Thunderbolt, fuck yeah!
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Denmark
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Though, it should be said that if you are going to throw out your furniture every five years then particle board is better for Mother Nature than real wood. And for furniture like wardrobe closets that doesn't get bumped around a lot. Then particle board is also fine. The trick with Ikea is to sort the crap from the useful stuff. |
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BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
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It's all crap.
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
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The Key to using IKEA is to mix and match with other decor, and hack them where neccessary. I wouldn't want to decorate a room solely in IKEA.
I used two Billy bookcases to extend the storage of our kitchen into a narrow hallway. Rather than use the full length door, I used two half doors, solid on the bottom and glass on top. I put the small extender on it as well to make them almost 8' tall. The mounting holes will not line up for the bottom, so you have to make your own which drops the door a little lower on the toe kick, but no problem. On the backs I braced the cabinet with 1/2" thick straps glued to the backer-board and screwed into 1x4" straps situated at the top, middle, and bottom shelves (against the front of the backer board. These are fit tight to the width of the cabinet and also glued into the sides with some counter-sunk finishing nails to make sure they don't move. The cabinets are now very sturdy, probably overkill, since they're affixed to the wall. I filled the holes and seams with wood filler, painted the whole thing with melamine paint, and changed the knobs with nickel kitchen pulls. I even came up with a plan for a library based on Billy's. In this version I would set all the cases on a pedastle and close in the toe kick with baseboard. This can be made with simple 2x4s laid down like train tracks and notched to lock the cases in place. Nail the tracks to the floor and drop the cases on top, then cover toe kick with baseboard to build in the bottom. Rather than put the topper on directly, I would lift it about 5-6" and bring it forward slightly, and use a flat crown or window cap to fill the space between the cabinet and the topper. To this face, I would add a rail for a ladder encircling the room. A normal crown moulding would finish off the top, essentially building it completely into the wall, from floor to ceiling. Between the cases, an assortment of double door and single door Billys, I would leave about 4.5" for a fluted flat casing fit to the front of the cases with just enough relief to be flush with the doors where they might be used, probably centering a double case with glass upper doors between two singles with open tops. The good news here is minimal finished carpentry skills would be required. Two by fours brace the top and bottom cabinets and cheap MDF casing/crown covers everything. Add wood filler and paint and the IKEA origins disappear almost entirely. You just measure your wall and do a little math to figure out how many bookcases you need and how wide the fluted casing should be in the gaps. ......................................... |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: A small town near Wolfsburg, Germany
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So it looks to me not everything comes from China. My photos @ flickr The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. -- Benjamin Franklin |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Not really. Some of it is. And some of it is just ugly. But a lot of it is just fine.
You don't normally want to get the absolute cheapest thing they have (which is usually a smaller, lower-quality, limited-option version of their more popular pieces) - anything with that yellow box around the price in their catalog is probably right out - but a lot of their main "series" pieces are actually surprisingly good for the money. I mean, what other stuff would you get for the money? Flatpack furniture from Target or, more likely, Walmart or Big Lots. Walmart and Big Lots furniture, that's your crap. I'd rather have the LACK side table (just reduced to $7.99 ) than the LACK-alikes that you can find in the "dorm dealz!" section of any department store (and I've had both). The Walmart ripoffs are smaller, much lighter (less dense?), and usually twice the price. If you pay attention to any "design-on-a-dime style shows," they use stuff from IKEA sometimes. A lot of the time. The key is, as Matsu describes, to not use too much of it (if you can help it) and to not get IKEA's crappiest stuff. I'm in love with their CYRIL computer cabinet, for example - it will probably be my next acquisition. It's $200. And it's just as good (better?) as any other $200 computer cabinet on the market. You just have to separate the wheat from the chaff. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
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You are comparing IKEA to Walmart? I mean, I guess if Walmart is your gold standard... You really ought to change your standards.
The expense of consistently replacing your disposable IKEA shit is far higher than saving and buying a decently crafted piece of furniture. IKEA's only useful niche is for people in transition. This covers those with children and those just leaving home. Regardless, it is still shit. The quality is piss poor as you would expect from any company focusing on its products' disposability. I haven't had a piece of IKEA furniture of any grade last longer than a year in fully functional form except for one of their high end rolling kitchen counter things (which wasn't, by comparison to offerings from more traditional companies, worth the money). Yet every piece of furniture I have purchased independently of IKEA has lasted multiple moves in near new quality. The point, ultimately, is that you are better off buying used from a second hand store than buying IKEA. New isn't everything; especially when it means you will be replacing it every two years. |
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M AH - ch ain saw
Join Date: May 2004
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I think the truth is somewhere In the middle. It depends on what you buy not as much where you buy it. I wouldn't want to generalize everything from
ikea because I've gotten crap from high end furniture stores too. You can't beat hand made quality - my futon is Amish made, it's super solid. But my parents have a leather sofa set from IKEA that's lasted 9+ years, it's just now starting to wear. I'm more with Robo on this, but I think the IKEA luster has worn off for me, a little. |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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No, I'm comparing IKEA to anything else at anywhere near the same price points, which is only fair. IOW, a $2,000 Nelson desk being of higher quality than a $200 IKEA one doesn't necessarily reflect poorly on the IKEA desk. One would expect the Nelson to be of higher quality, and of course I'd rather have the Nelson, but I don't have $4,000 to spend on my workstation (oh, if I did...).
I've never had anything from IKEA break on me. The closest is that my spare pillow got lumpy. Maybe you're just a klutz It's not like I'm madly in love with IKEA or something, but saying that everything they make is crap is just not at all accurate, in my experience. Please, do tell me where I should have gotten my furniture. I'd love to know. (To save you the trouble, used options aren't very appealing when you have a very small space to work with and need to maximize the space, or when you're trying to have any sort of cohesive design scheme, or when you're trying to plan what you're going to buy ahead of time, or...) and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
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I was given a Jerker a few years ago by my sister's friend's dad who was clearing out his office. I still have it, it's awesome, especially being able to (essentially) infinitely adjust the height of the worktop and the shelf(ves).
I also really like the look of their LED lights (along with every other person in the Lifehacker Workspace pool...). |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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You do have your good reasons for not want to go to IKEA and that's perfectly fine by me. It's not for everyone. But we can all thank that we're in a free country free to decide what suit us the best. |
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Mr. Vieira
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
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I have things from IKEA (a simple TV/entertainment center, a CD tower, a small three-level bookcase, a bedroom collection, some small organizing boxes, two lamps, a clock and a roll-around utility cart). I'm sure there are some smaller items I'm forgetting...little closet hanger thingies or silverware/junk drawer organizers, etc.).
These were all bought from 1994-2002 (so nothing newer than seven years). The TV thing was first, and we gave it to a neighbor when we moved in 1996, but it lasted - with a heavy TV and other things - for those two years. Everything else, I still have. Do the math. And during that time period above, I'll wager that I moved more than any three people here combined. Orange County, San Diego County, Virginia, back to California, then a different part of California, Nashville, back to California, another in-county move, then to Chattanooga. And some of that stuff was with my ex during those later years, so factor in her various SoCal moves (Carlsbad, Pasadena, Monrovia, San Clemente), plus another Virginia trip (back to Quantico) and a year spent stationed in New Orleans. In other words, that stuff went around the country quite a few times. The bed is perfect, as are both of my night stands. I'm looking at my clock right now. My shelves and cart are currently holding quite a few items (as they have for years). The lamps? Use one every day, gave the other to my Mom for her utility room because it had a nice long swivel arm. CD tower is currently holding little doo-dads (as I no longer have my CDs). And none of the above is a "lie". Maybe we're just careful? Or maybe IKEA's quality in the 90's is different than today? But I've been pretty happy with the items I've purchased from there. A really damn long time ago. |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Wow. This thread got Serious Business, fast.
I promise that I am not lying to strangers on the Internet about the breakage history of my IKEA furniture. I am a little puzzled, though, by the "or you are buying things that can not break" bit. Wouldn't that mean the furniture I purchased is...durable? It seems kind of weird to say that all IKEA furniture breaks, and that the stuff that doesn't "doesn't count." The rest, about me being full of myself or whatever, doesn't really warrant a reply. . You're certainly warranted to your opinion, Internet Stranger Dude, but considering no one who knows me thinks I'm like that I won't have any trouble sleeping at night. On my IKEA mattress. |
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M AH - ch ain saw
Join Date: May 2004
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I thought robots sleep standing up.
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BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope. Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
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Anecdotes that suggest a thesis can be true do not replace one-for-one anecdotes that show it is false. So while it's awesome that people have luck with IKEA stuff, not a single person I know who has ever purchased anything at IKEA has had everything they purchased survive completely intact. Either everyone I know "isn't careful" or "is a klutz," or people who believe in the quality of IKEA are woefully misinformed. This goes further than just people I know, I have been in an IKEA store and seen their own personnel constructed furniture falling to pieces. Or maybe that's just Swedish design? Last edited by billybobsky : 2009-10-15 at 18:38. |
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Maybe you were offended by Robo's off-the-cuff remark about being a klutz, maybe you were horrified at the demo product falling apart (I would be, myself)... I don't know, honestly. As I said, you have valid reasons for believing that IKEA is crappy but your reasons doesn't actually invalidate our reasons for thinking otherwise. Maybe the best we've proven together is that IKEA is hit-or-miss in terms of product quality. I know there has been few products I wouldn't even bother with from IKEA; the bookcase I chose was a product of careful research including other stores for a given price I could afford three years ago when I needed one. Quote:
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Clayton, NC
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I've bought random IKEA furniture for the last 20 years or so (since college days). Yes, some of what I bought would be in the unbreakable, "rug" category (i.e., I recall purchasing a rug from there once), but most (> 80%) is furniture. I still have an old Jerker desk from... let's see... 1994(?). That thing is indestructible. I have a chest of drawers from... I can't even remember. I could probably break it if I tried (unlike the Jerker), but it's in great shape. I have another smaller desk I got about a year ago which is very solid (not falling apart). I have an old table that's fine, a lounge-y type chair that's great (actually it's been outside for a few years), an old coffee table that's now being used to hold workbench-type stuff in the basement (very, very solid). That's just off the top of my head. There's probably more. In case you were wondering, these items are not made of steel. They are all either real wood or, you know, pretend wood. Most of the furniture I've bought from IKEA is gone now. I suppose it may have fallen apart in the hands of whoever had it after me, but I didn't get rid of anything because it was falling apart while I had it; it's just that when you move and get more space, you often want different, larger furniture, IKEA or not. And, like I said, IKEA didn't really fit my style. Also, I moved far away from my closest IKEA. You don't usually buy a big couch or bedroom set from a place that's a 2 hour drive from your house. Ugh. |
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M AH - ch ain saw
Join Date: May 2004
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I saw a homeless man with his cans in a big Ikea plastic bag today. Which reminded me that I really appreciated those big see-through bags back when they had them. They were awesome. Ah well, enviornment first I suppose.
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
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Bump,
Fvcking IKEA has discontinued the Billy floating shelf. Why? WHY!?!?!? These were one of their best products, provided you knew how to mount them. Just when I needed four of them to complete a shelving nook. I don't even care what colour, they'd all get painted anyway, I just needed the fooking shelves. The 110cm shelves were almost the perfect size. I'd have to cut about 5cm off the ends, but since they were going into a nook, no one would ever see the exposed sides. I may have to put something together using hollow core doors. Anyone know of another source for affordable floating shelves ??? ......................................... |
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Antimatter Man
Join Date: May 2004
Location: that interweb thing
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*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
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have you looked on ebay or craiglist?
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Near Indianapolis
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So, my wife has a serious crush on a particular duvet cover there. (This one, if you must know.) It's not available online. Does that mean they've discontinued it? I'll be near the Emeryville, CA store in April, but I'm worried it will sell out before then.
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
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Shit. I meant to say LACK. In my rage I typed Billy. At least in Canada none of the stores seem to have them, or they only have a dwindling supply of the longer 190cm. In store, the clerks will tell you it's marked as discontinued; on the web site it says that the stores are out of stock and the expected delivery date is unavailable.
Really annoying when you're trying to finish a project. ......................................... |
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Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472 Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
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So I have to pull this thread back from the dead because we finally got an IKEA in Tidewater. My wife and I went there to buy a speaker for our kitchen and look around.
I FORGOT HOW BIG THAT PLACE IS! I should have started my "Indoor Walking" workout on my Watch to get credit for all the walking we did. I love how at the halfway point there is a restaurant so you can sit down to eat and recover from the first half. Sadly we didn't budget enough time for that. We ended up getting to the restaurant right when they closed and then only had 30 minutes to make it through the rest of the store, which is the whole bottom half. We of course bought more than the speaker but it was really nice when my wife helped me realize why they are laid out the way they are. The have the showrooms set up with all these little things that if you just saw on a shelf you'd never consider buying it. Once you see it as part of a room though... that is when you really notice it and can envision it in your place. Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.” Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it. |
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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I'm interested to see how IKEA will handle this new world of smart home electronics. All of our lights are LEDs and most of them are from IKEA. They have smart dimmable LEDs now, with a cute little round white remote that looks almost Apple-esque. It's fun, reading this thread so many years later. I'm at a point in my life where I don't need to get $500 all-IKEA bedroom sets any more, but we still have a lot of IKEA furniture. What I usually tell people to do (because people do ask me this stuff) is invest in one or two statement pieces in each room and then mix that in with cheaper IKEA stuff. Like, in my office, I have an obscenely expensive desk from the ironically-named Design Within Reach that I fell in love with, and then I have a Herman Miller chair that I stole from a set I worked on and then everything else is IKEA. As long as you stay away from the very cheapest IKEA stuff (like wire-frame shelves) and layer things with textures so it doesn't look spartan, your room will still look put-together and luxe and nobody will know your secret, unless they're an IKEA maniac like me who can recognize a HEMNES or STRANDMON anywhere. And, Dr. Bobsky, I've still never had a piece of IKEA furniture break on me, and I'd still put their flat-pack furniture up against similarly priced flat-pack furniture from any other big box store. I keep getting suckered into trying Target's furniture and I'm always disappointed with the quality, even if it's not flat-pack, even if it's just an ottoman or something. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: UK's most densely packed city. It's not London...
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Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
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Honestly, most furniture has pretty terrible resale value. Not even just the flat-pack stuff — have you ever tried to sell a sofa? It’s nightmare city, just donate it and save yourself the headache. I think most people just don’t like buying used furniture, unless it’s something really unique or antique and they’re a furniture enthusiast or something. Most new furniture is just so cheap now, and honestly that $3000 sectional from Ashley is just as disposable as one from IKEA, and I think maybe used sofas squick people out a bit, like a used mattress or something. People just don’t see a lot of value in most used furniture. So unless it’s antique or designer furniture you can put in a consignment shop or something, selling used furniture never feels like it’s worth the hassle. Anyway, the only thing that I absolutely wouldn’t get at IKEA is a desk chair. I don’t know what it is but they don’t have any that I like, and they never have. And a good desk chair is so, so important. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
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