this does not apply if you live in the EU of course, where IKEA workers are unionized
― 40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 9 June 2011 17:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Holy fucking shit putting together my Effectiv cabinet today was like giving birth -- three basic units plus base plus cabinet doors plus drawers. My hands actually started bleeding spontaneously at one point.
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Monday, 7 November 2011 03:11 (twelve years ago) link
I didn't know giving birth made your hands bleed :-(
― StanM, Monday, 7 November 2011 09:49 (twelve years ago) link
The main problem is the 'self-drilling screws' that you sometimes have to put in actually don't drill themselves into the boards very well. Eventually I figured out to just make a small starting hole with a nail first. I also managed to do a couple of things upside down and had to switch them.
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Monday, 7 November 2011 12:31 (twelve years ago) link
never buying shit from here again, mark my words. finally have a house, did get a small loveseat, all you really had to do was screw the legs on and it still took three hours and I wasn't completely successful.
― akm, Monday, 7 November 2011 15:36 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know what you people are like at following instructions, but it's never taken me more than a half a day to put together even the most complicated IKEA furniture. Maybe I should start offering my services as an IKEA assembler. £30/hour sound good to you?
― Chewshabadoo, Monday, 7 November 2011 15:50 (twelve years ago) link
IKEA is amazing bcz it's like Legos for grown ups and when yr done you have new furniture!
― Parker Posey as herself dancing to house music in NYC in 1995 (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 7 November 2011 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
Going to IKEA on Wednesday! Though we don't actually need anything at this point...I'm told our main objective is new Christmas decorations; I'll be stocking up on pickled herring.
― fun drive (seandalai), Monday, 7 November 2011 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
1) I was strangely elated the morning I discovered Ikea's coffee is bad. Maybe it was the proof that there was SOMETHING Ikea couldn't do right, and this will delay its takeover of the world?
2) I like my Ikea mattress.
― stop me before i eat again (j.lu), Monday, 7 November 2011 18:39 (twelve years ago) link
i went to ikea for the first time ever yesterday. it was like a lazyriver of 10000 people, i was hardly ever able to find an eddy out of the way of 5 other people. i really hated the shopping experience. a lot of the furniture seemed very low to the ground, but the floor was too busy for me to really check anything out.
i suspect i'll buy something there at some point, but i won't go there on a weekend ever again.
― dead precedents politics as usual (Hunt3r), Monday, 7 November 2011 19:41 (twelve years ago) link
I made the observation on our last trip that Ikea, strangely, seems to have a highly successful business model based on a shopping experience that is almost universally hated. I mean maybe that's just my slanted, anecdotal version of things, but I heard so many couples having similar conversations about how much they hated the rat maze, how tiring it was, how they felt all this pressure to buy extra crap they didn't need, etc. Whenever I go to an Ikea I think that I never want to go again, and I usually don't for at least a couple more years. OTOH I tend to load up on stuff every time I go.
― pass the duchy pon the left hand side (musical duke) (Hurting 2), Monday, 7 November 2011 19:47 (twelve years ago) link
http://semihandmadedoors.com/
really smart new business that makes custom doors to be installed on IKEA kitchen cabinets. You can get better kitchen cabinets than IKEA but you have to spend like 5x as much to do so.
― spiced with KNOWING THAT YOU'VE PAID YOUR BILLS (I DIED), Monday, 7 November 2011 19:57 (twelve years ago) link
Wow that's an awesome idea, but I wish their cabinet doors were more interesting - many of them don't look all that different than the ones Ikea offers. Except for the Premium --> Reclaimed which are pretty amazing.
I've renovated several kitchens w/Ikea cabinets. Besides being well made, inexpensive, and fooling most people into thinking it's high-end cabinetry, they're also far easier to install than traditional cabinets. Hang a metal rail high on the wall, put hooks on it, and hang your cabinets - much easier than the usual two-person job that requires temporarily nailing a wood support to the wall to aid placement and having to be careful not to let the cabinet slip off it and crash to the floor. The base cabinets, instead of requiring shims to level it, just have adjustable legs. Why aren't all cabinets like this?
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Monday, 7 November 2011 21:12 (twelve years ago) link
a friend of mine has these amazing glossy red IKEA cabinets in his kitchen and it's the coolest, most distinctive thing ever
― dense macabre (DJP), Monday, 7 November 2011 21:15 (twelve years ago) link
Whoa, pics plz!
― Parker Posey as herself dancing to house music in NYC in 1995 (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 7 November 2011 23:41 (twelve years ago) link
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b7df02b3127ccec07b4b962adc00000010O08Ebs3LZu2bA9vPh4/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b7df02b3127ccec07bdd82abb300000010O08Ebs3LZu2bA9vPh4/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
I have some much better ones but this is what I could find now. A $1500 kitchen remodel - what looks and feels like a tile backsplash is a sheet of tileboard I cut to fit, the "stone" flooring is $1 vinyl stick-on tiles, and what looks like a granite countertop (thanks to the rolled edges) is laminated particle board stocked at the hardware store. Ikea Adel Brown cabinets.
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 04:07 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, ya wanna see amazing *glossy red* IKEA cabinets.....
http://kitchenideas.com.au/ikea_abstrakt_kitchen.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/428694108_98333e046b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/177/478689606_97a065d41c_o.jpg
http://www.istils.lv/upload/pagegal/661281_abstrakt_red2.jpg
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/26958_377011379292_327673079292_3523374_1576036_n.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/68/223297027_59ef18b0c9.jpg
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 04:47 (twelve years ago) link
ya those are the ones he has, with tile and stainless steel appliances, it's the most gorgeous kitchen
― dense macabre (DJP), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 04:52 (twelve years ago) link
http://us.cdn4.123rf.com/168nwm/snake3d/snake3d1101/snake3d110100037/8669898-two-heart-shapes-i-love-you-concept-sexy-couple-abstract-beautiful-saint-valentines-day-card-templat.jpg
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 04:57 (twelve years ago) link
one more:
http://www.womenseverything.com/images/ikea_abstrakt_high_gloss_kitchen_avail_red_black_grey.jpg
I actually like the metal-flake grey under glossy clear vinyl cabs even better.
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 05:01 (twelve years ago) link
....like these:
http://www.graceinottawa.com/images/Stylish-Grey-Kitchen-Inspiration-By-Ernestomeda-1.jpg
blue looks cool too
http://www.neffweb.com/images/cont/eurolite-1.jpg
good handles + good lighting to create shadows = awesome looking kitchen or wet bar
http://www.neffweb.com/images/cont/millennia-1.jpg
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 05:30 (twelve years ago) link
I enjoy that blue kitchen shot taken when sky outside matched cabinets 0_0I would happily exist in any of these kitchens
― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 14:21 (twelve years ago) link
Lee626 could we maybe get one of those for $1500?
― Parker Posey as herself dancing to house music in NYC in 1995 (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 14:28 (twelve years ago) link
Depends how close you are to DC (or northeast US which gives me a good excuse to visit a gf there more often). But they're nothing magic about my renovations - anyone can do it really, I just carefully choose items that look expensive but aren't. Sometimes I do splurge, but carefully. Fancy handles or knobs can make ordinary cabinets look special. A few small colored glass 2" diamond tiles can be set in a piece of tileboard, and everyone will think you spent a fortune on your backsplash. Ikea cabinets of course, but sometimes I throw in one or two matching-look cabinets from a high-end cabinetmaker, like a curved 12" radius cabinet in a corner, and only you will know you have one cabinet that accounted for 40% of your cabinet expenditure - ppl will know you didn't use cheap Ikea cabinets 'cause they don't make round ones. Prefabricated laminate countertops with rolled edges, sold at the big home centers or Ikea. For appliances, instead of buying cheap new ones, spend the same money on high-end used ones, scouring Craigslist and eBay for bargains. You'll find lots of 5- to 10-year-old luxury grade stainless-steel stoves, Sub-Zero built-in refrigerators, or Miele dishwashers for a few hundred each. Likewise for elegant sinks and faucetry.
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 16:32 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, I was totally kidding. But I am in Philly and I do plan on buying a house someday, so...
― Parker Posey as herself dancing to house music in NYC in 1995 (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
But srsly damn bro, those are some A+ pro-tips!!
― Parker Posey as herself dancing to house music in NYC in 1995 (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 16:46 (twelve years ago) link
LOLling out loud at me being considered "pro"! I occasionally moonlight as a kitchen and bath renovator. I don't really daylight at anything....
I'll post some more pix later that are hiding somewhere on my old computer's hard drive. I have one where I repositioned the existing 40-year-old wood cabinets, added three new glass-and-aluminum Ikea cabinets between them ($295 for all three), and somehow it came out looking like all the cabinets were new.
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 17:03 (twelve years ago) link
My latest Ikea purchases.... make of these what you will....http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/24037_PE108848_S3.jpghttp://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/idgran-cushion__0135632_PE292376_S4.JPG http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/idgran-cushion__0135632_PE292376_S4.JPGhttp://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/tindra-scented-tealight__0085474_PE213265_S4.JPG(cinnamon & apple scented)
― Everything else is secondary (Lee626), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 18:47 (twelve years ago) link
congratulations on your impending booty-getting
― dense macabre (DJP), Tuesday, 8 November 2011 19:51 (twelve years ago) link
man i really hate going to ikea.
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Sunday, 9 December 2012 23:02 (eleven years ago) link
NEVER AGAIN
Thought this thread got bumped because of the monkey (wearing a little coat!) found in a Toronto IKEA today. http://torontoist.com/2012/12/ikea-monkey-ikea-monkey/
― she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Sunday, 9 December 2012 23:29 (eleven years ago) link
O_O ikea redeemed.
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Sunday, 9 December 2012 23:30 (eleven years ago) link
seriously though, i don't understand the love for that place. it's fucking insane in there. the cafeteria is not good either. always makes me gassy.
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Sunday, 9 December 2012 23:32 (eleven years ago) link
just full of screaming people and it's a goddamn maze i tell you
how do you not take a video of this monkey?
― toy_sleigher (Sufjan Grafton), Sunday, 9 December 2012 23:34 (eleven years ago) link
and yeah the cafeteria is awful. it can be a savior if you're hung over, though.
I <3 the IKEA monkey.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 9 December 2012 23:52 (eleven years ago) link
what a stylish fellow
― the oral history of (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Monday, 10 December 2012 00:02 (eleven years ago) link
I don't hate IKEA, I like the caf and the walk-through part! I just hate getting your pieces together and standing in line at the end, and then having to get them HOME. It's all a lead-up to the horrible part, which is carrying way too much home on multiple subways and/or buses.
― grossly incorrect register (in orbit), Monday, 10 December 2012 00:09 (eleven years ago) link
PS the next thing I want from there is a dining table so I guess I should start being nice to someone with a car.
btw i broke at least one wine glass on the way home because it was stupidly packed in the bottom of a huge back.
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Monday, 10 December 2012 00:15 (eleven years ago) link
also i have about a million christmas sausages
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Monday, 10 December 2012 00:16 (eleven years ago) link
http://distilleryimage9.instagram.com/58ccedb6423811e2979622000a1fb04f_6.jpg
i thought i was a basically heartless person but goddamn if this isnt the saddest photo ever taken :(
― r|t|c, Monday, 10 December 2012 00:19 (eleven years ago) link
ikea is just about the lease stressful furniture buying experience out there. unless you're loaded then buying forniture is all pretty stressful and at least in ikea you can have fun if you just decide to go with it.
― jed_, Monday, 10 December 2012 00:23 (eleven years ago) link
fun in ikea looks like a photogenic couple spinning their goods trolley around & hugging in front of the wine glasses, a montage set to sugar pie honey bunch, like there's always this homemaking scene going on somewhere around you while you're glibly deciding whether you need a weirdly dimensioned bowl that you don't need but which is basically too cheap to not buy
― what is google (schlump), Monday, 10 December 2012 01:08 (eleven years ago) link
I don't hate ikea at all but yeah it sucks if you go there w/o a car because it's like idk going to a p good restaurant and being allowed to taste and chew the food presented to you but there is a maitre'd who physically prevents you from swallowing it and makes you spit it out into a bin
― 乒乓, Monday, 10 December 2012 01:12 (eleven years ago) link
and you never ever feel like paying for car service or delivery service because then it doesn't feel cheap anymore and what's the point of going if it's not cheap!
― 乒乓, Monday, 10 December 2012 01:13 (eleven years ago) link
it's just not worth it
― iatee, Monday, 10 December 2012 01:15 (eleven years ago) link
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Sunday, 9 December 2012 23:02 (Yesterday) Permalink
Me too man. And I think it actually has been at least a year and a half since I've gone, because of this hatred. Although we've had our eye on a bed from there for a while, and I guess eventually when we have the extra money we'll go get it.
― drunk 'n' white's elements of style (Hurting 2), Monday, 10 December 2012 01:30 (eleven years ago) link