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If you guys happened to check our Facebook page last week than maybe you know I was on a family (actually a multi-family, with friends) vacation at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore … we rented a sweet house in Waves, NC.

Why it that important to this story?

Well, I was out of town. And via some of my contact in recent years with IKEA Baltimore, I received an invitation to attend a sneak peek showing of IKEA‘s Catalog.  But … I couldn’t be there.  So … I did what any upstanding blogger would do.  I passed the opportunity on to some of the local … ish bloggers I know.

This is what they had to say about the event and the IKEA Catalog.  Enjoy. ~jb

Amy Renea

Hello friends of Building Moxie! 
I am Amy Renea, a blogger over at A Nest for All Seasons and I owe your blog host a big old massive…………

…………THANK YOU to JB for the invite to the 2014 IKEA catalog preview event.

I am always fascinated by store marketing, so it was fun for me to get a peek into the thought process behind IKEA’s new strategies (AND taste the new food coming soon — HELLO salmon!).

Cool new stuff eh??

I’ve always been a fan of IKEA’s ice cube trays (HELLO Soap Making!!) and I have visions of hundreds of those Tolsby frames dancing like sugarplums on Christmas with possibilities.

Stop on over at the Nest to see more of the new products (there is a new line of organizational bins that I am DYING to get my hands on!!) and bunches of beautiful new linens like these….

Lovely, eh?

Christine Drumgoole

… This year’s IKEA’s catalog hones in on the things that make life easier in a home with children.  And really, if it makes it easier for children, it makes it easier for all of us, right?

There was even a little preview of IKEA’s commercial unveiling their special application that allows one to ‘see’ a piece of IKEA furniture in his/her very own home:

I was amazed as to how receptive and caring the management and staff were to their guests at the catalog event. In addition to serving a tasty meal, the manager and department heads gave presentations about IKEA’s plans for 2014 and some history as to our local IKEA, which will be 25 years old very soon!  (That last tidbit made me feel very old, as I remember being in middle school when the IKEA was constructed.)

In addition, each attendee received a 2014 catalog and a tour of the store’s recent floor plan and marketing changes.

Thank you to the staff at IKEA, White Marsh, for providing a wonderful evening for all to enjoy.  It was refreshing to see the store from so any perspectives (a mother, a blogger, and even through the lens of the IKEA employees and IKEA the brand as well).  The transparency and openness that was afforded to all whom attended was really something special.  IKEA truly does make anyone whom enters its doors feel ‘at home’ and just like ‘family’.

So, get out there.  Visit your local IKEA!  There is so much inspiration and imagination there to keep you busy reorganizing and rethinking your home for quite a while.

For Christine’s full look, how she got out of the house for the evening, plus, yes, even some eye candy – check her post I’m Kind Of Digging IKEA on her blog Decorum DIYer.  For even more coverage, see her sister Erin’s blog too (Christine’s date for the evening) >> IKEA’s In the House on The Drumgoole Family’s Blog.

Thanks Amy and Christine … maybe I can make it next time. Cheers. ~jb