Raskog Love!

So, if you read my blog regularly (and you should, because it makes me happy to see followers and comments and all that jazz) then you would know that I had my heart set on the Raskog Kitchen Cart from Ikea! In my last post on it, I talked about all the options you could use it for:

Kitchen: Small rolling pantry, or a beverage cart

Dining room: Beverage cart, wine stand, replacement for a sideboard, if you have no space

Living room: small bookshelf, kids toy/book storage

Bedroom: Bedside table for those prone to knocking things over

Bathroom: Storage for toilet paper, toiletries, hair straighteners/driers

Patio/Garden: garden tool storage, plant stand, small garden stand for a balcony (for herbs or something)

Well I am excited to announce that the Raskog Kitchen Cart finally made it into my condo this weekend!! I have been checking the stock at both Ikeas in Toronto for weeks and finally Ikea Etobicoke said that they would have 11 in stock on Saturday! I have seen this cart popping up all over the place on blogs and pins etc, so I was worried it would disappear before I could grab one! I had plans Saturday, but they got bumped to Sunday, so I trekked out to Ikea and I went right to the self serve area and popped one in my cart!

I actually brought my old lady grocery cart to the store with me- key because this box was kinda large and heavy.

Once I got home, I put it together! It wasn't overly hard, but the screws are tiny and they stripped SO easily. Plus working with metal is hard if it is not lined up quite perfectly. The nice part is that the middle shelf is adjustable! I didn't know that, but it came in super handy for the use I made of my cart!

I decided to use cart to hold my sewing stuff! The sewing machine is heavy, so lifting it into the front hall closet wasn't desirable. Before I could stock it up, I had to find a good spot for it. My original thought was in a space beside my TV stand, but I didn't like how it was the same shape and size as my dresser.

I then moved the TV stand over and tried the other side, but then I felt like my couch/TV space got wonky and the TV stand was intruding on bedroom territory.

The next spot was in a sizable gap between the table and the couch. However, I would have to move the chair that tucks in there to access the cart.

Finally, I moved my couch over a bit and I put it on the other side! I liked it! It will be nice to have a side table and by shifting my TV stand over to the kitchen a bit more (and moving the wrapping paper), I was table to realign everything. But now my Toronto poster is off. Ah well, a project for another day.

But because this is a design blog, I decided to style it up by stealing things from around the condo!

Sorry- this is really blurry!!

Lamps are hard to photograph! The white tins on top hold all my sewing stuff (pins, measuring tape, scissors in large one and threads in the small). The second shelf has my DVDs and Blurays, which I keep in a CD sleeve case to save space (I have a LOT of movies. 90% of which may or may not have been stolen from my dad. shhh). The bottom just has my sewing machine!

All and all, I love this cart. It is solid, the middle shelf adjusts, and the colour is a really nice turquoise. In some photos it looked darkish, but it is quite bright and cheerful! My Ikea didn't have one on display so I was taking a risk buying it sight unseen.