I’ve been reading my past few posts and I sound a little Didactotron Decorator. Just give us some cheap, stylish stuff for a hot minute, you ask? Gladly!
Yesterday I went to Ikea for work, and while sadly some of the best finds ($6 terra cotta pots and 49-cent cloth napkins with a simple red stripe) aren’t on the website, there’s still a ton of Swedish style to behold. I don’t necessarily want to know how they charge so little, but I could definitely live with one of each of these treasures:
Husvik table lamp (pictured), $59.99. Like a silver-toned grasshopper, this lamp would lighten up an English pedestal desk or look great on a bedside table next to a swing-arm light with a pleated silk shade. Reminds me of Artemide but for a fraction of the price.
Melbu bed frame , $349. The picture doesn’t tell the story here at all: This low-slung, woven (wicker?) bed looks like Tom Scheerer in the Bahamas. The cocoa brown color is pleasing in person, but I could also see it painted white or a bright color.
Ekby Bjarnum shelf brackets , $15/pair. The Swedish nephew of P.T. Barnum, Ekby … kidding! I’m obsessed with these stainless brackets, so much so that I have four in my kitchen. They’re sleek and sturdy but also sort of disappear.
Karsltad sectional sofa , $999. One of our clients bought this corner sofa for a poolhouse, and in context it might as well be from Dune . Yes, she has bleached pine paneling and ebonized floors-definitely proves Mugatu’s old adage “Get your floors and walls right and everything else will fall into place.” But the Karlstad’s boxy-yet-refined proportions make it one of Ikea’s greatest hits, if not the Greatest. I would still paint the legs black because that yellow wood is just fug.
Oh, and don’t forget the meatballs and cinnamon rolls.
