IKEA: classic or dud?

I started a "case" with Ikea - I'm going to try to get them to deliver a replacement and just have their goons put it together b/c I have no time with the beginning of law school right now.

to be honest, I think that H may have destroyed some of the peg holes by hammering too hard (she tried to do some of it by herself earlier). But this is inconsequential. Cardinal rule: it is not your wife's fault, it is Ikea's fault.

Oh man, there isn't an Ikea anywhere near us, but already I have this sweet scapegiat! Thx Hurtnig.

i *love* putting together ikea and ikea-like stuff.
LOVE. IT.

I've put together lots of Ikea stuff in the past and I usually like it. This was by far the worst I've ever dealt with. The thing just needs a couple more screws or braces or something to keep the shelves even and keep the pegs from popping out while you're assembling it.

I have to admit my MALM bed squeaks a bit. But the boys might not have screwed it all together properly, dunno. It sits solidly enough. I should point out the shelves to the side of it are a new addition to the MALM set: theyre seperate, and a bitch to assemble. They slide in behind the headboard under a shelf: handy!

The Malm bed was tempting, with its handy headboard, but it wouldn't accept the Sultan Alsarp storage base that I love so much. I really want to stop using Ikea words now. Can you imagine working there??

Hurting, iirc the 5x5 Expedit required both of us toward the end of assembly - one to hammer and one to hold everything together. With the 4x4, it's a one-person job, but the larger one is a different beast.

Can you imagine working there??

You mean it wouldn't be all meatballs and swedish fishes while we shelved Billy bits and Omar legs and Malm parts?

Beside it is Olivia Newton John's "Physical" melted and molded into a bowl to hold my head bands :D

hahaha awesome!!! did you make it yourself?

-- tehresa, Tuesday, August 19, 2008 12:23 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Yeah it's really easy! Stick your oven on 200 degrees or so, place a record on a coffee can, and it gets hot enough in 30-45 seconds that you can take it out and mold it. If you don't like the shape, you can stick it back into the oven and try again! I have a few in my bathroom actually, I made one into a sort of triangle shape that holds all the hairbrushes in one neat, tidy place by their bristles. (xpost)

I really, really want an expedit. I have a bunch of Billy bookcases, some of which I painted, but the Expedit just appeals to my shelf-crazy psychosis.

Hurting, iirc the 5x5 Expedit required both of us toward the end of assembly - one to hammer and one to hold everything together. With the 4x4, it's a one-person job, but the larger one is a different beast.

Yes, we did that part with two people, but it wouldn't hold. Some of the peg holes just wouldn't take and pegs kept sliding out, while others seemed too tight and the pegs just wouldn't go in no matter how hard we hammered (and of course continuing to hammer the tight ones seemed to make the loose ones worse)

yeah, an expedit really seems dreamy right now. i wonder if i got rid of one of my desks if there would be room? the 2nd desk is really used as shelfy space anyway, since i don't have enough shelving.

I probably posted this picture already but I want to show off my IKEA painting skillz!

http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-snc1/v274/224/57/516053577/n516053577_632252_6566.jpg

I still haven't painted the extra shelves that slip in, or stuck wallpaper on the other shelf's backing... booo. Maybe I should try to do that this weekend while I can still work outside :(

kind of a silly execution but lol idea - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ygeihSPlk

Classic in the main but mail order's dud. £50 to ship a Billy bookcase, that's taking the Michael.

http://carpetblog.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/ikea_1.jpg

Ikea Brooklyn has the most appalling customer service I have ever dealt with in my life. I would like to see some of the people I have dealt with over the last week and a half (to resolve a simple $400 refund) fucked in the ass with grundtaal rails, and I'm generally neither vindictive nor particularly picky about customer service.

Never again.

I wish my life was perfect like in the IKEA catalogue.

We got all 4 Expedits apart with only one smashed finger, one chipped shelf, and two missing pegs. Re-assembly starts tomorrow night, oh joy.

I dig the malm bed but sadly it wouldn't fit in our bedroom. Good thing we decided to measure before we bought it.

Ended up with the HEIMDAL bedframe with two HELMER office file cabinets for bedside tables:

http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/63448_PE171057_S3.jpg

Expedit reassembly is not going too badly at all:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3196/2809850452_46b1112de8.jpg
I have to glue the chipped shelf before the 2nd brown shelf gets put back together, but otherwise it's looking good.

looks like you live in a *loft*

We do, at that - converted 1904 rope factory/warehouse.

moving 7 or 8 blocks in my neighborhood, and decided the 5x5 expedit didnt have a chance of making it through the foyer/staircase at the new place unless i took it apart. things were going okay, but then a few pegs broke off in the peg-holes. i know i can get new pegs, but has anyone here had luck with extracting the broken pegs? some are sticking out, so i can grab em with pliers, but some are not. my idea is to screw a small screw partway into the peg, then pull out the peg/screw combo.

any advice? i really had to write carefully to avoid some HILARIOUS pun about pegging/screwing

my idea is to screw a small screw partway into the peg, then pull out the peg/screw combo.

Sounds like a good plan to me!

(xp) Your idea sounds pretty good. Those pegs are made of fairly soft wood, so you may be able to drive a small diameter screw into them without them splitting, but you may want to pre-drill just to make sure. If that doesn't work I'd suggest just drilling a hole the same diameter as the peg to pretty much erase it. If you do that you'll probably need to use some epoxy or wood glue w/ the new pegs when you reassemble.

If the peg splits, that may just make it easier to extract with pliers.

69, do you have a set of needlenose pliers? Could be useful.

i do have needlenose pliers, but no drill. as an unfortunate aside, the drill i borrowed from my new neighbor last night (he's a landscaper) had something on it that im allergic to, so my hand and wrist are red and swollen today wtf

I started trying to put together our Ikea crib last night. For the mattress support section, you have to attach each slat individually to the frame using these wooden "nails" that you're supposed to hammer into holes in the frame. Of course, this being an Ikea product, many of the holes don't actually seem to be big enough for the nails, so I'm sitting there pounding and pounding, worried I'm going to break something, and the slats are still loose and rattly. There's nothing to boost the tension of an Ikea construction project like the knowledge that if you screw it up, it could potentially maim your newborn child.

Having re-assembled an Expedit before I recommend making some sort of note of which part is which, and which way around they go. It obviously flexes a bit with the weight of the contents, and putting it back together the same way is probably* easier than trying to bend it all in new ways.

*I say probably because I haven't tried it, it just can't be more difficult than not doing it.

in the next two weeks we have to move our L-shaped IKEA couch from the basement to the third floor, where we're moving. not looking forward to the unavoidable weaknening of the couch's structure as a result. :(

PIVAT

ha ha "shut uuuupppp"

http://ewpopwatch.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/blerg_l.jpg

Back from IKEA Zaventem (near Brussels)! It was mid-afternoon, so I didn't get the chance to go and eat Köttbular or Gravad Lax. :-(

But I did get me 2 red PANNÅ, 1 beige SAXÅN RUND, a MOLGER with wheels, a blue SOLSTA PÄLLBO, a TRÄBY, a BEKVÄM with wheels as well and a NJUTA brush, y'all. All for less than €200. Yäy! However, now the procrastinating starts (I'm going to put everything together, like, tomorrow or Saturday when I feel like it!)

thinking about getting some expedit shelves off craigslist.

Second hand? :-/

Yeah, plenty of 2X4 units for $40-$75.

Is the stuff they sell in Belgium the same as the stuff they sell in the US?

Surely it's the same everywhere? I got the Edland chest of drawers <3
More expensive than what I'd usually pay ($199 - I did check craigslist for a long time but nothing doing) but really needed something like that and I'd been admiring it for some time beforehand... annoyingly the paint on the front was scratched when we unpacked it. I might colour it in with a pencil...

http://gizmodo.com/5634257/ikea-let-loose-a-herd-of-100-cats-into-store-to-see-what-happens

After three years, IKEA and its subsidiary have finally agreed to meet with their workers about forming a union so they can put a stop to racial discrimination, pay cuts, and dangerous conditions on the job. The stakes are high, and these workers need your support. Help us keep the pressure up by calling your local IKEA store.

http://act.americanrightsatwork.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=8769#TN

please do this, btw

this does not apply if you live in the EU of course, where IKEA workers are unionized

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.

I didn't know giving birth made your hands bleed :-(

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.

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.

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?

IKEA is amazing bcz it's like Legos for grown ups and when yr done you have new furniture!

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.

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.

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.