The Cobb Group Blog

One of the wonderful things about where we live is the ability to get to fun places in a short amount of time. We are able to take day trips to so many great cities. Today we are featuring one of our favorite day trip (okay...sometimes we stay overnight) places ― Jacksonville. In just 2-1/2 hours you can get to another great coastal city with lots of different shopping and dining experiences. If you're looking for an excuse to go, we've got one for you. IKEA's new catalogue is out and we think you really need to get a jumpstart on your Christmas shopping (for yourself)!  

The 2021 IKEA catalogue has arrived and it’s never been better. It feels perfect for the moody, weird reality we’re living in and will likely be living into 2021. We’re all at home. We’ve all been hunkering down. Winter is coming and it is time to turn inward, get cozy and get our lives organized. 

Here are the trends I noticed when I did a deep dive into my copy of the 2021 IKEA catalogue.

It’s Like Taking a Virtual Walk Through an IKEA Store 

One thing people love about IKEA stores is walking through the showrooms and seeing entire apartment and rooms set up as if in real life. You can sit on the couches, open the drawers, wander through the closets, and turn off and on the lights.

The catalogue is like an online version of this. You see entire rooms decorated as if they belong various families. You get to peek inside their bathroom drawers and their bedroom closets. You watch as they work from home, cook in their kitchens, or play games with their kids. Everything is out in the open for you to explore. 

Just like an IKEA showroom. 

Focus on Family—and Staying Home 

The focus of this catalogue is clearly on family and on staying at home.

There’s the couple with their beachy home full of surfboards, shiplap, and light wood floors. Then there’s the new parents raising their baby in their dark, moody rooms. The focus in this home is on black stained furniture and terra-cotta walls but with lots of texture in the rugs and pillows to soften and lighten the look. 

I loved the small-apartment-in-the-city family with their two small kids all crammed together in a one-bedroom (I can relate to this having spent 15 years living in New York City). Then there’s the blended family of a single mom and her son and her partner who was her son’s soccer coach. We see how they blend their lives in a small space. 

But perhaps my favorite kitchen belongs to the foodie in the studio apartment with high ceilings and open shelves. I spent a lot of time studying how her kitchen is laid out. Her home is all about organization. Which leads me to another trend I noticed….

A New Focus on Organizing 

IKEA knows all about the latest organizing trend and they give you a lot of ideas on how to organize everything in your house, from shelves, to closets, to bathroom cabinets, office desks and laundry rooms. 

I opened the catalogue and feasted on Instagram-worthy pictures of organized drawers and closets. I particularly love the baskets and the clear acrylic storage boxes. 

Bedding Is Everything

IKEA has always made great linens, comforters, and pillows. This year they are front and center on the cover of the catalogue. They combine different colors on beds, and the bedding isn’t all matchy-matchy. Or all white. IKEA wants you to know that you can mix and match pillows and pillowcases and everything has a lived-in linen effect. 

Cozy Is In 

Every bed in the catalogue is unmade as if the family member just got out of bed and never made it. Pillows on couches are slightly askew and certainly don’t have that designer karate chop down the middle of them. Food is chopped up on cutting boards, drawers are open on bureaus, shoes are left askew on the floor. 

The whole catalogue feels relatable. Comfortable. As if you walked in a real scene filled with real people. 

IKEA Kitchens Remain a Staple 

Anyone who has renovated on a budget knows this trick of the trade—IKEA kitchen cabinets are awesome. Even multi-million-dollar apartments in New York City have IKEA kitchens.

The kitchens in this year’s catalogue are better than ever, offering loads of details in farmhouse, classic, and modern styles. 

We have an IKEA kitchen in our upstate home and plan to build one in our rowhouse when we renovate early next year. We will wait for IKEA’s semi-annual kitchen sale to purchase our kitchen. And for an even more professional finish, we’ll use IKEA cabinets, but custom fronts and pulls. 

The Contrast Between Dark and Light 

There’s a big contrast between dark and light in this catalogue. You pretty much have two options when it comes to furniture: Dark and light.

This works well from a decorating standpoint. If you have a dark duvet or couch, you can lighten it up with lighter throw pillows. If you have a light duvet or couch, you can add drama with colorful throw pillows. The same goes for walls. Lighter art will pop on a dark wall, whereas darker art pops on a light wall. The catalogue sets up the drama beautifully.

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