I'm A Story Teller

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IKEA

IKnow Everything About… 

Amalia a young Swedish woman about 24 years old is shopping at IKEA for furniture for an apartment that she has not yet gotten. Her trip to IKEA is mostly a wish list. She is fantasizing about how her home is going to look. 

Her new kitchen with clean SEKTION white cabinets with frosted glass and white dishes matching silver wear and colorful place matts and bottle cleaners with strange Swedish names like Kungfor and Knoxhult, Her social space with Part (love seats) and INGRUN throw blankets over the love seats where she could entertain her friends drinking wine from Svalka wine glasses. Her bath room with the towels and black and white shower curtain in her new bathroom. Also her bedroom with the complete IKEA look with side lights over her bed. 

Let’s design your dream kitchen!

Amalia is in love with her wish list. She wonders from show room to show room, opening cabinets and taking photos with her iPhone. 

As she plops onto a comfortable sofa her feet fly up into the air  and one of her shoes flips up very high and starts to spin around in mid air, almost in slow motion. Amalia is watching her shoe spinning and spinning then the shoe hits her in the forehead.  Amalia is crying and has tears running down her cheek. Her blue eyes are filled with tears.

She hears a man laughing and looks up to a handsome man. He is apologizing but can’t help from laughing. I saw the whole thing he says as he chuckles. Amalia is slightly anoyed about him laughing and then she too starts to laugh. 

Mikael introduces himself and tells her he is shopping for a BRIMNES (TV cabinet).  

They both wander the paths around the show rooms looking and touching fake plants and looking at lamps.

Mikael finds a comfortable sofa to sit on and invites Amalia to join him as they sit in front of a fake flat screen TV, they sit and talk. Amalia gets up and walks into the pretend kitchen showroom and pretends to make dinner. They both sit at a dinning room table all set with dishes and he tells her how great a cook she is. Both laugh.

Instagram opportunity 

Over the intercom a voice announces its closing time  But Amalia and Mikael decide to hide and want to spend the night at IKEA. They both hide in a storage closet and giggle. And kiss. After about an hour they decide to come out. Quietly they sneak around. Take photos of each other being silly and post them on instagram. they hide from any of the guards. eventually they both get tired and fall asleep in a show room bedroom that is all set with comforters and pillows. They snuggle up and fall asleep. 

Morning comes and the IKEA store opens, both are still asleep as customers look at them strange and laugh. Amalia and Mikael wake up and are embarrased.

Shopping makes them hungry.

The cafeteria is serving hot coffee and Danish rolls. A real smorgasbord  A Swedish meal served buffet-style. Perfect for their get it together.

IKEA Soulmates

(side bar )

Did you just meet your soulmate, your forever and ever partner on this journey we call life? Okay then stop — are you in a retail store? Mark the location because the trendy thing to do these days is to get married exactly where you met. Joining couples like the one that got married recently at Walmart, a twosome who found love in the aisle of an IKEA tied the knot in the same store that played host to cupid eight years ago the happy couple met while the future bride was running errands with her 14-year-old daughter, who played matchmaker at the time, reports The Star-Ledger.

“I told my mom, ‘Oh, he’s cute,’” she said. That brazen teen asked the man for his phone number for her mother, and the couple began dating.

Fast forward to now, when the duo said “I do” in the photo department of the Elizabeth, N.J. IKEA. An IKEA spokeswoman who attended the wedding said although. there have been other nuptials at IKEA stores, this was the first time for this location.

“We were here for you when you met,” she told the couple. “So we wanted to be here for you when you exchanged your vows.”

Amalia and Mikael exchange vows.

Six months later Mikael takes Amalia to IKEA and they are at the same spot where the shoe flew up and hit her in her head. Mikael then proposes to Amalia.

Mikael hands Amalia a SMYCKA Artificial flower, carnation/white and asks her to marry him.

He also had pre set up a wedding arrangement with the IKEA staff. And Amalia was very surprised and happy and got married at IKEA.

A bedroom for you and your baby too.

Congratulations they are having a baby. (Amalia is six months pregnant) and now are putting themselves to the test of assembling a crib that they brought home in their Volvo station wagon. Will this stress them out? 

Astrid is born, A pretty blue eyed girl. Her room is decorated with a crib and changing table, bookcases with orange and pink boxes. Also a colorful pink rug with stars printed on it all from IKEA.

Working from home in style.

An inspiring spot to work from home

They found a newly built apartment three minutes away from IKEA.

Amalia is working from home and has her small closet office with computer table and shelves with her books and photos of Astrid and Mikael on the stacked shelves. She is in marketing at IKEA and gets to work from home and take care of her baby.

Mikael works at IKEA as a floor manager guiding customers what to buy and what section they could pick up their furniture  Also explaining what particle boards are.

What is particleboard?

Mikael explains to a customer. Particleboard is made from recycled wood and sawmill waste – so wood pieces with the wrong shade, woodchips and sawdust become a valuable resource instead of being discarded. We use boards for things like bookcases, bed frames, sofas and kitchen frames. To protect from wear and moisture, we apply varnish, veneer or foil that adds to the furniture’s look. The day your sofa or bed needs replacing, the material in the particleboard can be recycled into something entirely new.

Wash, dry, steam.

Amalia is folding the laundry in her small space. Everything has a place. Her color coordinated  IKEA towels are neatly stacked and folded into the IKEA frosted glass cabinets that match her kitchen cabinets, Everything has a place, including the iron. Mikael is helping organize and is assembling storage boxes with labels. Even though it’s tricky sometimes, it means not paying someone in a factory to do it for him.

For those who are about to rock 

Astrid has gone punk rock at thirteen. She plays in a Swedish punk rock band called The Strids, the most famous Swedish punk band was Ebba Grön, followed by KSMB and has turned her small space into her expression room. Filled with photos and framed pictures of Ebba Grön all with frames from IKEA 

In the mood for romance. 

Mikael Is in a good mood and starts to flirt with Amaila. He kisses her on the back of her neck. 

Astrid now13 is at a sleepover Mikael  dims the lights with the IKEA Bluetooth switch and turn on the bluetooth speakers to hear music Swedish Love Song by Josefin Berger. 

Making light of things. 

Every light in the apartment is on. Spotlights to the arching pole lamps. They are having a Christmas party with friends. Everyone exchanges funny gifts from IKEA Some are bottle cleaner, chrome can openers, wine bottle opener and small empty containers also resealable bags. 

There are Kafferep raspberry cookies served with elderflower drink called Dryeck Fladder

Also oat cookies. Swedish meat balls beef and pork served with mash potatoes. cream and lingonberries. All of their friends came for a taste of Sweden. 

Declutter and de-stress

Mikael and Amalia get divorced. After 16 years of marriage they decide to split. He fell in love with a woman from India she is half his age plus seven they met while working at IKEA as a floor manager. Now their home is mostly Indian motif with lavender walls and lots of gold trim. Opposite the IKA look. 

Magical tales of a cosy place called home.

Amalia is now 95 years young. She seems frail. Her family and grand children come to say goodby to her. She is lying in bed asleep. They kiss her on her forehead and say a prayer. And they all go to bed on the fold out IKEA sofa and futons. Early in the morning as the family is sleeping. They are awakened by pots and pans clanging away in the kitchen. Its Amalia making a smorgasbord breakfast for everyone. 

Small decisions make a world of difference

Oh, while checking out, don’t forget to buy a few IKEA blue carry bags