damn you, ikea! *shakes fist*

damn you, that is, for having such utterly charming things at such low prices that i think i can afford something like 2000 hours of labor to furnish my home!

in all seriousness, though, i believe that good design should be available at any price range. and along those lines, i also believe, that if with good vision or proper guidance, you can make a lovely home from places like ikea, target, cost plus and pier 1 (not to mention that almost my entire wardrobe is from forever 21).

so, while my dad was in town, off to ikea we went with my pre-printed shopping list. we bought about *5000 pounds* of furniture; here's a look at some of the pieces i chose.

next week i'll show you where it all went with some pretty amazing before and sort-of-after shots of the house.

a four-poster bed (edland)!

a couple of nice dressers, also edland line, 5-drawer and 2-drawer.
(these came with AWFUL pulls, so i swapped them out with some knobs that i picked up at anthropologie - appropriately labeled "diamond gal" - that i loved for their sparkle and organic feel)

a sideboard (trollsta) to use as a tv stand and a great b/w rug (stockholm rand)

and a fantastic stainless steel topped desk (vika) with a matching rug (alvine rand)

and 3 billy bookshelves waiting to be assembled *sigh*

this was an incredibly productive shopping spree - all for well under $2000.

aren't you curious how i put it all together...?