IKEA Time!

When Mark found this flat, it already had a few lonely pieces of furniture left behind by the previous tenants. While fairly serviceable, we decided that we did indeed need several more things to make this feel like our home. Given that Mark had to go flat-hunting, and pick up several essentials for our home while still teaching and preparing to come out to the States for about a month, I was very impressed with what he found. It is small indeed, but given what I had been told to expect about English sizes, I think it's a rather good space for the two of us and will allow us to entertain, if not grandly, quite well indeed. Some good friends of Mark's loaned us a table and four chairs, and Mark found us a lovely bed before he flew out. So those were basically our starting points.

We planned an IKEA trip for the Saturday after I arrived and set a budget for ourselves. Then we looked at what we thought would be essential for now and went forth to conquer the vast jungles of the Swedish superstore. It was Mark's first time ever in an IKEA and I do not think it will be his last. :) We really enjoyed picking things out for our home and enjoyed it even MORE when they arrived a week later! (We also enjoyed eating an IKEA hotdog and meatballs respectively. I thought of you Kajs. :)) You see, we don't have a car as yet, and there was no way we were attempting to haul massive boxes around on a bus. Thankfully, IKEA delivers and so we had a box fort in our house. Some kind friends came over and we had a small IKEA assembly party so that we transformed our Spartan space into a welcoming home overnight. We'll continue to make this our home and add touches, and I will naturally update on that because I rather like doing it! We are particularly pleased with our sofa, which is red, large, and comfy, not mention it is a sleeper sofa, so bring on the guests!!! Seriously. Come on over. Just give us a bit of a heads up. :)

Box fort

Naked livingroom. Notice that I had been making bookstacks

And....after!!! 

Different angle

Took a rainy day jaunt and the smell of this bakery inspired below

Yum

Pumpkin spotting. Not huge, but hey, they have them

I'm fond of the red mailboxes

This is a common green behind our neighborhood. I walk through it to get to the grocery store, so I see it pretty much every day. :)