Some latest and greatest Ikea picks

With every move comes the inevitable trip to (eek!) Ikea. Mike and I were smart and made our trek on a Tuesday, which meant a nearly deserted store and Sweedish meatballs all around! Aside from discovering that we had locked ourselves out of our apartment when we got back to the city with piles of loot, the trip was an all around success.

We got the usual Ikea storage jazz, but I did find a few things so snappy I had to share:

Like this Husnes etched table mirror. I'm doing my bedroom all girly style, and this looks nice and old timey on my dresser. Only $10!

I saw these Tripp storage tins in the catalog before our journey out to Ikea, and even if I hadn't seen anything else I wanted, I was bound to make a trip just for these. Three nesting tins in awesome mod colors at $3 for the set? I was so into them, I bought four sets. They'll make great gifts. I think you're supposed to use them for tea, but I'm using them for office junk right now. The big one fits tape, a pair of scissors and my mini stapler; the medium-sized guy is perfect for pens and my ever-growing Sharpie collection; Mr. Junior Tin corrals binder clips and paper clips really well. (Shh...don't tell the other stuff I love these guys the most, ok?)

While we're in kitchen storage, I thought I'd give a shout out to the Slom bottle. I bought one of these on a previous Ikea trip and used it for my dish soap, but I've since repurposed it as a water bottle (sorry to jack your classy idea, Violet Hour). Our last place had an ice maker. Alas, this apartment does not. It's so nice to be able to just pour some cold water and not even have to mess with ice (bonus: plenty of ice leftover for vodka). Plus, it's really handy to have on the table at dinner for easy water refills. $2.

Clearly (haha...get the pun?) I have a thing for glass bottles because I was a little too excited to snap up this $10 Limmaren bathroom set. It brings me great joy every day. I use the bottle with the pump for my lotion, the bottle with stopper for my mouthwash and the little cup as a toothbrush holder. I'm going to let you guess what I do with the soap dish. I keep everything corralled in this box on my windowsill. Also on the windowsill: an orchid that is very slowly and dramatically dying. One leaf will turn yellow, then black, then fall off. Then another will follow suit. If it were't for my bottles, I would maybe cry every time I entered my bathroom. The Ronald McDonald yellow walls don't really help things either.

Anyway, that's my report on cool, cheap stuff at Ikea right now. Oh no, wait...I got my dad this awesome thermos for his birthday and now I kind of want one too even though I don't drink coffee.