posted
So, my girlfriend took me to IKEA with her over the weekend. I have seen (and assembled) some of their furniture before, but I was totally unprepared for the overwhelming feeling of being disconcerted I had when I was there. I don't know what it is about their furniture -- it seems to exist somewhere between "cool" and "evil-incarnate." Seriously, most of their furniture I like, but there's also something about each piece, something I can't seem to articulate or put my finger on that just seems wrong. It really throws me off, because I'm usually very confident about what I like and what I don't aesthetically and the reasons for it.
I do unquestionably like much of their kitchen furniture, but everything else just bothers me somehow. And I don't know what it is. Heaven help me, if I had to live in a house fully furnished by IKEA, I think I'd go mad. Someone help me out here.
posted
I like nice furniture, but I'm not willing to spend money on it.
I don't think we have a single piece of furniture that we didn't get second-hand or were given as a gift.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Did they miss the swedish flags, swedish commercials and GIANT YELLOW AND BLUE STORES? It's kind of hard to not know that Ikea is Swedish!
Personally, I like a lot of the Ikea furniture. As new furniture goes, it's tasteful, cool, fuctional, interesting and compared to many stores, not that expensive.
I would never furnish my whole house with it but, given the money, I'd definately have a significant amount of it.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Wow. I never fail to get a laugh out of the apparent obliviousness of people. Every day at my video store the customers look at the sign that says, "Please put all rental returns in the drop box," and then proceed to hand them to us at the counter. And then there are those who return our videos to Blockbuster and Blockbuster's videos to us. And then the people who walk in our door, look around and realize they're in the wrong store -- they were looking for the funiture store two shops down (Did the giant movie posters not give them any idea we don't sell furniture?).
I don't expect everyone to be paying complete attention to their enviroment all the time, but the sheer volume of ignorance in the world never ceases to amaze me, or amuse me.
They're building one in Frisco! The closest one will no longer be in Houston! *plots to move to Frisco by next summer*
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
My brother bought the softest, most comfortable couch I've ever rested my ass on from IKEA. After a good 4 hours of tv watching, and then a night of sleeping on said couch, my back was a mess the entire next day. I have a feeling my bro will have chronic back pain by the time he's 30.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I have a Ikea store near my home. Not my ideal fourniture, but let's face it, we buy a good house, we don't have the money to buy excellent fourniture to go with it.
Posts: 3526 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Yup, Frisco's just north of Dallas. I think. *is not so good with directions* But I thought "San Fransisco" for the first year and a half I was here, until I actually went out there for a baseball game.
I had an Ikea bed; after I moved out, my brother sat on it and it broke. That's not what I like about Ikea; it's the experience. And the housewares. And the lingonberry jelly.
I detest most IKEA stuff. Seriously. My ex took me to the store once, and the only thing I liked about it was the shopping cart escalators.
Posts: 1805 | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
I bought my media shelves from Ikea and *love* them. They were easy to put together, inexpensive, and they're exactly the right depth. I installed them behind my office door, where they fit exactly perfectly.
Maybe the best part of it was getting my 11 year old to alphabetize the DVD collection. He has a vested interest in keeping it alphabetized now, and I no longer have any trouble finding what I want. Not sure that Ikea can take credit for that part....
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Your not weird. What you are responding to is the mass production and commodification of design that is meant to look designed.
Ikea is like on of those Monet umbrellas or bookbags.
That said, I like a lot of their stuff although I agree that I would find it difficult to live in a home furnished solely with their products.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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i didn't think the furniture was very high quality... its mostly nothing but cheap glass in weird shapes.
Posts: 3389 | Registered: Apr 2004
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It depends on what you get. My brother has a metal IKEA bed that's quite excellent. I would never, under any circumstances, buy a crib from them, though.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Personally, I like IKEA. We have one close to us and its nice when you need to get a new piece of furniture for somewhat cheap...and they pretty much have everything. It can be a fun store too! I once went in with a few friends and we took pictures of ourselves near/on all the furniture or in all the fake room settings.
However, I see how one would not like that store. Especially since when you buy something and have to put it all together, the directions are hard to follow. Also, you are ALWAYS, and i mean ALWAYS, left with all kinds of extra pieces you dont know what to do with and hope that you didnt forget to nail/screw something in. Silly Swedish store...hehehe
Posts: 306 | Registered: Jun 2003
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You guys would have loved the episode of The Amazing Race from two weeks ago. One of the big challenges for the racers was working with an IKEA store, and it got hilarious.
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Actually, I've found their furniture quite easy to assemble compared to other assembly required funiture. And yes, they always include extra pieces -- I imagine so that if one of the pegs or other pieces breaks you'll have one to replace it with. I actually like that.
I suppose you're right Zalmoxis, I do have a keen dislike of mass-produced consumption. I don't like wearing name-brand clothing with logos for that exact reason.
I actually think having some of their furniture combined with other, more traditional pieces might enhance a houses' furniture aesthetic. But I guess too much of it just overwhelmes me (in a bad way).
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We have a couch, an entertainment center, and a set of bookshelves from IKEA, as well as a few odds and ends. Our couch is fantastic, everyone loves it. The entertainment center actually holds our TV, VCR, DVD player and every gaming console known to man (well, all the current ones). And the shelves were $45! We have had no quality issues with them at all. I love IKEA.
I love them extra much because they're Swedish. *is from Rockford, where the train stopped when all the Swedes were coming to America*
posted
IKEA's cheap furniture is better quality and lower price than most other places' cheap furniture.
Their "higher end" stuff is not as good as the lower-end stuff you could buy in a good local furniture store, but it's still cheaper.
But, really, if you are buying for long-term use, then IKEA's furniture is probably not for you. It does not last as long as solid woods and veneers over solid wood. The styling, though fun and funky now, probably will not hold up in terms of matching your tastes in the long run.
Some of their stuff I have kept (like the black folding chairs). But the rest is stuff I ended up giving away to people who were just starting out and needed some sticks of furniture.
So...interesting styles, good prices, and quality that will last a few years, but not much longer.
I would definitely shop there again, though. Especially if I was helping someone fill a place or they needed furniture just for a few years (like a college student or someone with their first apartment or something).
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
the irony of modern design is that it was concieved as a way to make mass produced products of high quality which were affordable because they were designed around modern manufacturing processes and materials, yet the aesthetic (and the work of the designers who pioneered this approach to production) has become a halmark of the ultra-rich and corporate environments. in a way, IKEA is the epitome of the modernist movement - it attempts to create products which are inexpensive, relatively well made, minimalist in implementation. i would argue that IKEA is not "like on of those Monet umbrellas or bookbags", but is in fact more legitimate from a theoretical point of view than the $12,000 cassina couches that IKEA resembles.
Godric: i would say that the parallel uneasiness and interest you experience in IKEA is simply a manifestation of our culture's love-hate relationship with consumerism. we love the products we fill our houses with but are frightened by the system which produces them. this tension seems to be the only interesting (IMHO) issue being discussed in design theory these days.
The gentleman who started this post is just a bitter individual. He doesn't like Ikea because he knows that if we go to Ikea, he's going to end up hauling furniture up a flight of stairs and assembling it.
His rage associated with these tasks is then directed toward the store itself.
Ikea is amazing. He knows it. Y'all know it. There was joy in his heart while there, even if it was masked.
Besides, Ikea is keeping him from lounging on a used couch soaked with someone else's DNA.
Posts: 1 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
Godric, my main question is, if it was so hard to deal with, why didn't you just retreat to the restaurant and fortify yourself with some meatballs?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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