Getting an IKEA Kitchen?

These folks might be able to help you get it all planned out. Looks like they have lots of good advice and tons of experience installing them. I added the link to the IKEA Blogs section down on the right so if you ever need it it’ll always be easy to find.

I dream of the day that I’ll be able to redo my kitchen, but I think I’ll have to trick the various family members into helping me assemble them. Like rent a big party room and bring in beer and pizza and it’ll be BYOTruck to help me get them home. (That’s a party! Drunken IKEA assembly!)

SALE! (?)

You might have seen the ads on tv. Currently the Summer Sale is going on at IKEA, but I can’t determine if West Chester is doing the sale or not (lazy me hasn’t driven by in a couple days), so call first if you are traveling. I’m hoping one of my IKEA West Chester coworker readers will chime in to tell me for sure. You all know the secret handshake.

The Summer Sale is one of the few yearly sales they have. I don’t think it’s quite the blowout that the Winter Sale is but you still can get some major deals with “select products” up to 60% off. That is nothing to sneeze at!

Since the new catalogs come out soon, often they use these two sales to clear out that will be discontinued in the next catalog. If you see something you want that is marked down, get it. No really. Not kidding.

How to tell a price sign from a sale sign (know if it is marked down to disappear forever):
They usually are two kinds of signs, a white sign with yellow squares and black prices, and all yellow signs with red prices. These yellow ones are tell you that this is a markdown to move out, most likely forever. Yellow + red = green.

If you think in the future you will want three of that unbelievably marked down bookcase, get them now if you can. Seriously, they will likely not be there again and you will live in a constant state of remorse.

They do this again in starting the day after Xmas for about two weeks, and that was when I made my yearly pilgrimage to Detroit or Shaumberg. Deals, deals, deals! The winter one is not a sale to miss over your holiday break. Stuff moves fast, and if you snooze, even a week, you lose. So start charting your invasion now.

New 2009 catalogs should be arriving in the Cincinnati/Dayton area mailboxes or newspapers by August. Usually. Maybe.

Cleveland to Ikea anyone?

This comes from CIndy in Beachwood, who is looking for a IKEA courier.

Hi Jen,

I came across your website when I was looking for local places to buy ikea furniture.

I live in Beachwood, so the closest ikea is in pittsburgh, but I am not comfortable with driving such a long distance since I’ve just recently started driving. FYI the shipping charges from ikea are VERY expensive. They said it’s $400 if I want something delivered (and I would still need to go to the store to order it), and $100 if I order something online or over the phone.

The problem is, I really like vika manne (the pink, oval desk), but it’s not available online or on the phone. I was wondering if you know any local sources that I could get the desk from?

Thanks a lot!
Cindy

If someone is driving from Cleveland to hit an IKEA feel free to contact Cindy at: sn234@cornell.edu
I’m sure she can even pay you in advance to save herself the ordering long distance charges.

For the record…

IKEA’s new Appleflarn crisp cookies are.. INCREDIBLE

I didn’t think anything could beat the regular plain havreflarn cookies (the chocolate ones are just decadent) but, damn. The apple ones we bought yesterday are liable to be converted into breakfast cereal to speed thier demise. Hope they stick around a while

I got one of the new little mini hand truck carts at IKEA. They are new since the opening, and I think this brings the style of shopping vehicles in the store to four. (But never the one you want when you want it)

Just as the bags, there are yellow versions in the store and blue ones you can buy and take home. Just the right size for household junk too. They are $19.99 to buy, but I think they’ll get cheaper with time like most other things at IKEA.

Currently at West Chester there is a extremely nice selection succulents and cacti in the Greenroom area next to the entrance to the warehouse. My mom took 20 minutes to pick one out, there were so many varieties and just amazingly healthy (I mean NICE) and cheaply priced she had a hard time choosing. If I had a place for plants I would have had a cart full. They are a deal and a half!

Note to Clevelanders

Or is it Clevelandians? Clevelandites?

Anyway… Now might be a great time to come down and see West Chester versus driving to the Pittsburgh store. I found this on a item page on ikea.com:

ATTENTION PITTSBURGH CUSTOMERS!: Due to Pittsburgh’s upcoming remodel our stock availabilty on our accessory items will not be accurate. Be sure to stock up now on your accessories as our marketplace remodel will begin in May.

So Pittsburgh, already the smallest store (by a bunch), is going to have even less than the already very limited selection it had. Take the extra hour and drive down here.

I don’t know if it’s a remodel or a remodel/expansion, though having been there I don’ know how they’d expand on that hilltop other than going up. So it’s probably just a remodel remodel.

Cleveland IKEA mention on 30 Rock

Beccabee tipped me off in the last post’s comments (I hadn’t caught it on my TiVo yet as I was out watching Iron Man) that last night the eternally fictional IKEA in Cleveland was mentioned several times. Very funny with

You can watch the ep on hulu.com or below:

It starts about 8:00 minutes in and Liz is talking to an old flame, Floyd, who says he regrets moving to Cleveland sometimes.
She answers, “Well, what does NY have that Cleveland doesn’t? I read you guys are getting an IKEA!”
Floyd responds “Yeah, I’ll believe that when see it. We’ve been burned before.”

Then later, about 14:45, they are fighting and “I’ll move to Cleveland when you get that IKEA! Never!”
He rages “Don’t you deprive the good people of Cleveland an IKEA! You are vindictive Liz Lemon!”

Too funny! At least they got their facts right…

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.

IKEA to Open Its First U.S Manufacturing Facility

Swedwood, the industrial group within IKEA, announced on April 30 that its Danville, Va. manufacturing facility will open officially on May 21, 2008. - More here

While this may be the first official IKEA run factory, they have many US Manufacturers who make items for them already, I believe Sauder or Bush Furntiture does some work for them as well… for IEKA to build a factory in a recession, when their profits are down just shows thier dedication to the US market and their intent on it growing it. YAY!

IKEA inspired exhibit in Columbus

Artist Jason Salavon takes inspiration for show from furniture company Ikea

COLUMBUS, Ohio — As a consumer, Jason Salavon has had the experience of putting together the sleek, affordable furniture of popular retailer Ikea. As an artist, he decided he’d rather break the Scandinavian company down.

Salavon created a collection of works inspired by the global home furnishings chain, whose typically mammoth blue and gold stores offer everything from build-it-yourself sofas to plates of Swedish meatballs.

The influence isn’t always obvious. One of the centrepieces of Salavon’s exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art is a soft-bound booklet with nothing more than blocks of colours arranged in different patterns on each of its 374 pages.

It’s the artist’s version of the Ikea store catalogue, after a computer reduced each page of “Ektorp” model couches, “Svind” entertainment centres and other products to arrays of average colours. Large prints of some of the individual pages hang on the walls of the gallery.

“I’m interested in taking the known and abstracting it into some sort of new space,” said Salavon, 37.

“Currents: Jason Salavon” runs through May 4 in Columbus. The exhibit is scheduled at the Inman Gallery in Houston from May 30 through July 5. Duplicates of some of the pieces were displayed this weekend at the Art Chicago 2008 contemporary art expo.

More info: Columbus Museum of Art Exhibits Webpage

Welcome to the New Digs!

The design might change before too long, but I’ve move OHIKEA finally over to FlatPackOhio.com! OHIKEA.com now points here as well, so you don’t have to remember anything!

I will be opening forums and some other fun stuff, like many requested, soon for your socializing, trading, decorating, buying and tip giving fun. Be sure to join the flickr group and add your pics!

If you have subbed to the blog via email, come take a look. And don’t worry, your subscription has been switched to the new address, so you don’t have to do anything at all, and won’t miss a thing!