Our First Furniture Purchase!

Although I've been crafting a little bit here and there, I didn't yet bring the big camera downstairs to upload the photos (I made a ton of penguin thank you cards for my students and their families to thank them for their Christmas gifts).  That's why I've been doing more "real life" updates.  I also made it one of my goal's this year to write more about what's going on in my day to day life since this is definitely the year of change since I'll be a Mrs. and not a Miss anymore come May!  I know I won't remember all this little details after the fact.

Just a few short weeks ago, Howard and I made a trip to IKEA.  This trip was different than the ones we've had in the past because we had intentions to actually PURCHASE furniture!  We've gone to look, compare, and try, and we've both bought a few things here and there (even a scrapbook album!), but this was our first large purchase.  When we paid for the items, we went to the pick-up area and waited for the number on the receipt to come up on the screen.  This is the first time I've ever experienced this as the smaller items I got in the past (my craft table and stool, for example) were from the self-serve area.

Our number came up on the screen, and two big boxes as well as two smaller boxes were given to us on a cart.  WE HAVE FURNITURE!  As you can see in the picture, my momsicles came along with us as well.

Wondering what we bought?  Well, IKEA had a pretty awesome deal going on at the time that we had to grab.  With the purchase of a select few brands of sofas, a gift card was given for 15% of the total price.  Thankfully, Kivik  was one of the brands that was part of this deal!  We chose Kivik from the start.  That was the one thing that we knew we wanted for sure because the seating was so comfortable.  I especially love the high back!  Instead of buying the couch though, we decided to go with two of the one-seat sections because it would save us a few inches in width in our apartment.  We also figured that if we were ever able to afford a house, we would buy the couch then and the one-seat sections would still match it.

It's very roomy and extremely relaxing, and I'm happy that we didn't have to compromise by getting another brand just because of the size.  Howard loaded the big boxes into his family's minivan (I loaded the seat covers in the smaller boxes, hehe), and then we were on our way!  This is such a giddy time for me because I have been flipping through IKEA catalogs since high school!  I'm the weirdo who saves old ones because I love all the room ideas!  Now I can actually look with the intention of buying!  Fun-fun :)