am tempted to say that it was worth the wait, but at the price they charged, I'm not so sure.

Now to the technicalities. 

I decided to do most of the shopping in one single trip, as I am really prone to IKEA fatigue (a.k.a. the "hate" part of this story). Since I also bought a myriad of smaller things, like plates, cutlery, bathroom and closet accessories etc., I kind of ran out of hands, so I decided to purchase the pick&delivery service, in which the IKEA staff gets the furniture from the self-serve area and has it delivered into the apartment. It costs an additional 50 $ (delivery alone is 90 $), but since I was alone, it was the only option and basically, a good investment. 

The assembly service cost another 100 $, which again, was a great deal, as the guy showed up 30 minutes after the delivery guys left and I had all the pieces assembled in 1 hour. 

All in all, the goods + delivery + assembly cost me 1800 dollars. 

Of course, I still need a desk and working chair, as their designated space is empty at the moment, but they are not that urgent. I can easily work elsewhere for the time being and I really didn't want to overstrain my credit card. She, too, suffers from IKEA fatigue :)

These last two pictures carry quite the meaning. The left one was taken during my first meal at the new place - lunchtime sushi picnic on the floor last Friday, when I moved in. The right one is today's breakfast. Eaten at the table and with a view of my furnished and pretty apartment. The difference is quite big. The feeling not so much. It felt like home from the second I stepped into the apartment and it does even more so now, when my stuff is all set up. 

Jules