IKEA: classic or dud?

and oh yeah the ikea in massachusetts was insane. but insane in a good way. like it's own country. or it's own airport or something. we were in a hurry, otherwise we probably would have dropped a lot more dough there.

maria found these nice shelves at an estate sale. same place we got our almost new couch. they are in my upstairs "office".

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2300/1564574285_a061378559.jpg?v=0

and she just got me a nice recliner at another estate sale for ten bucks. every office needs a good recliner.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2281/1564574193_5c736701e5.jpg?v=0

there are still records in the closet, but at least they are out of the boxes.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2134/1565456024_cb4b0ec065.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2121/1564574483_aa6c63f7d7.jpg?v=0

IKEA is useful. Especially with those of use with micro apartments. Rundown of what is in my apartment currently:

Folding leaf table and pantry:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/119/306888020_9f5c3786e5.jpg

Table close-up:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/118/306890751_b1da79e002.jpg

The shelf of the left. The cabinets were there when we moved it, but they might be IKEA for all I know:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/99/306883931_e57dd05daa.jpg

Office desk:

Also have the coffee table with storage baskets, and another shelf in the living room.

Office desk:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/114/306891355_d812ff5682.jpg

were the cats from ikea too?

Ikea is pretty classic just for lighting alone. After spending the weekend checking out random fancy-pants furniture and light shops while roaming around Portland I came to realize how great Ikea lights are.

Both the bedside lamps in my bedroom, one living room floor lamp, one table lamp, and four of the ceiling lights in my kitchen, hallway, dining room, and living room are all from Ikea for a total cost of maybe $250 or so. I could easily have spent twice that on one table lamp at a place like Lux in Portland. Even at Home Depot ceiling lights run at least $50. And I actually like the Ikea lights.

I guess I can't comprehend spending $700 on a single lamp, or $3500 on a coffee table (though if I ever win the lottery I'm totally buying two Eames chairs) when I can something that I still think looks pretty good for so much cheaper.

There are a bunch of cut-rate furniture stores full of odd asian stuff in SF that totally rule over IKEA. Hell, even Cost Plus World Market >>> IKEA.

i have some stuff from them, my bed is the biggest thing, which i really like. and it wasn't hard at all to put together wtf!

i'm leery of having too much ikea in my place, tbh

scott may i ask how you file your records? chron? bpm? alphabet? genre? random?

It was classic the othe evening for about seven minutes, I'd chosen a fairly decent drawing table. Then as we got to the aisles all the bits had sold out, which wasn't stated on the tags. It was dud then until we had lunch there and the fish was amazing.

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6919139

I'm about to furnish like half of my tiny new apartment with Ikea - there's just nothing else as cheap and space-efficient that still looks half ok, even if a lot of it is particle board. Most likely will put in a 5x5 Expedit shelf with the desk that attaches (it's big and only $50 extra)

Attaches like so:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/ny/5-16-expedit-new-3.jpg

but I intend to make a corner piece out of it so that the desk is coming out of the end instead of the center.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ndrobinson/Misc/photo?authkey=jxUJ-wIwE9s#5234926144735517570

^^ A Tullsta ($99 upholstered chair) duct-taped, bungie-corded and tied to my 1993 Saturn after a visit to the Sacramento store (I live in the San Joaquin Valley now, no longer a vermonter).

I still think it's amazing that they come up with names for EVERY product in the store considering how many old ones they retire and new ones they introduce. I mean every fucking flower pot, hook, shelf, dish, trash can etc. has a name.

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t309/ndrobinson/221654758405_0_1.jpg

oops!

That's a great looking chair

http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/19431_PE104724_S3.jpg

A nice enough chair. They buried the legs underneath the cushion, and it took me a day to find them. When I first sat on the tiny, legless chair (it came up to my knees), I sat uncomfortably and then rationalized it by thinking Swedes are just shorter and anyway maybe this is the style now. Eventually I found the legs and felt a wave of relief.

i have that chair. even with the legs on it is tiny. i disapprove.

I'm also thinking of that Expedit desk, Hurting. We have 2 of the 4x4 and 2 of the 5x5 Expedits that will make up the walls of the office area/guest room. I can't tell if it takes up space at the bottom of the 2 cubes it attaches to, in the pictures - that would be okay on the ones we use for books but not for the LP ones. Also considering the flexibility of a separate movable desk, which might win.

This will be the 8th time we will have taken the 4x4 expedits apart and moved them - they are still good after all that abuse. The 5x5s go together differently, and this will be the first time we'll deconstruct and move them - wondering how they will fare.

Okay, so maybe this is discussed somewhere on the thread, but I didn't see it: Is there any IKEA shelving that works well for records? I had built-ins at my old house but since I moved all my vinyl is still in crates in the attic because I haven't found anywhere to put them.

Search for Expedit on this thread, after you have displayed all the answers. They are perfect for LPs.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/images/uploads/11-15-storage-bed-1.jpg

This is the Sultan Alsarp (not listed on the US website, for some reason, but available in stores) and it has the capacity (pun intended) to change lives. My queen sized version has space equivalent to a good-sized wardrobe. And it's easy to life/lower.

oh, want that bed! We shove boxes under ours, but a bed like that would keep the cats out. (see: cat vomit thread)

Yeh, it's great. I got it with 7-7/8" high legs, so I can store stuff in those wheeled under-box beds.

that looks nice! what's the best ikea shelving/unit i can get for use in a v. limited space room? need moar storage!

Wow, Jesse, that is OUT OF CONTROL storage capacitude!

My best bud, her family was poor and they had to move every six months or so. Evictions, something, I don't know. But her dad had BOXES and BOXES of Playboys/Hustlers/etc., which she was pretty bitter about having to help carry around from house to house. (This gave her brothers a lot of leeway for favors: trading weed for some Playboys, etc.) ANYWAY, I was thinking: 1. That bed is kind of the ultimate solution to hiding porn under your bed and 2. It would have been nice for her so she could carry the bed and not a bunch of McDonald's fry boxes marked "PLAYBOYS." (NB: the boxes McDonalds gets their fries in are perfect for moving records: just the right dimensions and double corrugated.)

*whew*

I want that bed.

I also want to get one of those fold-out indoor clothes drying racks, but I don't know about Ikea's...they look kind of dangerous (ie flimsy).

Can you put your own mattress on that bed, Jesse? Or is its matteress attached to the..top? The lid?

I don't know why I'm even asking, I couldn't afford the thing. But still: covet covet covet.

I bought the bed base and mattress separately. Queen size base was $300, and the legs were like $10. It takes a standard queen sized mattress. Also available in other std. sizes. If sold by the pound, this bed would still cost $300, and that is not an exaggeration.

Abbott, I have one of the wire foldout clothes drying racks - has been the best $8 (or whatev, was cheap) I've spent at Ikea. Holds lots of stuff, doesn't have to be completely unfurled so saves space, has been very durable. I've even worked out how to dry king-size flat sheets on it.

Oh hells yeah! I just have to see, now, if they are available via the international network.

Oh wait, do you have to attach it to a wall, tho? Our wall is adobe and it barely likes having to hold up a small, lightweight frame.

Nope, this one I've got stands on its own - initial unfold and it is an A-frame, then there are two wings that can be opened up too.

We move so much I don't own anything that requires permanent attachment.

This rack. Its name is FROST.

I don't remember it being $20, but I have had it for over 8 years now. Inflation!

need to get me one of them; dryer broke.

Jesse: You put your weed in there.

I can't decide if I want one.

It got too hot to run the dryer in our flat about 2 months ago, so that rack's seen a lot of use. The electricity bill dropped almost $20/month too as a nice side benefit.

It takes about 8 minutes for clothes to dry outside here, and ~20 for towels. Less time than it takes to wash a batch anyway. We have no dryer, which is fine, but no clothesline either. Towels/pants are okay to dry on the deck chairs, but I am feeling kind of silly drying all my underwear on top of the guinea pig cages, and all my shirts on hangers on every doorknob. Not enough room in the casa for all the clothes. A rack wld be nice, too, so I could dry things during the winter (if I did this outdoors, it would yield frozen clothes).

But that one isn't available online. :(

Hutring's desk looks pretty damned BOSS as well. Jealous jealous.

I never covet furniture! What's happening to me???

nesting!

I have all the furniture I need. Somehow everything I got was a hand-me-down. Did you know very many people have at least one TV they want to get rid of? Not to mention comfy chairs.

man i know, there is no room for more furniture here, but i would love a nice chair in my room!

ditto! with an ottoman!

Our ottoman serves as a stepstool for the short, long dog to jump on the couch.

We had to get someone to put together our PAX/KOMPLEMENT wardrobe because the thing is freakin huge with giant doors. We got halfway done with expedit but we had to hammer in those little pegs and we were afraid the noise was bad for the neighbors so we'll finish tomorrow.