IKEA West Chester Reveals 2009 Catalog

I never get invited to these things, what does a Ohio’s IKEA blogging #1 fangirl have to do? Get a tattoo? Chop off a finger? I can do that.

Anyway, the article tells what is in store with the new catalog (Late August ETA), and changes IKEA West Chester has made to educate the buckeye masses to the “IKEA Way” and making warranties and such more clear to those whom this is all is new.

I assume those who have been getting their catalog mailed will still do so, though I hear that some cities issue catalogs via bulk mail or with the newspapers, I think it depends on the area, not sure on that one.

I figure the readership of this blog are already signed up to get catalogs mailed to them, but if not, Sign up to get yours! And to get on the mialing list for local events!

IKEA related fun fact

I am a big Battlestar Galactica fan (I even do a podcast on it with two other geek pals) so when this came over the Google alert I knew I wanted to post it…

Commander Adama has a shaving mirror in his cabin. This mirror is made by IKEA, and is a model called “Fräck” (spelling according to IKEA Web site). This word is similar to “frak” (spelling according to the subtitles with an “a” and without a “c”), which is the primary vulgarity in the Battlestar Galactica universe. - Article Link

Now that’s funny. I know one of the set decorators had to do it on purpose… love it.

Changes imminent

Phase I of OHIKEA was rumor-mongering, wishes and sparkles. Phase II was monitoring the progress and all the news from the announcement to the opening. Phase III is here now that the store has opened. If you’ve been here from the beginning you know that means I have plans for redesign and other nice things.

Redesign and a new name - FlatpackOhio.com! Commenters really responded to the name, and liked Ohio having it’s own IKEA theme site rather than widening it out to other areas. There are lots of other blogs that do that.

So, if you come back to OHIKEA and the site is gone or looks wonky, fear not you caught us fidgeting around. We might vanish for an hour or two, but when you come back we’ll be here in some form.

As soon as the new domain resolves I’ll get started in the changeover. I will set OHIKEA to point there so you long time readers won’t need to remember it. I’ll also likely have a “formerly OHIKEA” in the header for a bit as well.

Now is the time to tell me what you’d like to see on the new site-to-be… put them in the comments!

Cha-cha-changes

Looks like I will have to change the domain name sooner than later, which is okay I guess since when the store opens I’ll likely be changing focus from Store coverage and rumormongering to a more general kind of Ohio based IKEA worship.

So I’m looking for new domain/name for this blog and wanted to see my dearest readers had any suggestions.
There’s one handicap - It can’t contain the word IKEA in it or any IKEA product names.

Some I’ve thought of: BjornInOhio, OhioBjorn, BuckeyeBjorn - like? Dislike?

Edit: Also thought of “FlatpackOhio”

Housekeeping

For those visiting live you'll notice a new banner. I never installed the script from the old site for rotating banners, but I might yet so in the meantime I will be swapping some in and out to keep it lively. I miss my snarking snide banners up there. You'll also be blind if you miss the lovely annoying legal disclaimer appearing on every page now, but I'll get into this later.

If you subscribe to this blog via email, you'll notice a few new things. I've added a smaller email banner, and the same lovely annoying disclaimer the bottom of every email post.

I also set up a feed from the Flickr pictures of the store construction. I'm still undecided how exactly i works, or if we need it but hang with me, I'm just testing out new features. Trust me that if I think it's useless, I'll kill it fast.

Please let me know if you have any feedback or see any odd stuff.

Potential local boom industry?

Found this link today and it got me thinking. 

Local Furniture Assemblers are likely to become very rich with the coming of West Chester's IKEA and the number of people who are incapable or unwilling to 'DIY' it. I find the instructions pretty clear myself, but I know many find them frustrating so these guys are sure otmake a mint.

My husband hates putting stuff together, and by contrast I like the girl-power rush of it so I end up doing all our assembling.

So far, from IKEA alone, I've assembled three Ottenby dressers, two bedside drawer tables, an Ottenby end table, a Lamborn coffee table, a 2-step stool, bookcases, a Jerker computer desk, and a large entertainment center. All of them single handed mind you, with exception of the last one in the final stages. 

My husband did install the floating Lack wall shelves, which isn't the easiest thing to do with the myriad of holes and trying to find a stud, but there's really not much assembly to it.

So, the point of this was, are you a DIY'er or a grumbler? Would you pay someone to do it for you?

Too Much?

Finally finished the site redesign… like the new logo banner?

Welcome to OHIKEA Ver. 2.0

Spring! it's a good time to clean house, or in this case build a nicer, better looking house with more closet space and better view (and a hot pool boy) and just torch the old trashy house. Pixel pyromania is good, and good for you!

The old (verybigdesign.com/ikea) url should have sent you here, and will continue to do so but if you want to change your bookmarks and links you can, just switch them to Ohikea.com. If you don't no problem, it'll still get you to the right place.

I was hoping to start off the new blog with a report like those of old, when I had juicy news to blab, but it's been a long time since August. The big blue juice box is dry. After so many months with frenzied action leading up to the announcement last year then it virtually screeching to a halt with the silence of waiting this winter, it has ended up being a bit… anticlimactic. 

So with a fresh blog and hope for the universe, I went and did some calling to make it feel like the old days of this blog - by annoying strangers on the phone.

I put in a few calls to find some info about when the foundation is deadlined for. I got in to the company in Michigan overseeing the job, but said they couldn't talk (specifically talk to me) about it. Seems I'm infamous for being a pest. My family already knew this.

They did say thought they'd already been to this website. They were sent to it from IKEA themselves to see the pictures of the land I took since they hadn't seen yet. How cool is that?

Anyway, glad this site is marginally informative as well as useful! (I certainly never expected that to happen!) Happy to do my part to help the store happen, or happen faster! If you need any more, let me know.

Speaking of pictures - If anyone else wants to share pictures they might take of the site, or of your IKEA rooms at home, feel free to join the web's best and biggest photo sharing site called Flickr and join the IKEA West Chester Group!

I also have a number of 2007 catalogs up for grabs, so if you need one please comment with a valid email and let me know and I'll get back to you.

Commenting is back on

The comment spam scourge is over! Hurrah!

Comments

I’m currently getting hammered by some stinking comment nuke sending me useless and puzzling spam comments without a name or even links (and what is spam without links? A pain in the butt that’s what!) I’m getting dozens a minute, faster than I can junk them.

That said - I turned off automatic comment approval and will moderate everything for a day or so until they stop flooding in or the attack is stopped. I have to sleep sometime.

PLEASE you can still comment! It just might take a day for me to get to it.