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First Ikea Pilgrimage

Hey guys! Hope you had a splendid weekend and Mother’s Day! Our weekend was jammed packed with fun. The highlight has to be our first pilgrimage to Ikea in Cincinnati. Brad even took off work Friday for this momentous occasion. You bet we filled up the back of Brad’s SUV before voyaging back to Indiana.


In case you’re concerned, I’m not driving in this photo. My phone went all wonky on me and swapped the photo to look like I’m in the driver’s seat, taking photos of myself while, apparently, driving with no hands.

So I committed a royal blogger fail. I went to Ikea, and the only photos I have to show you are of our food. I’m sorry. I got so sucked in to looking that I completely forgot to take photos. But I’ll assume that many of you have been to an Ikea, and you know what it looks like inside.

We had to try the meatballs and chocolate cake. No disappointment there.
I’ll offer you some tips to make up for my lack of photos. Sound good? OK, so if you’re a first-timer, take a list. I went on Ikea’s website and used my snipping tool to capture the photo, name, and price of each item I wanted. (I also browsed their online catalog and snipped images of things that I wanted to look at.)  Then I inserted the images into a Word document and printed it off. I’m so happy I did this. It’s very easy to get distracted in there. The list helped me stay focused on the things that I really wanted to get. Not gonna lie, I’ll probably take a list every time I go.


Another tip? Go on a weekday. We left our house around 9AM on Friday morning and arrived at Ikea around 11AM, an hour after it opened. The place was practically empty for the 3 hours we were there. I couldn’t imagine going in there on a Saturday.

If you’re driving 100+ miles like us, I’d suggest going on their website and making sure that they have your item(s) in stock. I got a very large, sometimes out of stock item, so I went online Thursday night and made sure that my item was, indeed, in stock.


I can’t wait to show you guys what we got! I figure seeing the final products of what we purchased will be more exciting than the items in their boxes.

Have you been to Ikea?
What’s your favorite Ikea purchase? If you’ve never been, what would you purchase?
Do you have to drive 100+ miles and take a day off of work to get there?
Who thinks Indianapolis should get an Ikea?

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24 Comments

  1. Oh how I wish we had a close IKEA. The closest IKEA to Cleveland is Pittsburgh. That is easily over 100 miles. I think we should start a petition to bring an IKEA to Cleveland and Indy.

    Can’t wait to see what ya got!

  2. I’m an Ikea virgin. It makes me so sad. I’m hoping to make my first pilgrimage this summer!

  3. Isn’t IKEA the best?! I could live there!
    We’re lucky enough to have two really close – half hour away from one, and an hour to the other. I feel wonderfully spoiled after hearing that you had to drive so far for one! yikes!

    I try to go with a list, too, but also let myself do some impulse shopping 😉 On their website, they let you create a shopping list to print off – which is what I usually do because no way can I remember those crazy Swedish product names!

    Can’t wait to see what you got!

  4. My husband & I went to an IKEA last weekend on our way home from an out of town wedding! The closest one to us is about 4 hours away 🙁 (We live in Upstate NY). I think the back of our car looked exactly like yours though – filled to the top!! Enjoy your new goodies!

  5. Love love love my Ikea! We have 2 to choose from in the NY metro area, but all about 1.5 hours away. I don’t always take a list, sometimes it’s fun to just go and browse and come home with little watering cans and wicker baskets :-). My favorite Ikea purchase – you mean, choosing between my living room, my bedroom, the kid’s room and the kitchen? Probably my kitchen. So glad you had fun!

  6. I love going to Ikea! The closest one to us is 3 hours away but I still make it up there about twice a year. My first ikea trip was up in pittsburg and I only had time to grab some dish towels and a cutting board before we had to catch a plane home. Looking forward to seeing your purchases. Also, the weekday recomendation is a must. Either that or right when it opens on the weekends. Come 2pm on a Saturday or Sunday the place is a madhouse!

  7. Probably the number one tip I got when I was prego was to get the Ikea Poang rocking chair. It has a high back for resting your sleep deprived head during those nightly feedings and is our rocker for story and cuddle time now. Best purchase ever, I have spent so much time in that thing. Plus, it’s comfortable and you can swap out the pad cover if you want to redecorate.

  8. I can’t wait to see your Ikea finds! I love going to Ikea…but ours is two hours away too, so we don’t get there very often!

  9. haha, we have an Ikea not too far from us that I go to a few times a year. But I have yet to get the swedish meatballs that everyone raves about, lol! I get sucked into the showroom every time, like for hours

  10. I love IKEA, usually go on the weekends and have to fight the crowds though. I have a bed from them in my guest room that is amazing and both desk and sewing able are from there as well! Lots of misc. around to the house too!

  11. Ikea is such a wonderful place! I LOVE going there, but I’m terrible at sticking to my list. I always end up having to look at absolutely everything there! 😉

  12. We are 500 kms (so 300 miles?) from the closest ikea. We are planning a trip in the next couple of weeks and I already have my list started!

  13. I am blessed to live in downtown Atlanta. Ikea is my next door neighbor and I shop there at least twice a month. They have an entire clearance room at mine where I spend most my money. I love looking through the displays and snagging ideas. 🙂 did the ikea you went to have the “how to live comfortably in 300 sq ft or less” rooms? CRAZY. Makes me feel guilty for thinking my clutter filled space is too small.

  14. We try to make that same trek at least once a year and I love the drive…not long at all 🙂

  15. I’ve never been to an IKEA but I’m dying to go!!! YES, Indy needs one for sure!! And I would have totally done the same thing with the list, genius.

  16. I can’t believe how far you had to drive to get there. Def worth it, no? Can’t wait to see your stash.

  17. ahhhh this is such a tease! when do we get to see the goods?! i take it for granted that our IKEA is 20 mins from our house 🙂

  18. Since I can rarely get away in the morning, I don’t go very often. The only time to go is weekdays in the morning, otherwise its a mad house.

  19. YEAH FOR GOING TO IKEA!!! We used to live 3 hours from one and now we live 40 minutes from one. DANGEROUS. Can’t wait to see your new stash!
    -Katie

  20. I am about 15 minutes from that IKEA and it is dangerous!! Glad it wasn’t too crowded when you went, it can be a ZOO!

  21. I haven’t ever shopped at IKEA but when I do, I’m sure I’ll spend a fortune!! And stock up on their white gallery frames…I hear it’s important to have a ton of those on hand at al times!

    Danielle at Framed Frosting

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