“And I wasn’t the only slave to my nesting instinct. The people I know who used to sit in the bathroom with pornography, now they sit in the bathroom with their IKEA furniture catalogue.” ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 5
“You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you’re satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you’ve got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you’re trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.” ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, Chapter 5
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I feel as though I’ve committed some sort of blasphemy. I had done so well, selling, giving, and throwing away most of my material possessions – all the while, reminding myself that, “the things you own end up owning you.”
It was liberating. I felt lighter. I felt free, as though I could go anywhere and do anything.
Until last weekend, when I made my first trip to… IKEA.
I was in awe. The bookcases, bedroom sets and kitchen plans made me giddy. The shelves, chairs and kitchen utensils set my heart a flutter until I thought it might burst from excitement.
Document organizers, plastic plants, CD stands, china cabinets and kitchen islands.
Olivier and I went to the cafeteria. We ate Swedish meatballs until we thought our guts would explode all over the table. There were even microwaves strategically located at various points in the room so as to guarantee that no shopper would have to suffer a room temperature ever again.
I sat there, wallowing in my gluttony and looking around me in that cafeteria. I smiled to myself, for I saw that it was good.
So it was then that I succumbed to the “IKEA nesting instinct.” Our living room hardly resembles the catalog, so maybe my soul is not quite lost.
Though, I am a blasphemer, all the same. A blasphemer with a new bookcase. A blasphemer who still doesn’t have that sofa issue handled.
Maybe there’s still some hope.
Yes…IKEA really is a bit like that, isn’t it?
Whenever I go to IKEA, I buy tons of food… I love the cereal cookies (“dubbla shokolade” or something). Anyway, I cannot imagine you or Olivier going crazy for furniture !
Man, my grandmomma was from Sicily and she made the most incredible meatballs I ever tasted, like you wouldnt believe. Sadly, she died last year and she didnt leave a single recipe for me so I’ve been trying to work it out by myself… slowly working my through the meatball recipes here, I still cant figure out what her secret ingredient was though!!!