Ikea

Good luck. Girls are absolutely crazy for that place, regardless of the quality. I scored a pretty decent white loveseat at IKEA before moving into my apartment, for very cheap. Also two bar stools which took three hours to figure out how to assemble, and some kitchenware. It has all held up so far.

 

"It's total crap" is kind of a broad generalization.

Some stuff is better than others. Anything that takes a lot of kids pounding is going to break down. But you can't beat their bookcases for longevity or value.

We bought a leather sofa there before Xmas.

We had looked everywhere but short of going to some place like Ridpath's in Toronto where a nice leather sofa is around $10,000, if you don't like that overstuffed crap, you're shit out of luck shopping at the mall/power centre furniture stores.

Most Ikea stuff, unlike a lot of mass designed North American furniture, is clean and simple.

And putting the stuff together is a snap.

 

I picture Hell to be a super-sized Ikea store.

A maze with no eventual exit.

 

my ikea coffee table is great

 

Oh, you have to know the shortcuts. They're there.

Hell would be a Wal-Mart with a greeter at the end of every aisle.

 

Ikea is a cross between Sam's Club and Disneyland.

Some stuff is crap, but they've also got higher-end stuff that stands up well. Their gadgets are cheap and great. I love my $2 apple slicer - wasn't going to pay $20 for the Pampered Chef version.

I also like that I can buy cheap furniture that matches, so I can escape feeling as if I live like a frat boy, even if the reality is that I do.

Also, because I move so much, it's great to have stuff that you can easily take apart and put back together that packs flat.

 

I've got a coupla things from Ikea and have no complaints so far. Got my eye on a couple more. Generally, i'm avoiding things to sit on from there -- I can get better quality for not much more at my local warehouse club -- but as others have said, the shelves and things like that are pretty decent. Plus, they have designs you probably won't find at Haverty's.

 

This is not always true. I tried to put together one of those lounge chairs that rocks, and looks as though it'll just snap if someone heavier than Eddie Gaedel sits on it. That thing took foooooooooooooorever. Though, to the damn thing's credit, it hasn't snapped, even under the weight of my 240-lb brother.

 

I'm mechanically retarded but I've never had much of a problem with most of their stuff.

Whether you like their stuff or not, the business model is freaking brilliant.

They may be the most creative retailers in the world.

 

We had a big crowd for the holidays and didn't have enough chairs for the dinner table.

I'm extremely picky about furniture, and I didn't have time to go looking at hundreds of chairs.

So I went to Ikea and got some simple red wooden chairs-- I think they were $25 apiece. (IJAG: I was skeptical, too, but it's amazing how simple the stuff is to put together. The directions have no words. The directions are like a child's picture book.)

Then I took some imported Italian fabric (cashmere/wool blend $75 a yard at Mood-- for you Project Runway fans) and made cushions. So the chairs were a deep red color and the cushions were like a caramel color. I attached the cushions to the chairs using dark blue denim-- yes denim-- ties.

These chairs were RAVED about over the holidays. My relatives would not shut up about these friggin' Ikea chairs. They liked them a hell of alot better than my regular dining room chairs, which I don't even want to tell you how much they cost.

Am I Martha Friggin' Stewart or what-- That's (A)-- And (B)-- yeah, I guess I'm kind of liking Ikea now.

 

I'll give you that.

 

Lugs, you could make cushions for cardboard boxes using material like that and people would rave.