IKEA trip

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday, my mom Connie and I went on a road trip to Ikea in Connecticut.  It was about a two hour drive to get down there.  Our mission was to get some furniture for the bed and breakfast that my Mom is starting.  She is starting the business on a tight budget, so Ikea where furniture is cheap was our first stop on the furniture hunt. 

We had a list

of furniture to buy.  My mom had the measurements for both of the rooms (it is a suite with a bedroom, living room, and bathroom).  And in typical mom style she brought a pocket tape measure.  It was a good thing that she did, because a lot of the furniture that we found was too big for the spots we were trying to fill.  We got discouraged after about a half hour of looking and only a few small items like a serving tray and a couple of canisters later.  So we did what most people would do and stopped for lunch.

Ikea has a cafeteria for shoppers and my mom commented that it was a good strategy because it keeps people in the store.  The prices for the food are low so it is added incentive to stay and eat there.  I had swedish meatballs with gravy with mashed potatoes for $3.95 and my mom had vegetable crepes for $5.95.  We both had a side dish, I had a fruit cup and she had potato fritters.  Keeping to our budget was key, so we both opted for water.  Total lunch bill was $12.34 and my mom bought since I was volunteering my decorating eye to her adventure.

After lunch we were back on the hunt and managed to find a table that folds down so it is compact, and when folded out will comfortably sit two for a meal.  We also found a dresser that fits right in the tight spot that mom had measured.  4 chairs, a nighstand, and a lamp later and we were ready to go. 

The stuff was heavy and comes in flat boxes unassembled so we got a guy in the warehouse to help us load the carts with the items we had picked.  My mom spent $486 in total.  Luckily, there was someone to help us load the items in the back of the car - and he is also the first guest photo of the blog.  Meet Terry, who was very nice about letting me take his picture - especially after I told him he would now be an internet star of a new blog dedicated to our story of starting our businesses.  Mom tipped him 5 bucks for his help and we were on our way home.

Will post again soon.

Sarah