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How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

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Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#81

Post by Hydraulix989 »

cyxxon wrote: post #71
pif wrote: post #70

I don't like buying IKEA furniture for two reasons: 1 - With a handful of exceptions, IKEA furniture looks like... IKEA furniture! It reminds Henry Ford and his "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black." 2 - Most important, while I appreciate its hack-ability, it's important for me to get quickly an idea of the budget involved. I understand that there's no standard IKEA war…

Regarding your point 2 - have you been to an Ikea recently? They always put up prices for the way it is assembled in the showroom, so you see something cost €324, of which the main corpus is 156, the added part on the left is 68, etc., broken down into the boxes you actually have to buy. So you should get a pretty good feeling for what your version of the furniture will cost. Amd about the look, well, that's just sub…

IKEA furniture here in Silicon Valley means that you're a tech intern living in a starter apartment (and you're spending all your money on rent instead of anything else). College kids have to practically give away all of their surplus IKEA furniture at the end of every summer (along with their unused bicycles) once their Facebook internships end because everyone is selling and nobody is buying. I'm always amused when someone thinks they can sell their Galant for nearly full price on Craigslist in August.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#82

Post by Kiro »

giarc wrote: post #33
pinewurst wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a significant part of that interval, Swedish taxes were in excess of 100% for very high earners. Can one blame him?

How is that possible? EDIT - This site shows that it peaked at 61%. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/sweden/personal-income-tax-r...

The marginal tax rate was over 100 for some, e.g. Astrid Lindgren which inspired https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomperipossa_in_Monismania

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#83

Post by paublyrne »

tekklloneer wrote: post #60
headmelted wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fairly well known that Warren Buffet still lives in the house he bought in the fifties before he got ultra wealthy, but I was watching a documentary a couple of weeks back where he was explaining that his choice of breakfast at the McDonald's drive-thru window is dictated by the market closing price the day before. That's hardcore... and a little eccentric probably. Found it: http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/bec…

That's not really that eccentric. If I lost a few million dollars on opening, I'd probably want hashbrowns with my mcmuffin.

I'd probably skip McDonalds and find an early house.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#84

Post by fpgaminer »

Terribledactyl wrote: post #74
fpgaminer wrote: post #52

> The Billy innovations are about working within the limits of production and logistics, finding tiny ways to shave more off the cost, all while producing something that looks inoffensive and does the job. The perfect summary of Ikea's engineering. I got into woodworking recently; designed and built a 50", full-back garden bench from scratch in redwood. The project gave me a more keen awareness of the wood that surro…

They have solid wood options, but you have to hunt for them. Also, they tend to up the price and it's "fancier" looking. Your comment makes me wish I had the space to get back into woodworking, but I just bought Ikea today because it fits into a small car and apartment easily.

> Your comment makes me wish I had the space to get back into woodworking, but I just bought Ikea today because it fits into a small car and apartment easily.

Yeah, I wish the hobby was more accessible. It's relaxing in a strange way. The work is hard and laborious, but I find a sense of peace, almost like mindfulness, when I'm standing over a piece of wood licking the sand paper back and forth, or concentrating on my brush strokes trying to make every movement better than the last. And then you have this physical object in your home. For all its faults and imperfections, it's still a monument of accomplishment. It reminds you every day. That's so different from software which doesn't have that same sense of object permanence.

I know hackerspaces exist, and sometimes they have tools related to woodworking. But I've never had one near enough to me to be worthwhile, and the thought of starting one in California where land is so expensive and interest so sparse ... So I had to wait until buying a home before I could have the opportunity to work with wood again.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#85

Post by esra »

pingec wrote: post #73

> whereas in Slovenia you can get them for less than $40 (£31). That's interesting as there is actually no IKEA store in Slovenia yet and I am not aware of any other store stocking IKEA furniture here...

Seems to be the common confusion between Slovenia and Slovakia.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#86

Post by ascorbic »

sien wrote: post #23

The series that this is from '50 Thing that Made the Modern Economy' is really excellent. There is a podcast for it. I can't recommend it highly enough. Harford is also going to write a book on the subject. It even had a pretty decent episode on compilers.

+1. The one on the Haber-Bosch process is heartbreaking.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#87

Post by pif »

cyxxon wrote: post #71
pif wrote: post #70

I don't like buying IKEA furniture for two reasons: 1 - With a handful of exceptions, IKEA furniture looks like... IKEA furniture! It reminds Henry Ford and his "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black." 2 - Most important, while I appreciate its hack-ability, it's important for me to get quickly an idea of the budget involved. I understand that there's no standard IKEA war…

Regarding your point 2 - have you been to an Ikea recently? They always put up prices for the way it is assembled in the showroom, so you see something cost €324, of which the main corpus is 156, the added part on the left is 68, etc., broken down into the boxes you actually have to buy. So you should get a pretty good feeling for what your version of the furniture will cost. Amd about the look, well, that's just sub…

> Regarding your point 2 - have you been to an Ikea recently?

No, I haven't. Thanks for the update!

> about the look, well, that's just subjective taste, isn't it?

I think I wasn't clear enough. I don't complain about quality/look: what I don't like is the standardisation! As soon as you see something from IKEA, you know it's from IKEA.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#88

Post by tinbucket »

jimmcslim wrote: post #53

Ikea's Billy and the Vitsoe 606 Universal Shelving System... two iconic designs in storage/bookshelves. One I can afford, the other... I cannot.

IKEA does something similar to the Vitsoe called ALGOT -- probably not as fancy looking, but pretty neutral and versatile. You can buy sets or you can buy it in individual pieces and customise to your heart's content.

Just yesterday I put up some ALGOT shelves in my bedroom, and I'm planning a much more elaborate install in my home office too.

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#89

Post by smcl »

esra wrote: post #85
pingec wrote: post #73

> whereas in Slovenia you can get them for less than $40 (£31). That's interesting as there is actually no IKEA store in Slovenia yet and I am not aware of any other store stocking IKEA furniture here...

Seems to be the common confusion between Slovenia and Slovakia.

It's understandable - their names in their respective languages is "Slovenija" and "Slovensko" which is relatively similar. Tougher still is discerning Slovenia and Slovakia in spoken Czech or Slovak - "Slovinsko" vs "Slovensko" - though context tends to help here :)

Re: How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

#90

Post by ascorbic »

vacri wrote: post #67
jimmcslim wrote: post #53

Ikea's Billy and the Vitsoe 606 Universal Shelving System... two iconic designs in storage/bookshelves. One I can afford, the other... I cannot.

Wow, you're not wrong. A grand for six simple racked metal shelves. https://www.vitsoe.com/rw/606/cost

Whereas IKEA Algot has similar for $65. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S99903788/ I've no doubt the Visteo is better, but 15x better?
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