You guys have me worried - I’m taking the plunge and making my first IKEA trip this Friday (I’m driving from Lansing to the one outside Chicago). Now I’m worried that the Leksvik coffee table I’ve been lusting after for a year won’t be in stock. I do not want any other coffee table, I want LEKSVIK, with the nice finish and the shelves underneath for magazines and kitty toys, dammit!
I am really looking forward to those Swedish meatballs, though.
(Oh, and kittenblue, I’ve heard rumors that a store is going to open in Detroit in 2005, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m sure they’ll nix that and open yet ANOTHER store in California. )
gotpasswords, ‘fairly priced’ is indeed a good description. For items that you want to last a while, I recommend getting the solid wood furniture. I’ve a set of BILLY bookshelves that’s at least 15 years old (standard student issue around here) and they’re starting to buckle. I should replace them in '04.
tsarina, is the IKEA outside Chicago closer to you than the one in Burlington, Ontario?
Ah yes, the still carry Billy bookcases, they just change the colours every now and then.
They no longer have black, now it’s black-brown, and the dark silver ones we purchased yesterday are several shades darker than the silver one from a year ago. Just minor aggravtion, really.
I’ve spent the last few years (successfully) ridding my apartment of all IKEA goods. It’s a great store for when your a student… but I’ve got revoltingly expensive taste which required a switch over as soon as I started making real money.
That being said I never once have had a problem with IKEA. I always got exactally what I expected.
Well, I haven’t read absolutely everything in this thread, but to me IKEA sounds like the New Zealand All-Blacks Rugby Team’s song… so, to me, IKEA sounds threatening and scary… but getting back on track, as far as furniture goes, you get what you pay for… I could ramble on here about past furniture purchases that were gained at a “bargain price”… yep, they WERE a “bargain price” but they didn’t last too long… I finally invested in quality dining furniture and I reckon that suite will outlive me! Solid, quality construction for thousands of dollars, but in the long-run, well worth the investment!
Although, I must admit I never thought about the beermat idea, so THAT’S what I should have done with my Target-purchased furniture!! files away beermat ideas … Perhaps beermats will take over this house to make the rest of the furniture look good! LOL … thinking longer still…perhaps I need to stand on a beermat myself, then I might look like quality too! :dubious:
Question: if I have to walk through the whole store, how long will it take me to buy everything I want? We’ll be arriving around 5:00 or 6:00, and the store closes at 10:00 - will we have enough time?
I will be placing an order from their catalog shortly; assorted items for the ValleyAdults and the still-almost-bare nursery. Here’s the deal: because of one big item, the shipping is over $100. BUT I can order up to 500 lbs of stuff for the same shipping cost. And my house is largely unfurnished/undecorated, because that has never been a priority in the past. So now I’m going through the catalog like a drooling fool, picking out this and that, up to 500 lbs!!!
This may be more hazardous to my bank account than going to the store, where at least you’re limited by the size of your car or choice of friendly IKEA-provided public transportation.
P.S. And for the record re: the “mindless consumerism” comment. I don’t often go into Wal-Mart because all the junky “stuff” they have makes me unsettled. But with intelligent shopping (it’s not all particle board :rolleyes: ) I think you can get some really good items at IKEA.
I must say as a commited Ikea shopper at the age of 16 it’s all about working the system and learning exactly how to get past the typicall Ikea problems
Problem #1: the furniture is out of stock… walk over to the information counter, demand that they tell you when they will have new ones shipped in and sign up for it.
Or if u have seen a certain bookcase in the Ikea catalog u could call them up and ask wether they have it in stock… that atleast saves u the trip down there…
But, I must say that this problem has never happened to me, but that might have something to do with that I live in Stockholm.
Problem #2: the missing nut. It is always wise to have a toolbox at hand with little tidbits of screws and nuts in diffrent sizes, if u are in luck u’ll find a match :rolleyes:
Problem #3: the wood cracking. Now a way to go around this is always treat the wood like glas, hit the nail or peg lightly many times rather then few hard ones. You should never rush putting an Ikea furniture together.
This is similar to what happened to me not so long ago while hitting in one of those wooden pegs, it plopped out the other side taking with it a large chunk of wood.
I checked out “the horror that is Argos” out of curiosity, and I must say…I think I’d prefer IKEA too!
That chocolate leather sofa…the horror…the horror…
Bah! Every time I asked when an out-of-stock item would be in stock, I’d get an answer that was nowhere near reality, by a factor of three or more. Being placed on the “call me when this comes in list” doesn’t do much good when you’re expecting a call one week later and you don’t hear a peep from Ikea until two months later. I guess this is the price I pay for never having any missing parts in my Ikea stuff.
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:dubious: 