IKEA lured me back.

Well, they did it. They got me to reinstall the IKEA Place, augmented reality app. It turns out that the app has a hidden, secret portal to another dimension. Seriously.

(if you haven’t already read my post on the IKEA Place app, read it here first.)

When you press and hold the “+” button it vibrates a bit and then places a flat cardboard box on the ground. The box expands into a Narnia-esque wardrobe, that when opened, reveals a whole, magical world inside!

A recreation of an IKEA warehouse! Now, YOU, can relive that magical exhaustion of reaching the warehouse at the end of IKEA after navigating its infuriating labyrinth, then trying to find the furniture you’ve selected, only to discover that it’s out of stock. If only this portal world also came with the slightly-hostile teenage worker to tell you that the piece you want won’t be in for two weeks and you’ll need to come back to that hellscape.

(I tried to get to the end of that virtual warehouse but I reached my very-real road and didn’t feel like getting squashed by a car.)