For those of you living under rocks or in small caves, let me tell you some bad news.
Ikea picked Kansas City. (Article here). NOT St. Louis. I guess he’s just not that into you. Wait, wrong analogy.
I haven’t really been crying all weekend, actually I’ve been painting. Once I got brave and started on the fireplace, projects lined up like dominos behind it. Painting the fireplace white made the wall behind it seem . . . a little too white. When we first bought the house we had painted our accent wall a brick red. A few years later it was khaki green. Then just earlier this year it went white. Now it’s not.
Now it’s Sherwin Williams “Urbane Bronze” color-matched by our friends at Home Depot to the Behr Paint & Primer in one and I think I can safely speak for the husband on this one and say we love it. I wish we had done this 7 years ago and saved ourselves three other cans of paint. As soon as we get the room put back together and some sunshine peeks out from behind the clouds, I will work on getting some pictures. I also need to work on painting the only eyesore that remains — that stupid chipped brick hearth.
But back to my original topic. Ikea. Some hate it, some love it, some could care less. I’m not all that mad at Ikea for choosing Kansas City, really I’m more upset with St. Louis. Here is my message to St. Louis: Stop being small-minded, racially segregated and afraid of change and go out there and BE SOMEBODY. Somebody that can attract an Ikea.
I know there are a lot of vintage and thrift lovers who abhor Ikea. I’m not one of them and I will tell you why: YOU CAN HAVE THEM BOTH. Vintage furnishings will always have more character and perhaps be a higher quality of construction than Ikea furnishings. But sometimes, to keep that balance of vintage from falling over to the kitsch side of things you need to add in a little new to the mix. Why not make it Scandinavian design with an eye for function? I bet someone who has designed or will design for Ikea goes on to be our generation’s Charles and Ray Eames.
Ikea has said there is still hope for St. Louis but with the Kansas City store slated to open in 2014, I’m not holding my breath. Plus the gift card I got from my mom for my birthday will be expired by then. Excuse me while I go cry into my pillow some more. . . .
Living Analog 
That fireplace wall is looking fan-freakin’-tastic! You know how I love my painted fireplaces! Can’t wait to see it in person.
I heard about KC Ikea today. Actually I was just saying the other day I’ll even take KC if they will give it to us. Going to Chicgo is a haul and the highways are speed trap after speed trap. Too much stress! I agree with CT come on St. Louis stop pretending you are “urban” and “forward” and act like it!
But wouldn’t a 4 minute drive be a lot nicer than a 4 hour drive? If you were rearranging your living room and wanted to get some affordable window curtains, you could just run out . . . or if one of the dogs happened to pee on the rug (ahem Sophie!) you could go pick out a new one . . . sigh
You have no idea how upset I was about this! My mom actually mistakenly told me that they were opening here. I got all excited only to have my hopes dashed when I saw the real story. Heartbreak.
Oh that would be heartbreaking. I was at a work meeting on Friday when I received an urgent text message FROM MY MOTHER (hi mom) alerting me to the KC debacle. I broke into the meeting to tell the others the news (all designers/furniture salespeople). Your heartbreak is shared by others.
Your fireplace looks amaaaaaaaaaaaazing! I’m so glad we all voted on white and you decided to trust us. I can’t wait to see the finished room.
Uh, I guess driving to our Dallas IKEA location would be out of the question, huh? (Sorry for rubbing it in!)
Thanks Dana — that’s very sweet. About the fireplace I mean. Not so much about the Ikea! I wouldn’t mind a visit to Dallas though, just to see the M2M store though. Better lock up the wallet . . . .
Oh goodness.. you scared the crap out of me. I thought something had gone horribly wrong and you had been crying for days! H AHA HA! Well, I guess it sort of did, didn’t it? Sorry you lost out on Ikea. I have to drive 90 miles to the closest one and my husband refuses to go with me. Ikea makes him twitch!
I can’t help it, I’m like you… love all our vintage stuff but sometimes you’ve just gotta mix it up with “modern TODAY”. Ikea has some great stuff. Love their accessories, rugs, and window panels. I always leave with SOMETHING!
Your fireplace surround is INCREDIBLE! And the dark accent wall is sexy. Love how it makes the fireplace just stand out and get noticed. Beautiful, CT!
That’s why I’m so upset about Ikea I think — I don’t really need it for the big things that would be worth saving up and driving four hours for — I’m more interested in the prettier, sort of ephemeral things — sheepskins and holiday decorations and napkins and window treatments. For those things you just want a short drive to check in now and again. But they’re moving into the Midwest at least so that’s some consolation. Sorry to send out such a distress warning! However, maybe someone at Ikea heard my plea . . .
I love the fireplace and accent wall (WOW! And just with some paint!)…but IKEA? – No Thanks! I cherish…nae, Relish our relatively IKEA free craigslist. When I recently sifted through the San Fran craigslist for a blog post, I found myself REALLY wishing there was a way to filter out ads with the word “IKEA”. It seemed like about 30-40% of the furniture ads there are for used IKEA. Ick. And anyway, Doesn’t IKEA ship? I’m way happy with no IKEA in the STL! Bullet dodged as far as I’m concerned.
Thanks for the nice comment about the fireplace! I’m still feeling a lot of guilt for changing something original to the home but it was the right decision for us in the long run. As to Ikea — they do ship but their shipping costs are crazy – it can sometimes almost double the price of an item. So to each, their own — we will definitely probably be Ikea-free-to-be-you-and-me for the next five years I bet. Cheers – CT