IKEA Guide for Newcomers| the Dining Room
Almost forgotten here on the blog, I come back today with the IKEA sweetheart series and the empty pocket love-hate relationship with those who are changing countries and need to start from scratch.
We’ve had several rooms in this series (see links at the end of this post) and although most newly arrived immigrant households are somewhat compact for economic reasons, whether you want it or not, you’ll need a place to eat, being a family, a couple or someone living alone.
I have selected pieces that can be used in the long term, because from my own experience, I know that many of the things bought in these first months in a new country, are staying for a long time (we have things that we bought almost 10 years ago, in our early days here).
In short, many things, if not the vast majority of IKEA items last and can be moved to their second and third and more homes over the years, so it’s important to buy furniture and utensils that not only fit in at first, but in the next stages of new life in Canada, or the country you chose to live.
Our small dining table in the first apartment (which was small, with 53m2), became an office table in the second house and a general affairs table in the third. It changed function, but always being used for something.
My selection, I emphasize again, is very personal, since the options, mainly, of tables and chairs are immense. I opted for the separate seat base, but there are ready-made chairs (but you will have to assemble them anyway) and sets of tables and chairs combined. I checked and in most cases the value of the separate table chairs is not different, so customizing will not cost more. I also chose a 4-seat table (it might fit up to 6, but tight), but there are options of extendable tables and others larger for 6 and 8 seats.
Everything will depend on the size of your home, your pocket and your family.
- Round plate – OFFANTLIGT Side Plate – CAD $3,99
- Chair base – BRORINGE Underframe black – CAD $19
- Appetizer dish – HEMDOFT Dip Tray – CAD $14,99
- Plate holder – SNOBBIG Place mat – CAD $3,9
- Baking pan – IKEA 365+ Oven Dish – CAD $24,9
- Tablecloth – TYDLIGT Tablecloth – CAD $12,99
- Table for 4 – TORSBY Table – CAD $219
- Seat Seat – LEIFARNE Seat Shell – CAD $36
- Rectangular plate – MYNDIG Side Plate – CAD $3.99
Not always (read – almost never) there are fixtures on the ceiling of compact apartments, which may turn out to be your first home in Canada (as was our case). So I chose some cool items taking the lack of ceiling lighting into consideration:
- Candlestick – ANDLOS Candlestick – CAD $5.9
- Cancelabro for 3 candles – IKEA PS 2017 Candlestick – CAD $19.99
- Floor lamp base – LAUTERS Floor Lamp Base – CAD $49.99
- Floor lamp top – NYMO Lamp Shade 59cm – CAD $55
- Napkins – FINSTILT Paper Napkin – CAD $3.99 per 30 units
Numbers!
Essential items (1 to 9), add up CAD $515.91 and the cool ones to have (10 to 14) add up CAD $134.96.
A total of CAD 650.87, including everything that was selected in this post (remembering that dishes, cutlery and glasses had already been added in kitchen purchases and so do not appear here).
Do you think that is reasonable?.
If you’re lucky or can wait, IKEA does periodic promotions in the various sectors of the store, such as the one that’s happening at the moment (April 2017), in the dining room section, where you get an additional 15% discount on all dining tables available in the store , including those in the backyard.
I think the next post will be about children’s room/baby, but in the meantime, see the previous posts below:
