Ikea, the Happiest Place on Earth

Mike and I were out and about with nothing much to do on Sunday afternoon, and so of course we thought, "Hey! Let's go to Ikea!" The new catalogue had arrived a while back, and I was surprised I had been able to go this long without checking out the new stuff in person. I am a big Ikea-head; just surround me with funky watering cans or cool-looking whisks and not even the massive Sunday afternoon crowds will bother me.

The best find of the trip was Ikea's new fabrics – they've just launched a few great collections, in particular some whimsical black and white patterns and also some skinny bolts of modern prints in khaki, purple, navy and chartreuse. (My guerilla-style pictures are not great, but I didn't want to risk any sort of Ikea ban just in case they cared. You can see some of them here on their website.)

I ended up taking home two meters of the fantastic hemmed fabric just below, which I'm thinking will make either a great totebag or really cool chair cushions. Or both. (And it was only S$4, about US$2.50, per meter – it's only 18 inches wide, but still a great deal.) Stay tuned for a new project...