department of the interior: home decor

what is the deal with ikea - i went there for the first time on sunday and found it to be WONDERFUL (apart from uh the other people there), yet i sense some stigma attached to this brand name.

we went to eye up some glass doored bookshelves, and then came home inspired to rearrange our whole house and omg what a difference moving furniture makes! our home is so much more... homey!

also moved the cluttered work desk out of the cramped bedroom and into the living room and what a huge difference it has made to the 'vibe' of bedroom - pretty sure im sleeping better now.

^^^ xpost <3 sectional couches.

xpost2, my Ikea order arrived today. I feel a bit stigma-y about it sometimes too but y'know, I don't make a lot of ££ and I managed to get a lot of stuff with what I had. And it looks pretty decent. I would've bought more stuff money permitting. I can see why people don't like Ikea, but I think it's alright.

re: why ikea is disliked -- i think there are a few different types of stigma. i'm not crazy about a lot of their furniture because even if it's at a pretty reasonable price, a lot of it simply isn't very durable or well-made, and also for the fact that if you are looking for something other than sleek modular modern design you're pretty much out of luck. the furniture isn't horrible (except some of the chairs, which i hate), and i do have some ikea stuff, but i tend to think of it as temporary furniture, only there until i find something better on consignment or craigslist or whatever.

for other people, who are big fans if fight club and/or adbusters, it represents a sell-out yuppie corporate-sanitized lifestyle for brainwashed sheeple. one-stop lifestyle shopping, or something.

i like ikea for offering a lot of decent, simple smaller merchandise for cheap -- i went a few weeks ago and got some dishes, flour sifter, butcher block, bathroom organizers, glass storage jars, etc.

Yes, there's all of that, plus I've also heard an argument that it's a 'big box' store promoting urban sprawl and car dependency because their stores are usually in suburbs or city fringes inaccessible to those without a vehicle or a lot of public transpotation willpower.

transportation

Eh there are lots of big box stores, if it weren't for IKEA it's not like people would buy locally hand-made wooden furniture. And IKEA's flat-packing is probably way more energy efficient to ship than normal manufacturer's products are.

also they are basically socialists, which is great!

I live halfway between the two nearest IKEA stores to me -- One's in Houston and the other's in Chicago.

I've got friends in St. Louis who roadtrip to the Chicago one (or Schaumberg, whatever the fuck) to shop at IKEA.

maybe Greater Toronto Area could stand to lose one of its FOUR surrounding Ikeas in favour of the Canadian/US middle areas

geez, Toronto

I am obssed w trolling through Apartment Therapy looking for rooms I like. In particular, I want to buy a wall of Billy bookshelves from IKEA and paint the backs of the units some bright color and make them look built-in.

ooh that is smart. i need to get on this. i think shelving purchase/room painting will be my reward for turning in 1st draft of thesis!

i'm thinking i might abandon my wall shelving idea because i know i will never actually get them hung properly and i am worried about overweighting them. i may just have to find some inventive new arrangement for furniture to squeeze in another bookshelf?

http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/3/2/13/f_201m_b2565e6.jpg

I've gotten sooo much stuff out since my roommate moved out and I'm much happier with my place recently, now I just have to get moving on building some shelving to replace my current liquor cabinet and glassware storage, which is made of cardboard boxes.

wow!

would you like to come design my apartment?

The cardboard boxes are, admittedly, kind of rad.

Jpgs here pls

I'm sure it's some kind of mid-century cliche by now, but I can't shake the desire to paint my future living room robin's-egg blue and accent it with white woodwork and dark wood furniture and cream-and-gold carpets. It's total real estate erotica: I fantasize about washing the picture rails and putting out my (modest) Frankoma collection.

Specifically, this 8-foot-square rug:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e66/LimitedLiabilityGirl/P11887881.jpg

I DIED, you have far too much furniture. i think you need to strip it back a tad.

that rug <3

hahaha jed I have actually thought about getting rid of the chair but it was my great-grandmother's!

Laurel before you posted the picture of the rug your description sounded very early 19th-century Federal rather than mid-century modern!

I was kind of thinking of the white woodwork being egg and dart molding, though.

would you like to come design my apartment?

― lucky girl LOL (tehresa), Friday, February 13, 2009 10:16 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

step 1: put stuff in a closet, starting with the most important stuff and moving down from there

step 2: once the closet is full, throw everything else out.

done!

No, Brian, more like this.

Altho some of the stuff in that shot is a little too fussy for me, and the blue is too light/pastel. But you get the idea.

However, our realtor just reposted the ad for the apt on CL so we may not be moving in after all....

closet has too many skeletons for stuff!

oh no laurel I hope you get the space!

Laurel, more like this?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/colinohara/2960652988_1f9b5418bf.jpg

Yes, JUST like that. Orange/red/coral accents OBVIOUSLY to be expected. :D

Ugh, this is making me ill.

Oh dear I even have an early 1900's Remington typewriter, found on the street. I am a cliche.

you only think that way because you look at the blogs and recognise your own taste in other peoples things. it will be unique to you when you actually realise it and it's quite singular by 99.9% of peoples standards.

or rather against their standards.

Anybody have experience with temporary wall stickers? White walls are killing me and I have no desire to paint an apartment.

http://storesense4.megawebservers.com/stores/m/modernwallgraphics.com/catalog/ROUNDSQ_image.JPG

Wall stickers work and are easy. Blik is good. I especially like them applied to (non-upholstered) furniture. Get something that looks good applied to less than a whole wall, otherwise it gets very expensive.

i looked at wall stickers @ ikea but then realized that they are probably not a good idea for a rental space.

anyone have experience mounting ikea's bookcases to the wall? they all recommend you do so to prevent tipping over. how much of a pain in the ass is it?

v easy if you have a drill, rawplugs and a screwdriver.

i am really bad at drills u_u

but thank you!

Get something that looks good applied to less than a whole wall

yeah that's the key - I don't think what I posted would look good covering half a wall or just the center (6x6 square for instance). or would it

T, I've never attached ANY Ikea furniture to a wall, not even tall things. I do recommend going to a hardware store and buying a packet of wooden shims -- thin little wedges of soft wood that you can break or cut to length, and use them to slightly tilt your bookshelf backwards -- not enough to make it unsteady, but just to transfer the weight to the back rather than the front. Especially useful if your floor is slightly sloped.

One packet of shims would have lasted me three or four moves, if I didn't keep losing them in between. I can't find my screwdrivers, either.

ooh that sounds smart.

A lot of taller IKEA furniture includes a short woven nylon strap and screws to attach it to the wall - anything floorstanding shouldn't need to be anchored but the strap is good insurance if anyone pulls on the piece of furniture accidentally. It's not holding any of the weight of the piece, just making sure it stays upright.

Yeah, I'd never have any confidence in a fully loaded bookshelf being held up by a screw in a piece of drywall, if someone pulled on it that hard. I probably shouldn't be dissuading anyone from using the recommended safety precautions, though.

tza im not sure what the ikea attachments are like but you can get these safety wall straps from home depot/lowes etc for maybe $5(?) in the child safety section. theyre easy to put on and the straps are pretty easy to de/attach so you just attach one side to the bookcase, one side to the wall then hook the strap together. easy peasey. that said, im sure ikea just say that so they dont get lawsuits from people with squished shelf climbing kids

oh sounds like the strap i died is talking about

The key here is not to try to violently pull your bookcases toward you.

if you can resist

That's why I got rid of most of my books, personal safety. The temptation is too great.