IKEA Items Like A Toilet Brush Are Named After Real Places & Sweden Wants The Names Back

Have you ever been swimming in Sweden's Lake Toilet Brush Bolmen? It's apparently lovely.

IKEA's got a Swedish name for every item in its catalogue, and it turns out that those aren't the Swedish words for "shelf" or "chair leg."

Many are the names of places in Sweden, and the country wants them back.

The Swedish tourism board has launched a new campaign to reclaim some of the names that IKEA has used for various products.

The campaign, dubbed "Discover the Originals," highlights 21 scenic destinations that double as mundane IKEA products.

"In Sweden, we are proud of IKEA and in a way you can say that they helped us make Swedish places world-famous through the names they borrowed for their products," Nils Persson, Visit Sweden's chief marketing officer, said in a news release.

"Now we want, with warmth and a twinkle in our eye, to show the originals behind the product names and invite the world to discover the whole of Sweden."

Judging by the list, it appears that IKEA names its items at random. Kallax, for example, is a shelf at IKEA and a seaside spot in Sweden that's "famous for its very smelly fermented herring," according to Visit Sweden.

Toftan is IKEA’s name for a bathroom trash bin, but in Sweden, it’s a beautiful lake.

Lake Bolmen is also a stunning spot with freshwater fishing, scenic beaches and kayaking in southern Sweden.

But head over to IKEA and you'll see "Bolmen" written on the toilet brushes.

You can check out the rest of the list on Visit Sweden's website.

Who knows? Maybe you'll be inspired to get off your Ektorp couch from IKEA and actually visit Ektorp in 2022.