Shopping at Ikea for Our New Apartment: Small Space Storage + Pretty Things!
We're shopping at Ikea for our new apartment, and we'd love for you to come along!
In this video, I'm taking you through my favorite Ikea showrooms, pretty Ikea decor pieces, and Ikea storage ideas you can use for your small apartment decor. And the main mission in this Ikea shopping trip: to find a closet for the new apartment, because a decent amount of closet space is the one thing it's lacking. We seriously need to up our small space storage game for this new place, so Ikea was calling to us!
If you want some small apartment decorating ideas on a budget, small apartment inspiration, small apartment storage ideas, and some Ikea decorating ideas for small apartments, join us for our journey through the depths of Ikea!
Video Transcript ↓
Now that my boyfriend Kobe and I are officially moving into a brand new apartment in just a few weeks, it is time for us to partake in a most sacred act… a good old Ikea shopping experience.
That's right, Kobee and I are going to be walking through Ikea today and I would like to invite you to come with us!
I'm very excited for this because it's been years since I've even been inside an Ikea, and I have definitely never done the whole “shop with a boyfriend at Ikea”. So this is a huge milestone for a Kobee and I, to say the least.
And today we're going into Ikea with a very specific mission: to find a closet for our new apartment!
Because in case you missed last week's video, (which I highly recommend you watch because it was basically an episode of HGTV’s House Hunters, if I do say so myself) you know that the one downside to this brand new apartment that we're moving into is it has a very limited amount of closet space.
So we're going to Ikea to see if we can find a solution for this closet conundrum!
And of course, we're going to look at all the pretty things and see if we want to buy any of those pretty things as well. 🤩
So come along with us on our little Ikea excursion!
And before we dive in, I wanted to let you know that you can now watch my free workshop, "Decorate Your Dream Apartment Without Spending Money on the Wrong Decor For You" whenever you want!
In this FREE, 1-hour workshop, I’ll teach you how to…
Discover your personal style so you can decorate a space that feels like YOU
Create mood boards to help you visualize what your apartment could look like before buying things
Shop for decor in a way that will save you money and allow you to buy things that actually fit your space and your personality
If all that sounds like exactly what you need to create the dreamy apartment you’ve been yearning for, click here to watch the workshop!
So, to give a sense of order to an otherwise chaotic subject matter (I love you Ikea, but you're chaotic), I'm dividing this post into three sections:
The showrooms
Pretty things
Storage
I just want to point out the things I liked, the things you might like if you're in the process of shopping for decor, and anything that might come in handy in a small apartment.
1. The Ikea Showrooms
So the main thing I'm delighted to report about Ikea's current showrooms is they really seem to be embracing a bit of a dark decor vibe, with even just a hint of maximalism! Just a whisper of maximalism. Which is interesting because Ikea is famous for their white, light, airy minimalism. So I thought it was fun to see a darker, moodier aesthetic this time around.
So, my fellow dark decor lovers, if you're looking for budget-friendly decor, best get thee to Ikea!
I also really loved this particular kitchen:
Ikea was definitely doing a Joanna Gaines/Fixer Upper aesthetic in this one, which I'm here for because resistance to Joanna Gaines is futile. And I honestly just love this vibe. I know we can't do anything like this with our kitchen being in an apartment, but I love living vicariously through an Ikea showroom. Who doesn't?
And then, of course, if I see a couch in need - with its decorative pillow arrangement desecrated in such an offensive way - I can't help but flip into stylist mode and remedy the situation. I can't just leave a couch looking messy like that. Moda Misfit to the rescue. You're welcome, Ikea!
Before:
After:
Here are a few more highlights from the Ikea showrooms!
2. Pretty things
Now allow me to show you all the pretty little things that caught my eye at Ikea!
As usual, Ikea's faux plant game was on fire. A lot of people ask me where to find faux plants and flowers that don't look cheap and plastic-y, and my number one answer used to be Pier One, but now that all their stores are tragically closed, Ikea is a great option. Ikea and TJ Maxx, actually, both have great faux florals.
And in case you're wondering, yes, I am a huge advocate for fake plants and flowers as an alternative to real ones!
If you have a cat who likes to munch on green things or you're simply not in the mood to experience plant death in your apartment all the time (like me), trust me: go faux. There's nothing wrong with it!
I also wanted to point out this coffee and side table combo as an example of how you can sometimes tie budget friendly Ikea pieces in with a more expensive piece to create cohesiveness in a space - without investing in a full furniture set at the pricier store.
Here's what I mean: when I saw this coffee and side table, I immediately thought of one of my Small Apartment Styling School students, Simmy, who recently ordered this four post bed frame from CB2:
So pretty, right? I can't wait to see what it looks like in her apartment! And if Simmy wanted to tie the look of her bed frame into other areas of her apartment, she could get these at a much more affordable price than if she found similar ones at CB2. Just a little tip!
And there were quite a few more pretty things that caught my eye on this Ikea trip, like this black globe that you read all kinds of metaphors into:
I'll spare you the thesis paper that's brewing in my head about the various meanings we could read into the idea of a pitch black globe, so I'll leave it at this: it'd be a cool dark decor piece!
There was also this super dignified leather armchair that I would feel like such a gentleman sitting in:
And some moody foggy wall art, which I'm always a sucker for:
These botanical wall art pieces that would be so cute in a kitchen:
And this vintage style chandelier: (I will never resist the sparkle of a pretty chandelier.)
I also love a good black and white map of New York, and this one is especially cool. It would make such a bold and graphic statement on a wall!
I was also pretty enamored with this boho throw pillow, especially paired with these orange ones. Amid the rainbow of decorative pillows Ikea has to offer, this black and white boho pattern was my favorite!
And then there's lighting, which I'd argue is your most important tool when styling a space. Gotta set that moody ambiance, you know?
I loved this industrial boy:
I loved this glam boy:
And I loved this mushroom boy:
Haha those were my favorite little light boys of the bunch.
And I also loved this mid-century style floor lamp. I could totally see this in Don Draper's office on Mad Men.
3. Ikea storage
So like I said at the top of the post, our main quest was to find a closet to put in this spot in our new apartment:
But before we get to that, we'll do some storage side quests first!
First off, I loved this moveable island, which would give a kitchen more storage and prep space. This won't work in our kitchen, but if you have a kitchen that's begging for an island, you might want to consider something like this:
We were also casually looking for additional storage to line this hallway area with. Credenzas, TV stands, anything that was on the long side that will not only give us some much needed storage, but will also add visual interest to this huge amount of wall space.
We're also going to need a couple small matching nightstands, which we don't currently have in the studio apartment. Didn't really see anything I wanted at Ikea, except maybe this one. If I replaced the drawer knobs with pretty ones from Anthropologie or Etsy, maybe I could elevate it a bit! We'll see.
And finally, it's time for the main quest of finding a closet for our new apartment!
As I pointed out in last week's apartment search video, the only closet space in the new apartment is the laundry closet and these two little babies in the bedroom:
No actual bedroom closet to be found. So this is why we're turning to Ikea to help us!
We liked the Brimnes closet. It would have given us a good amount of additional closet space and we liked the dark color. Ultimately, it came in second place in terms of actually picking one.
Most of the closets we saw, unfortunately, did not look or feel great. They definitely had that sort of flimsy, cheap, perfect-for-a-dorm-room feel, and we want the closet we get to be inexpensive BUT to not feel like it could be knocked over by a gust of wind.
There really was only one closet that fit the bill for what we wanted, and that was the Idanas closet. It felt solid, sturdy, not super cheap, and the vertical panel look was actually pretty stylish!
So at this point we're about 95% sure we're going to go back and get this one. The brown we want is currently out of stock, so we're waiting a little bit for that, and if it doesn't get restocked by the time we need it, we're thinking we'll go ahead and order the white version!
And with that, we emerged from the Ikea labyrinth victorious, having accomplished our main quest: to find a much needed closet for our new apartment.
And it didn't hurt that we also got to see a bunch of pretty things and eat some meatballs. Yep, ‘twas a victorious Ikea quest indeed!
And if you too are about to move into a new apartment or you want to decorate your current one, I want to remind you that I have a free workshop that you can watch on demand called Decorate Your Dream Apartment Without Spending Money on the Wrong Decor for You!
It's an hour-long workshop in which I teach you how to:
Discover your personal style
Make mood boards to help you visualize how things might look together
Shop for decor in a way that leads you to buying things you truly connect with and end up loving in your space!
What I teach in this free workshop is the exact method I used to transform my 500 square foot studio apartment into my dream apartment:
So if you want something that will help you get started on making the same styling magic with your space, you can access the workshop here!
For daily glimpses into my studio apartment life, you can follow me on Instagram @moda.misfit.
And for regular doses of apartment styling tips and small space decor inspiration, subscribe to my YouTube channel and hit the bell to be notified when a new video goes up every week.