I’ll just put it out there; Ikea is my personal Disneyland. Inexpensive, streamlined, and brightly colored (usually—I don’t appreciate the autumnal tones their pillows, throws, et al. have been dressed in recently, but anyway) thingamabobers as far as the eye can see. And…ice cream! Fat-free frozen yogurt, actually:

What’s better than that? The only unpleasant part of my Ikea experience (aside from the recent departure from poppy, cheerful colors) is the feeling of self loathing that begins to take hold as soon as we enter the home furnishings section, and I am faced with the brilliance that is the Ikea interior designer. You live in a two foot by two foot box, with nine other people? No problem! Ikea has an obscenely perfect two foot by two foot display studio to show you just how slovenly you’ve been living, and how improperly sectioned your living spaces have been. Oh; and they’ve included a walk-in closet, to boot. Show offs.

I have spent many a visit sitting on one of these dream room couches, shaking my head and muttering, “look at this couch/chair/bookcase configuration—it’s perfect! Perfect!” to no one in particular, perhaps freaking out the throngs of people walking by. But I’ll never know, so despondent am I. Usually, Paul finds me with tears in my eyes whispering, “Why? Why couldn’t I have thought of this? Why doesn’t our living room look like this?” until he drags me away, down into the lighting section, which always makes me feel better.

I escaped this fate during our trip to Ikea yesterday, but just barely. Perhaps the reason I am so sensitive to the design brilliance of the teeny weeny show rooms, is that I have been battling with our living room for the five months we’ve lived in our new apartment. It has a fireplace, but in an odd part of the room, making it almost impossible to use it as a focal point, which as a loyal reader of Domino (RIP, sniffle, sniffle), I know is tres important. And it’s rectangular shaped, and there are these wall sconce light things that are smack dab in the middle of each wall, making it impossible for me to hang wall art in any sort of normal, right-above-the-couch-where-I-want-it kind of way.

But, I’ve been staring at the different parts of our living room for far longer than must be healthy, and I’ve come up with a plan! And, we headed to Ikea to fulfill that plan, made possible by an anniversary gift card from my Dad and step-Mother.

The transformation is almost complete…follow-up post and photos, coming soon.