This isn’t an advertorial. If you asked me to accompany you to IKEA and not buy a thing, I’d be happy to tag along. I’d lounge on plush couches, play with inventive racks to organize shoes, and be imbued with authority at the office supplies section, behind a large oak wood desk.

I know very few people who don’t see the appeal of getting lost in the myriad of living rooms in IKEA[unless it’s a Friday].

There are sea-side, turquoise-themed rooms that lull you into a relaxation coma, artsy and compact spaces jammed with books and paintings, and decadent ultra-rich hardwood rooms with Olympic pool sized beds.

I have a romantic theory. If you care for romanticized, emotionally filtered and logically baseless theories, read on.

When an artist reaches for a plump tube of oil color and smears the mixture off her palette knife onto the surface, she makes many choices at once: contrast, consistency, transparency, application, placement on the canvas, length of the stroke, intensity. It’s a highly absorbing visual exercise.

When you’re picking out new furniture to decorate or re-decorate, you’re in a position higher than the artist’s. You’re selecting for material, size, functionality, and of course, the tactility of the piece – how it feels under your skin.

In a lot of ways, picking out furniture is the most discriminating way to express yourself.

It’s a long-term commitment and it’s what your memories are going to be made on. It’s what you come home to. It can’t be a fad or a trend [although many times it is], it has to reflect what makes you most comfortable and uncomfortable. It has to reflect what you value over most; aesthetic, feel, price, size or raw emotion. Those are insights that disposable clothes or flat paintings on a wall can’t begin to touch.

It also comes with a view of the alternate versions of your future – a window to how your living space could look. A purple nursery? A dimly-lit home-office? A large library?

On some level, we might be aware of the tinge of anticipation and anxiety that comes with the process, but it is, in the end, a creative one. So, if you think you’ve never been artsy, swivel in your chair and look around [Told you it was romantic].

IKEA’s a Walter Mitty playground, with really cute pencils and the bonus of a brunch.

So, what’s the color of your couch?