My Ikea Shøpping Güide!
Where my Ikeanistas at?!
Ikea is magic. Whether it’s the meatballs and lingonberry jam at the food court, the giant self-serve marketplace, blog posts about insanely genius Ikea product hacks I could never do myself, the big blue bags, the iconic collabs (like the one they did with Virgil Abloh or the candle collab they did with Ben Gorham, the founder of Byredo) - I have a genuine love and appreciation for every part of the Ikea industrial complex. I’m completely IkeaPilled and I own it, 100%.
As a non-nepo baby who’s furnished many apartments on the cheap, I have deep core memories of using a tiny allen wrench to assemble Ikea beds, couches, and dressers all throughout my twenties. But I’m an adult now! With a real job! Who can afford to pay a little more for higher quality furniture. Even though I can ball out at CB2, I still shop at Ikea all the time. Because, as Ikeanistas know, Ikea isn’t just about the cheap furniture. Ikea is a rich Swedish tapestry of miraculously cheap items for every aspect of your life, from homegoods to candles to textiles to plants to textiles to smoked fish.
Admittedly, the in-person Ikea shopping experience can be overwhelming and stressful. I have a deeply held personal belief that no one should ever set foot in an Ikea store on a weekend, when it’s way too crowded to enjoy the experience. My local Burbank Ikea is open late, and I do all my in-store shopping between 7-10pm on weekdays, when the store is completely empty. I love a solo weeknight trip to Ikea, It gives me the same peaceful, meditative feeling I imagine healthy people get when they go on a sunrise hike or whatever.
I also highly recommend using Ikea’s amazing Click and Collect service, which allows you to place an order in the app, and pull up into a designated parking spot where someone will put your order in your trunk. You don’t even have to set foot in the store, it’s amazing and free and I utilize it frequently if I only need a few things and don’t have time to get sucked into an Ikea-hole.
I’ve spent the summer furnishing a new house which has been fun, but also shockingly expensive. Household essentials like dishes, kitchenware, towels, and curtains can quickly add up. I’ve become obsessed with saving money where I can, which has made the pursuit of affordable but high-quality homegoods from Ikea absolutely essential. Read on for some of my staples, new discoveries, and all-time favorite items (including some crowdsourced faves!)
DYTÅG CURTAINS!
I was on the hunt for some earthy curtains for my dining room, and was eyeing these CB2 “european flax linen” curtains that were $100 A PANEL. Not for a pair - they cost one hundred dollars for ONE SINGLE CURTAIN PANEL. Thankfully. a friend told me to check out Ikea’s 100% linen DYTAG curtains. I was shook. Ikea makes linen curtains that are $75 for two panels? HOW ARE MORE PEOPLE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS? Plus they came in a variety of tasteful colors, including a stunning sage green which was exactly the color I needed. As a bonus, I found a pair on deep discount in Ikea’s “As Is” clearance area for $50, which was a bargain shopping high I’ll remember forever. (Never sleep on Ikea’s clearance section. It’s full of amazing steals. I have zero shame about rifling through bins of textiles alongside Armenian grandmas at the Burbank Ikea).
BED SHEETS!
I ride hard for Ikea sheets. When it comes to bedding, I like to keep things minimalist and clean, and usually stick to white sheets and pillowcases. A few years ago I fell for the InstaHype and bought a set of Parachute sateen sheets - sure, they’re soft, but the set cost over $300, which is an egregious price to pay for sheets unless you’re a millionaire. I’ve since learned the error of my ways and embraced a full Ikea-sheets-based lifestyle. There’s a huge variety available, and I’d really encourage you to go to the store and physically touch the sheets to find the ones you like. Recently, I bought the incredibly soft Nattjasmin sheet set. They’re sateen, like the Parachute set, have a luxurious 310 thread count, and best of all? A full set is only $59! You know that price has me sleeping well in my Sateen sheets.
PILLOW INSERTS!
I think the item that best represents my thirties is a throw pillow. I never once bought or thought about throw pillows even one time throughout my twenties, yet my thirties are all about putting throw pillows on every surface I can, from couches to my bed to benches. I’m meh on Ikea’s decorative pillowcases - they have a decent selection, but I’m not super crazy about the patterns or quality. However, I stan Ikea’s PILLOW INSERTS. They’re dirt cheap, and come in a feather option for $7 and, if you care about ducks, a foam option for $4. Before I discovered the magic of Ikea pillow inserts, I was a fool, buying pillow inserts for $30+ on Amazon. Never again!
VALLASÅN BATH SHEET!
Ikea has a robust towel selection, but I don’t really find their terry towels to be fluffy enough. However, I am in love with their line of VALLASÅN waffle knit textiles, particularly this BATH SHEET. I had never heard of a bath sheet before buying this - at 39”x59” it’s way bigger than a standard bath towel. Bigger than a beach towel even! I wrap this giant thing around myself endlessly, draping it over my shoulders like I’m a fancy woman at the opera wearing a cape. While it’s not terry, I find it to be completely soft and absorbent. Plus it’s 13.99! FWIW, Quince’s waffle bath sheet is $75 for a set of two, which feels like highway robbery. Plus I LOVE the natural earthy color options - Vallasan comes in the soft sage above and an equally chic light brown. I love them so much I have the Vallasan regular sized bath towel and hand towels stocked in every bathroom .
GLASS FOOD CONTAINERS!
I’m a big leftovers girlie, and made the switch from plastic to glass food containers years ago. Which is a must if you subject your leftovers to microwave reheating like I do. I bought a set of Ikea glass food containers 10+ years ago and they’ve held up miraculously well. I like that they’re square, which makes them easier to stack and organize in a cabinet or fridge. They’re oven safe, microwave safe, and dishwasher safe, and considering I’ve had them for over a decade, they’re insanely durable. Plus they’re fucking cheap. This basic 34 oz size I use the most is only $4.99. I recently bought a gigantic, 101 oz aluminum container with a plastic lid for $12.99 and I love it too. There’s a wide variety of sizes and materials and you really can’t go wrong with any of them. A must have in every kitchen!
HOUSE PLANTS!
As someone who loves house plants but struggles to keep them alive (I am the angel of death for snake plants), I feel like I’m constantly buying new plants to replace the ones I’ve mercilessly killed. Being a plant murderer is an expensive habit, which is why I now buy all my house plants at IKEA. Surprisingly, they have a pretty great selection! On a recent trip I bought this Yucca Elephantipes for $35 that looks great in my living room, along with a $6 Aloe Vera and a couple adorable $3 Dracaena Marginata plants I scattered around the house. The pots Ikea sells are cute too, but I noticed none of them have holes drilled in the bottom, which I *think* is bad for most plants?
ISTAD RESEALABLE BAGS!
Ikea’s in-house version of Ziploc bags are a personal favorite. I particularly like the weirder, less-common sizes they carry - sizes that Ziploc doesn’t make. Plus the designs are so fun! These GIANT 5 +6 qt bags are great for putting all kinds of stuff in. I use them for weird things like my TikTok chopped garlic, packing shoes in a suitcase, and for storing delicate sweaters during the summer. I also love these tiny demure mindful cutesy little baggies for small things like paperclips or taking edibles on a plane. The bags are super great quality and I always save and reuse them a bunch of times. Because I am a good person who cares about the environment.
DISHES + BOWLS + PLATES!
I knew I wanted to get an entirely new set of dishes for my new house since my old dishes were janky, mismatched, and just all over the place. I needed to start fresh with a matching set that matched the aesthetic of my new kitchen. I landed on a giant set of matching FÄRGKLAR dishes. I can’t say they look or feel particularly fancy, but it was simply invigorating to buy such a large set of matching dinnerware (bowls! plates! salad plates! deep bowls!) for so, so cheap. 48 total pieces for under $150, a price so low it should be illegal. The Fargklar line comes in a bunch of colors, but I went with the light green above. I particularly love these plate/bowl hybrids, as I am of the firm belief that everything tastes better when eaten out of a blate.
Some of my IG followers also mentioned they love the Gladelig dishes which are absolutely gorgeous and expensive looking as well.
MISC KITCHENWARE!
“Kitchenware” is really a broad term, but I’m including it as a category because all the Ikea kitchenware stuff is so good. I like to really let loose in the kitchen section like it’s Supermarket Sweep and go absolutely hogwild, filling my cart with whatever I need (or don’t need). Some of my all time fave Ikea kitchen items include this chef’s knife (don’t come for me, it’s easy to sharpen and lasts forever!), this $20 mortar and pestle, these sturdy glasses, colanders, aprons, these woven placemats, I could go on and on. The kitchenware section of Ikea is my heaven.
BEKANT STANDING DESK!
Upgrading to a large standing desk changed my life. I won’t lie to you, I mostly use it in the low and lazy seated position, but the large surface area is amazing. When I write, I like to surround myself with 5+ beverages, notebooks, a gluttonous amount of snacks, lip balms, tissues, etc - and I can put everything and more on this big ass desk.
Here I am writing this very paragraph about this desk AT said desk!
PÄRLHAGTORN PICTURE FRAME!
When I saw this gorgeous, trendy, squiggly picture frame in Ikea I legitimately GASPED. It’s stunning, $7, and looks like something I’d buy for five times that at a super trendy overpriced store in Silver Lake.
SILVERPÄRON CANDLESTICK!
Tell me this $10 candlestick doesn’t look like something they’d sell at the MoMA design store. As an added bonus, the holders are wide with a perfectly-sized slot for candlesticks, so they catch the wax really nicely. I love thoughtful design!
Here it is on my actual table being used at an actual dinner party! The only issue is I don’t LOVE the bright red color, and am thinking of spray painting it something more muted and chic. In my DIY era!
READER SUGGESTIONS
I crowdsourced my IG followers and friends for their favorite Ikea items and got HUNDREDS of responses - unsurprisingly, people share my unhinged passion for Ikea. Here are some of my favorite suggestions.
KOPPARBJÖRK YELLOW VASE!
This vase is cute and classy AF and costs $20. I will be buying.
FRAKTA BIG BAG!
You can rip my beloved big blue Ikea bag out of my cold dead hands. These bags are so versatile - I use them for laundry, bringing Amazon returns to Whole Foods, bringing clothes to the Real Real, and of course, they’re invaluable when you’re moving. How could something so beautiful, so wonderful, and so life-changing be only .99 cents?!
HEMNES DRESSER!
One of my followers said this is the “classic Ikea dresser.” It’s a little boring, but I did a quick google search for Hemnes Dresser Hacks, and like many Ikea products, there’s an entire online cottage industry of making Ikea furniture cooler and cuter, including these Etsy overlays.
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/ivar-system-11703/
STUFFED ANIMALS!
Cool mom and my personal favorite new person on the Stern Show Sam Fontana said Ikea stuffed animals have the “perfect level of softness.” Nothing has ever made me want to have a kid more. This alien one in particular is sending me.
HALVVARM AND DAGKLAR FOOD CONTAINERS!
A follower said this stainless steel food container and this little jar with a metal insert are a “breakfast/lunchtime game changer.” I need!
BEMZ SLIPCOVERS!
Did you know that there’s a chic website that specializes in making beautiful slipcovers for IKEA COUCHES?! It’s called Bemz and I’m so beyond shook at how genius this business is. The couches above are IKEA COUCHES. Could you die? They make slipcovers in truly hundreds of fabrics and patterns for all kinds of Ikea items from couches to chairs to ottomans. I’m currently lusting over their flowery collaboration with Swedish wallpaper company Boråstapeter.
That’s all for this week! Be honest, do we like my new publication name? I chose it because I do indeed love PICKLES AND OLIVES.
Next week I want to write about HIGH PROTEIN SNACKS, a world I am passionate about. Let me know your faves in the comments, whether they’re protein bars or shakes or meat sticks. See you soon!
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I too am a snake plant’s worst nightmare
Reading this made me so nostalgic for Glowing Up <3