Ikea lovin’

The IKEA in all of us (Detroit) - A nice little article about IKEA and how they rule.

And this one wouldn't earn a post of it's own but since I'm throwin' one up anyway, here is a little dessert.

Loganberries?

This comic strip about IKEA is destined to adorn your space. Mr Man and I Laughed HARD.

Sure it's actually liggonberries, but calling them "Loganberries" did set up a great Comic geek joke. Gotta love those. And if you've been to Schaumburg who hasn't wanted to ride the cart escalator? (Do any other US stores have those? We won't. Sniff.)

Local Mod House

So, I got this today from a local realtor, being it's a locally built modern house and decorated copiously with IKEA I had to share it…

Hi Jen- I have been following your site and the news about Ikea for a while now.  Great job (and great coverage in the press)!   We made our first pilgrimage to Ikea when I was pregnant with my son in 1988.  I believe it was the first US store just outside of Philadelphia.  We got a changing table and some porch furniture.  Nearly 20 years later, my son has gone off to college and we are still using the drawers from that changing table as part of our kids art studio table and we still have that furniture on our porch!

Anyway, I am now a realtor specializing in modern design and I just listed a house in Middletown you (or your site fans) may be interested in.  It was an experimental all steel house built in 1963 by Armco Steel.  The current owner is a very talented designer (architecture student) and has used Ikea extensively throughout the home to bring it back to its modern roots.  It is SO cool!
 
Here is a link to the visual tour:
http://www.visualtour.com/shownp.asp?T=1237901
 
It is 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths,  priced to sell quickly @ $229,900.  They’re even willing to sell it furnished!

 

I wish I could afford it! It's a heck of a deal, especially for that kind of house. Middletown is a bargain for the area, it's why we live here.

‘If you build it they will come’

IKEA Afterglow sought - Cincinnati Enquirer has a little article on the "ikea effect" or how IKEA's arrival will bring other retailers to West Chester and the area beyond.

Other assembly furniture?

My husband wanted a new desk for his newly moved and painted home office. With IKEA being 7 months or 300 miles/$50 in gas away we headed to the ususal local suspects. We hit Staples first and were unimpressed. We ended up at Target buying a $55 metal desk that came with a seperate matching bookshelf, good deal. Enough so that if we find him a IKEA desk he likes during the next trip in December we're not going to second guess about replacing it.

I hear people moaning all the time about how hard IKEA stuff is to assemble, and how complicated it is. I've never had a problem, I do all our assembly. My husband is not a guy that does instructions without major whining, where as I find it kind of empowering/relaxing/rewarding. I'm a visual and I've always found it easy (except for the IKEA entertainment center which nearly broke my will to live.) I've always found IKEA's instructions pretty clear despite having no words, but then I won a major design award for user manual design ten years ago so I might have a leg up on others.

Anyway we take the desk home and as we unpacked it I deemed it a about a one-hour project*. Didn't look that complicated. The instructions were okay, but not as visually detailed as IKEA's, but okay. The lack of details made assembly a few areas confusing. They had text. Which after two pages I completely ignored for being completely useless and overly technical. It didn't make anything clearer. It was nearly gibberish.

The biggest difference I noticed were the parts. Sure, it had an obligatory allen wrench**, and I'll give it to them the attaractive packaging for the hardware as it was nice for easy picking being packed like a children's toy on a card backed plastic shelled pod and all, but it was also hard to get into.

I dunno what they are called, but if you've assembled IKEA you will know what I'm talking about, the round flat nuts that are pressed into the precut holes on the boards and then turned to lock with a screw driver onto a headed shaft bolt… yea those, anyway when the Swedes do they have a nice arrow pointing to the direction of your incoming screw/bolt.  It's easy, it's simple and pretty self explainitory.

Well Target's had no such arrow, so you have a 75% chance of getting the direction wrong right up front. Took us 20 minutes of cussing to go "oh maybe we should turn the nut". The thread direction wasn't really clear. Other things didn't seem drilled as nice, or the like. Over all I give it a C. The hour long project I guesstimated ended up being 2.5 hours.

But it really brought it home that IKEA knows what it's doing with this stuff, they aren't just guessing or cheaping out. There is actual method to the madness. And their drawings are much better than they are given credit for.

*My big tips for self-assembly: Spare your spine! Back the car to the door and unpack it on the porch then carry the pieces inside one by one, organizing them as you place them in your work area. Throw the packing trash in the can outside as you go. If you want you can just bring in the big outer carboard for a working surface if your floor is less than optimal or exceedingly precious. Oh, And use a shallow pan for dumping your baggies of hardware in, more room for fumbling for the right piece. 

**I know I've never mentioned it but I think that fact that our IKEA being on ALLEN Road is freaking hilarious.

The 2008 Catalog is out!

 At least the online version is!
The print should be coming out this month.

We Want IKEA vs IKEA Go home!

Winnipeg is hot for IKEA or cold depending on which group you belong to. one side is trying to bring them, the other wants them to stay away. (2600 to 7 for bringing, the bringers win!)

I wish the “bring IKEA” folks luck. I don’t know about the population up there as far as if Winnipeg is large enough metro area (frozen north/Canada joke striken from record) but I’ve learned, as they have obviously if you build a blog they will come.

Now, “They” can be IKEA or just IKEA fans, but either way you’ll still have an audience of devotees to commiserate with/celebrate. That’s not a bad thing. I’ve rather enjoyed it.

Pictures of the Groundbreaking!

I got some nice pics even though I was trying to stay out of the way of the pros, so as a result on some shots I got the sloppy seconds. But I think on a few I managed some real gems.

Click the image below to see the entire gallery of photos I took:

 OR see them via the super nifty slidehow...

It was a day of firsts.

When I got to the car I noticed that the boxed groundbreaking souvenir I got didn't include a shovel so I headed back tent to exchange it -  the first West Chester store return. The girl behind the table got a little laugh out of that. While leaving I was in a snarly patch of traffic on Mulhauser, so I think it's safe to say it was the first (of many I'm confident) IKEA related traffic nightmares.

I knew I should have taken Allen to the right and hoooked up on 'Cin-Day' Road all the way home. Live and learn.

Hi to the few readers who were there (and got gifties from me!), and the few others who saw the shirt and said they knew about the blog. Apparently I'm funny. Who knew?

Press about the event: (more will be added her as it appears online)

• Cincinnati Business Courier
• Cincinnati Enquirer
• WCPO Channel 9
• WCPO - update
• WLWT Channel 5
• Dayton Daily News - And more pics

If anyone finds video of the day, let me know! (I knew I should have used my video camera!)

Concept i

I usually try to stick to pure Ohio news on here, but this is great. Korean Automaker Kia seems to have a sense of humor. Who knew? In a press release dated April 1rst, they announce a new way to buy a car, called "Concept i". The buyer custom designs their own car from a series of options and pre-produced modules and assembles it themselves. With a kit including an allen wrench. To qoute the press release: "An on-sale date and pricing is yet to be announced by the Korean company, but it currently has no iKia." Be sure to read the whole thing, it's a hoot. Oh, and while I'm at it, "Grattis på födelsedag" to IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, had a birthday yesterday. He's 81.

The what is how big?

Found this great little UK TV feature story on IKEA and the massive size of their main warehouses etc… it’s a nice peek into how it goes from a drawing in Sweden to your house.

There’ll be a test later.