Posted on 12/21/2015 1:25:46 PM PST by Flick Lives
That’s going to change, with gals like one of my granddaughters. Every time I’m asked to put together Ikea furniture, my 3-year-old granddaughter wants to help and she understands the how-to manuals. Not even 3-1/2 yet. She can handle a hammer and screwdrivers with ease. Pretty amazing. I gave her a kids toolset for her birthday and she’s happy building things.I think she gets the curiousity from her dad, he’s an electronics inventor running his own business out of his home. Two days ago she built a seesaw out of pencils and tape, it works; her own idea out of the blue. I think this new generation of kids is producing gals who want to build like the guys.
I keep a studio apartment in Germany. 99% of all Germans shop at IKEA. And for good reason. It’s a great store.
That being said I have never seen a more angry or dour group of men than wandering through the aisles of IKEA. I am confident that for 80% of all couples that go to IKEA break up withing 1 week. It’s the beginning of the end going to that store as a couple.
I’m one of those women....and I don’t talk as much as my husband either...
IKEA must be the Swedish word for hideously ugly.
“Ikea: You don’t respect yourself, and neither do we.”
LOL! But that’s another generalization, too.
My husband and I enjoy going there. Most of the furniture isn’t our style, but we’ve picked up some very useful items, and enjoy seeing how they style the little rooms, especially kitchens.
We do go there knowing what we want, though. I’m generally averse to huge stores where you have to walk too much, so we try to plan the trek ahead.
-JT
I think Ikea is a fantastic store. For ideas and materials. If you're handy, you can retrofit the stuff into designs of your own. Some of the stuff I bought cheap I couldn't make unless paying more for the raw materials. For example, enclosed hinges, screws, wheels, sliding shelf brackets, etc. are very expensive elsewhere but dirt cheap in the furniture at Ikea. Same for electric light components and metal items. Ikea is an excellent place for young people to get cheap components to experiment with. They can then build on those components with machine tools like a saw table, router, bandsaw etc. using solid wood and make great furniture that they can be proud of. Get your kids off video games and into carpentry, and they'll like Ikea.
The area where you can get kitchen pot hangers, rack and shelf components, etc., is excellent.
The ‘Scratch and Dent’ section should always be visited; we got a brand-new sofa half-price, simply because it has a little tear in the fabric where nobody would see it anyway.
They have nice Christmas items, as well.
-JT
Shhh, don't tell anyone but practically all the furniture me and my wife bought, we bought on sale, and there are imperfections (which no one notices). One thing I told my daughters is that everything has a flaw in it, because only God makes things perfect. So we don't mind minor flaws in anything we buy. I remember reading that Persian rugs have intentional flaws woven into the pattern because they are made by men and not by God.
I think I’ve heard that about quilts, too; that some leave a tiny bit undone or done wrong.
Agree: most sale stuff, and lots of things at thrift stores, etc., are just as good as new. And it’s a lot more fun finding them :-)
-JT
If you follow the directions carefully, laying things out in the same direction as the drawings and lookingfor L and R, which seem to be new indications they are putting in for their American market, you’ll do okay. That said, I was so faithfully following the directions that when I dropped the manual and picked it up and accidentally opened to an optional left-side orientation for a desk, I faithfully readapted and ended up with a cord channel on the front of the desk. That’s ok, I use it for a cup holder...because I sure wasn’t about to take it apart and reassemble.
That said, IKEA has the easiest assembly furniture ever, and the stuff is solid and lasts.
LOL! There was an article in the WSJ a few months ago about the stress a couple experiences in IKEA. The recommendation was to do online research in their catalog before visiting, have a list made out, and be prepared to spend time refueling in the cafeteria! The Swedish meatballs are excellent...
I paint and decorate a lot of the basic furniture. There are entire websites devoted to the technical details (use Zinssner shellac based primer, for example).
I like that story!
It was kind of a “when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade” moment. I like my now cup holder and I sure wasn’t going to take that desk apart!
Me too. Hubbie couldn’t read a map if his life depended on it. I put all the flat pack furniture together, repair the dishwasher etc. It isn’t that he isn’t smart, he is a tool and die maker, but he can’t handle the stuff that seems so easy to me.
The same thing with physical activity etc. -- there will always be a Rhonda Roussey.
(I must say, I do hear a lot of very interesting new words coming from him, while he’s doing it...
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NOTTA FINGA!
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