So...any IKEA fans/shoppers out there? Those of you who do shop there a lot...is their merchandise good quality? The reason I ask is because I recently got their newest catalog and I was stunned at how reasonable their prices are. I am even thinking about saving up and getting one of their complete kitchens installed. They have some real groovy stuff. 8)

So...any IKEA fans/shoppers out there? Those of you who do shop there a lot...is their merchandise good quality? The reason I ask is because I recently got their newest catalog and I was stunned at how reasonable their prices are. I am even thinking about saving up and getting one of their complete kitchens installed. They have some real groovy stuff. 8)



OOOH OHHH!  ME ME ME!

I love IKEA.  My sofa and loveseat cost us less than $300 and they're pretty sturdy.  I have bookcases, a nightstand, cookware, bakeware, utensils, and God knows what else from there.  I love that store for the sole reason that you can get stuff for a decent price.  If you're into baking a lot, I recommend their Teflon products.  I think I paid about $3 a piece for cookie sheets and bread pans.

Be warned though.  The decent price is because you usually have to assemble most of it. :D  Also be warned that if you go in that store, you won't leave without buying something.

Also, pick up a six pack of cinnamon rolls from the little kiosk by the checkout stands.  They are GOOD.

OOOH OHHH!  ME ME ME!

I love IKEA.  My sofa and loveseat cost us less than $300 and they're pretty sturdy.  I have bookcases, a nightstand, cookware, bakeware, utensils, and God knows what else from there.  I love that store for the sole reason that you can get stuff for a decent price.  If you're into baking a lot, I recommend their Teflon products.  I think I paid about $3 a piece for cookie sheets and bread pans.

Be warned though.  The decent price is because you usually have to assemble most of it. :D  Also be warned that if you go in that store, you won't leave without buying something.

Also, pick up a six pack of cinnamon rolls from the little kiosk by the checkout stands.  They are GOOD.



thanks for the input and advice Jess. :) I thought I remembered you saying once that you shopped there...I was hoping you would reply. :)  The closest one to me is like near Pittsburgh (about an hour or so from me)...so I'm gonna wait till I save up a bit of money and make a trip there. I was looking at their kitchens online...they are beautiful...and very very affordable. I think I saw about 50 things that I want already (all I have to do now is find some money!).  So, they have a little cafe there? That's cool. I heard they have a lot of vegetarian items to eat, is that true? I'm all excited now! :)

thanks for the input and advice Jess. :) I thought I remembered you saying once that you shopped there...I was hoping you would reply. :)  The closest one to me is like near Pittsburgh (about an hour or so from me)...so I'm gonna wait till I save up a bit of money and make a trip there. I was looking at their kitchens online...they are beautiful...and very very affordable. I think I saw about 50 things that I want already (all I have to do now is find some money!).  So, they have a little cafe there? That's cool. I heard they have a lot of vegetarian items to eat, is that true? I'm all excited now! :)


Yes, their kitchens are frickin' awesome.  The cool thing about IKEA is that they set up the displays in the stores so you can see what they look like: bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, everything.

They actually have two cafes.  One is upstairs, and that one has a salad bar and they offer full meals (I think a lot of them are vegetarian friendly).  The downstairs kiosk cafe has like hot dogs and the infamous cinnamon rolls and ice cream.  There is also a Swedish food store, and they have some delicious sweets.  The double chocolate crisp cookies they sell are sinful, but a nice treat once in a while.

To me, going to IKEA is an all day thing.  The store is incredibly huge, and your senses are just assaulted by the array of things they offer.  They also sell some pet items now, so the kitties can get spoiled too. :D

Yes, their kitchens are frickin' awesome.  The cool thing about IKEA is that they set up the displays in the stores so you can see what they look like: bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, everything.

They actually have two cafes.  One is upstairs, and that one has a salad bar and they offer full meals (I think a lot of them are vegetarian friendly).  The downstairs kiosk cafe has like hot dogs and the infamous cinnamon rolls and ice cream.  There is also a Swedish food store, and they have some delicious sweets.  The double chocolate crisp cookies they sell are sinful, but a nice treat once in a while.

To me, going to IKEA is an all day thing.  The store is incredibly huge, and your senses are just assaulted by the array of things they offer.  They also sell some pet items now, so the kitties can get spoiled too. :D



that is beyond awesome..I can't wait to go! :)

Bring a truck so you can haul all your crap back home :D

Bring a truck so you can haul all your crap back home :D



hahaa..I'll have to borrow one. I'm always saying that I should get a truck..between finding things at Goodwill or other places, it would definitely come in handy! ;D

I dig IKEA.  In this room I have two bookshelves from IKEA to house all my records.  In fact, I think we have something from IKEA in every room of this house:


Floor Lamp in guest room
Shower curtains/rods in bathrooms
Entertainment Center, end tables and bookshelves in living room
Utensils and kitchen utensil holder in kitchen
Dressers and nightstands in master bedroom


It is helpful to have a truck or SUV when you go if you plan to buy large pieces of furniture.  The cool thing is they package all their furniture flat.  The uncool thing is that sometimes their directions for putting pieces of furniture together suck. ;D  BUT, if you're missing pieces of hardware to put said pieces of furniture together, you can go back and get them without hassle.  :)

Jess is right, the prices are decent.  You can get a lot for your money.  Heck, we even buy our shirt hangers there, 10 pk of decent-size white plastic hangers for $0.49.  They also have an array of candles, bedding, artwork...lots o' cool stuff.  Jess, Jason & Rice Cube took me to IKEA when they came to visit me last year. :D

I need to go there and get another floor lamp for the living room as me pooch got bored and chewed through the cord on the old one.  >:(

I love, love love ikea... I have a friend bringing me the new catalog. The closest one to me is 90 miles.
If I might offer a suggestion. Go on a weekday, early in the morning. Ikea has a scratch and dent, open package section on the lower level near where the cash registers are.

Enter in the exit go the nearest cashier and find that corner. They put new stuff out early in the am... peruse the scratch and dent first get the deals and then work your way through the store....sure by doing it backwards you have to do the store twice but if you spend too much time looking at the new stuff upstairs you might miss some really cool deals.

I've gotten bookcases for a significant discount 40% or 60% and the blemish is minimal

I once bought a white bookcase there for 10 bucks because it had no shelves then I went to Home Depot and bought the long wood, had the guy cut it and walked out the door spending like 8 bucks or so. . . I got an 80 bookcase for $18 plus the plugs for shelfholders at HD is like $1.18

I bought a bag of silverware- it was mismatched but got about 40 pieces for $3

Candles, cd boxes, picture frames... sometimes I drive the 90 miles and just hit the scratch $ dent and never go into the rest of the store....if you stay for lunch tho...get the salmon oh wait I forget.... you do eat fish right? Its really good.

I LOVE Ikea, it's definalty a day out because there isn't one very near us (Birmingham, Milton Keynes or London) and they are huge so it takes ages to go round. I defy anybody to leave without buying something! The only thing that sucks is they don't deliver so you have to have a truck if you want a sofa or something.

I never have enjoyed my visits to IKEA, you have to walk round in the directions directed and may be at the time I went the air conditioning was not working that day.

I love IKEA.  Most of our furniture is from there.

Although you have to assemble it yourself I find the instructions very easy to follow.

A word about the kitchens.  I helped install one of these at work.  It was good quality but a bit of a nightmare because the back boards are designed to fit flush to the wall.  In this particular kitchen the water pipes weren't buried so we had to hack the back board about a bit to fit it around the pipes.  Of course this might not be a problem in your kitchen.

I dig IKEA.  In this room I have two bookshelves from IKEA to house all my records.  In fact, I think we have something from IKEA in every room of this house:


Floor Lamp in guest room
Shower curtains/rods in bathrooms
Entertainment Center, end tables and bookshelves in living room
Utensils and kitchen utensil holder in kitchen
Dressers and nightstands in master bedroom


It is helpful to have a truck or SUV when you go if you plan to buy large pieces of furniture.  The cool thing is they package all their furniture flat.  The uncool thing is that sometimes their directions for putting pieces of furniture together suck. ;D  BUT, if you're missing pieces of hardware to put said pieces of furniture together, you can go back and get them without hassle.  :)

Jess is right, the prices are decent.  You can get a lot for your money.  Heck, we even buy our shirt hangers there, 10 pk of decent-size white plastic hangers for $0.49.  They also have an array of candles, bedding, artwork...lots o' cool stuff.  Jess, Jason & Rice Cube took me to IKEA when they came to visit me last year. :D

I need to go there and get another floor lamp for the living room as me pooch got bored and chewed through the cord on the old one.  >:(


And all for stupid couch covers!  Of course, that was the only IKEA I found them at. :D

I hope that lamp was unplugged! :o



I LOVE Ikea, it's definalty a day out because there isn't one very near us (Birmingham, Milton Keynes or London) and they are huge so it takes ages to go round. I defy anybody to leave without buying something! The only thing that sucks is they don't deliver so you have to have a truck if you want a sofa or something.


That's odd.  They deliver over here, although I think it is limited and more expensive than just renting an SUV or truck and hauling it yourself.

Dang, all this talk of IKEA makes me want to go again. I do need the last casserole dish for my cast iron collection.... ;D

That's odd.  They deliver over here, although I think it is limited and more expensive than just renting an SUV or truck and hauling it yourself.




They deliver in the UK but it is quite expensive.  I know because they delivered our dining table at silly o'clock one Saturday morning.  It cost about £40 ten/eleven years ago for them to drive about 25 miles

I have been buying from IKEA since it opened here in the mid 80s. I would say 80% of my furniture and almost all of my kitchen stuff is from there.

I am a whiz with an allen key - can build anything!  And I get quite a sense of satisfaction when I build something by myself. I even take photos of the progress and display them in my online albums !

In Feb this year our sole Ikea store closed down - opening a week later in a nearby location - as the largest Ikea in the Southern Hemisphere.  Its enormous !  There is a viewing window on the second floor that looks out over the shelving of boxes and I swear it looked like the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark - I was about to ring Indiana Jones and let him know I had found the Arks secret hiding place!

I am currently saving for new Billy bookshelves with glass doors that have a removable layer behind the glass that you can stick photos to - saves owning even more photo frames - and it keeps your books dustfree !! I hope to get 2 sets of the shelves by the end of the month.

Karen delivery is quite a lot here too - its done by size and kilometres - so my bookshelves will cost $70 due to their size. But as I dont drive - I dont really have other options and it means the hunky delivery man will carry the seriously heavy boxes up my stairs!!!

I love Ikea.  My kitchen table, the table I am using for a desk and a little drawer stand are from there.  I don't go there often, though.  It could be easy to spend tons of money there.

They don't deliver here, either.  Maybe it is an America thing?

I love Ikea.  My kitchen table, the table I am using for a desk and a little drawer stand are from there.  I don't go there often, though.  It could be easy to spend tons of money there.

They don't deliver here, either.  Maybe it is an America thing?


I think the one in Burbank delivers but just about 50 miles or so.

Ikea always has good stuff & the kitchen cabinate space savers are great!

The other store Idomo is total crap compared to Ikea.

Thanks for all of the info/suggestions guys...I am really looking foward to making a visit there soon. :)

To me, going to IKEA is an all day thing.

That's how it is for me when I go to Ross!  And I always find things in there that I end up buying (especially their picture frames)!  :D

Thanks for all of the info/suggestions guys...I am really looking foward to making a visit there soon. :)


take a camera to document your excursion and show us all what you buy!

take a camera to document your excursion and show us all what you buy!


YAY! I definitely will.  :D

I never have enjoyed my visits to IKEA, you have to walk round in the directions directed and may be at the time I went the air conditioning was not working that day.


completely agree and it is even worse when it's busy, we're all like flocks of little sheep being herded through a maze  ::)
the only thing I go there for is the good quality tea lights.
Didn't realise they had broke into the US. There is was a similar Swedish company near Ikea called ILVA but they have closed down due to lack of business.

completely agree and it is even worse when it's busy, we're all like flocks of little sheep being herded through a maze  ::)
the only thing I go there for is the good quality tea lights.
Didn't realise they had broke into the US. There is was a similar Swedish company near Ikea called ILVA but they have closed down due to lack of business.
...and the car park is big, adn we cannot always find a parking space near to the exit door of the warehouse.

I'm sitting on an IKEA office chair right now...that I put together myself!  We also have the Billy shelves and couch in our library.  I love that store.  I can easily spend all day in there.  I love the modern look of everything and the colors they use.  The prices are unbeatable.  I can't really add anything - just agree.  I have a ton of their kitchen stuff... and though it sounds weird, their vegetable peeler is the best I've ever used.  Last time I went, I bought 4 in case they stop making them!  We also bought about 20 different sized picture frames to hang in our hall, and I don't think it cost more than $20.  We had to stain them ourselves, but we were fine with that because we wanted them to match our stair railing anyway.  And like Jess said, the Cinnamnon rolls are the BEST. 

Went to the one in Pittsburgh when I got a gift certificate from my first wedding.  I don't actually recall what I got other then a skillet set for my mom who complained up and down that I "ruined" her other one.  So I got her another one just so she'd  quit nagging and making fun of my cooking skills.  ::)

They just built one not too far away from where I live (about 20 miles or so).  Hubby is not a shopper and we haven't really had the money to do much shopping anyway.  We're supposed to be moving in Sept/Oct anyway, so maybe we'll go after we've gotten settled in.

The Ladies of the Scandinavian Society of Cincinnati were at the Grand Opening of the IKEA.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/220/490191566_13c9e493f5.jpg?v=0

Did you read about the guy that moved INTO the Ikea for awhile?

http://marklivesinikea.com/

...and the car park is big, adn we cannot always find a parking space near to the exit door of the warehouse.


wonder if the Ikea flat pack house has arrived there yet?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/dec/01/communities.money

wonder if the Ikea flat pack house has arrived there yet?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/dec/01/communities.money
Do you have to build it yourself?

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/IkeaJobInterview.jpg

That house scares me.... what about plumbing and electricity? How will it stand in inclement weather? I love Ikea but I think I'd pass on the house.




http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/IkeaJobInterview.jpg



Now that's funny!!!

That house scares me.... what about plumbing and electricity? How will it stand in inclement weather? I love Ikea but I think I'd pass on the house.


I think they're pretty sturdy and include everything, but I guess they're supposed to be more efficient and "green".

I'd live in one.  They're kinda cool and modern looking.

I think they're pretty sturdy and include everything, but I guess they're supposed to be more efficient and "green".

I'd live in one.  They're kinda cool and modern looking.


Its just me... in earthquake territory, tornado alleys and hurricane counties, for me, the Ikea House doesn't inspire confidence.  ;D

Its just me... in earthquake territory, tornado alleys and hurricane counties, for me, the Ikea House doesn't inspire confidence.  ;D


True, true.  They'd have to make a special type for America or something. :D

True, true.  They'd have to make a special type for America or something. :D



Yeah it'd have to be super insulated for you in Chicago...

Do you have to build it yourself?


no I think they come ready assembled?   ;D ;D

this estate is very near to Newcastle

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-evening-chronicle/tm_headline=now-you-can-buy-a-flatpack-house&method=full&objectid=18186782&siteid=50081-name_page.html

'It's one thing putting up your own wardrobe or bookcase. But tempers are sure to flare when it comes to flatpack homes.
Ikea at the MetroCentre will be the first site in the UK to sell the Swedish homes together with a plot to put them on.
But fortunately the timber-framed houses and flats will already be put up for you.
The estate of about 90 homes, designed by construction firm Skanska in partnership with Ikea, are to be put up in the centre of Gateshead.'

ps the Chronicle is our local newspaper

Yeay - my new Billy bookshelves arrive on Wendesday morning !

Need to find a home for my older Billys - will advertise them at work and I am sure they will go fast.

This is them
http://cebas.ikea.com.au/prod_template4.asp?product_id=24648&se_id=37&page_id=2243300251009&Cat=13&Scat=55

The doors are glass with a removable back so you can stick photos or anything between the glass and the back.  Makes them nicely multi purposed.

My wife keeps threatening a trip to Ikea this weekend.

My wife keeps threatening a trip to Ikea this weekend.


We got the new catalogue in the post a couple of weeks ago and have been making our list.

My wife keeps threatening a trip to Ikea this weekend.


Tell her to have a good time :D

Tell her to have a good time :D


My husband reckons its more dangerous letting me loose there on my own than if he comes along.

Do Ikea sell fans?

Indeed I did read My favourite bookmiss  ;) :D
and laugh while I tease.

At last I'm a sailor without shame, and I haven't sleep since  a long long time
;)

Did you read about the guy that moved INTO the Ikea for awhile?

http://marklivesinikea.com/



mark lives in ikea somehow


A frustation in a foreign mall
swedish do the best they can
you're in  the I k e a now
wow wow you're in  the I k e a now

You fumble in a closet to find a dressing gown
though, you look very nice it doesn't seem right
you're in  the I k e a now
you seem to be a fancy queer somehow
wow wow you're in  the I k e a now.

the swedish give you a lots of stuff
crap and  poopies when you get the neighbourhood
it's just they are kidding you or it's hospitality
wow wow you're in  the I k e a now.
you're in  the I k e a now
wow wow you're in  the I k e a now.

Your friends are jumping in your bed
while a moron slits your face
and you don't see it all well
wow wow for your own sake.
don't go to live at  the I k e a now
wow wow you're in  the I k e a now

The night is fallen and you can't sleep
cause the  place is plenty of furniture thief
you're in  the I k e a now
you don't have even a chair to sit
wow wow we all fake at I k e a now  :P :P :P :P :P :P

That house scares me....



Now that's funny!!!




Me too

My husband reckons its more dangerous letting me loose there on my own than if he comes along.


He has to tie a ribbon round your waist
and don't give in untill you re away
cause it's sad to have no coin to pay
for making of money a waste  ::)

All over the world the same razzmatazz  8)

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=dzIlsH124MI&NR=1

it can't perharps sell any closet
to a home without rackets ?  :D