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How Ikea's Billy bookcase took over the world

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171–180 of 246 posts

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

#171
post #34

I prefer IKEA’s Tunhem Bookcase which is unfortunately discontinued. It is deeper and the shelves are thicker which helps prevent bookcase sagging. http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/vinyl-record-shelf/ http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator/

They have many other bookcases available. Billy is merely the cheapest.

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

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That struck me too: Are there leading modern entrepreneurs who are as non-materialistic? I recall hearing of several in prior generations. (Also, sometimes those stories are merely marketing, and they have a personal chef and private jet too.)

This is a bad thing. He is keeping some other family out of a house, when he can afford a much pricier place.

that's not how that works

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

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>DeviantArt Did anyone else shudder?

What? Is Sonic the Hedgehog inflation fetish porn not your thing?

There's a lot of terrible stuff on DeviantArt. But there's also a lot of great stuff on there too I've seen.

And then there's the stuff that combines both; beautifully rendered, highly detailed work that tells an interesting story in one image, that's also ultimately "just" fan-art for Rick and Morty. Humans are weird sometimes.

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

#174

- Anecdote - A while ago, a coworker was excited to move to another flat but there was a little something that was going to be complicated: books. He and his girlfriend were both avid readers and their two already impressive collections fused years ago into a massive beast. As we were discussing the "problem", I asked him for a ballpark estimation of the number of books to move, expecting something like "1000 books",…

One thing I lament after switching to ebooks is the lack of books. Sounds silly, but I think a wall with shelves of books was quite nice looking and colorful.

I am happy to not have to store books in physical form. They are heavy, take up loads and loads of space, and do not keep well. And that's not even getting into how impractical they are to actually read (or search) compared with e-books.

And still, something is missing in the home. A book collection might be the most personal touch a person can have in the home. Some of it is vanity, you want to show people what you read, but somehow it is also delightful to casually look over all the old gems and sometimes get the urge to pick one out to read again. This doesn't really happen in the same way with the Kindle. I guess it's the same with record collections vs. digital distribution.

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

#175
Billy bookcases are great if you use them right. Best to get the narrow models and fix them next to each other with carefully placed wood screws.

This makes super rigid and durable shelves for heavy books and the shelves never noticeably sag because the span is so short. You can also customize the heights of the shelves with fine granularity.

The only other bookshelf system I use is the "Hungarian Bookshelf" (https://www.instructables.com/id/Hungarian-Shelves/). You basically make this yourself with wood. Excellent for the basement.

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

#176

I've never been to an Ikea. Until recently there wasn't one in my state. Because of this I'm always amazed that so many people seem to have this fascination with it.

I wouldn't know Ikea furniture if I tripped over it. I'd barely ever heard of the company until ~5 years ago. It's almost as if I'd never seen a TV program, given its apparent cultural significance.

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

#177
post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I lament after switching to ebooks is the lack of books. Sounds silly, but I think a wall with shelves of books was quite nice looking and colorful.

I am happy to not have to store books in physical form. They are heavy, take up loads and loads of space, and do not keep well. And that's not even getting into how impractical they are to actually read (or search) compared with e-books. And still, something is missing in the home. A book collection might be the most personal touch a person can have in the home. Some of it is vanity, you want to show people what you…

A bookshelf is like a hash-table to memories of the books you've read. A quick glance at a given binding can bring up lots of thoughts... or it could be a dead reference if the book was crap. :)

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

#178

Living in Norway I've had my share of Ikea products... My feeling towards Ikea is that their products are cheap, flimsy, and bland. I have a few of their products in my home now, but they'll definitely be replaced with something better; why I got them in the first place, considering how I feel about Ikea products? Cheap. As for my books I wanted something more sturdy and went with what's just known here as a "Bombay…

I have too much Ikea furniture because, after moving to Denmark, it was the easiest way to buy everything I needed in just a couple of trips. My table seems to be good quality, but the sofa and bed are disappointing. I didn't like any of the coffee tables (sofaborde) so I have the 299kr "Lack" until I find something better. It was difficult to find a shop selling better furniture than Ikea, except for the designer fu…

> It was difficult to find a shop selling better furniture than Ikea, except for the designer furniture stores in the centre of Copenhagen -- and I'm not ready to spend over 5000kr on a concrete-topped table.

Same in the US. The options are: Ikea, Ikea knockoffs that're worse but somehow more expensive, tacky, bulky furniture that's poorly made and ~2x Ikea's prices, and then the high end that starts around 5x the price of Ikea, minimum, and goes up from there.

The semi-disposable nature of Ikea kinda fits modern US housing construction, anyway. It's odd to have a table that'll last 200+ years in a house that's gonna need significant cosmetic replacements (nothing's real solid wood so repairs/refinishes are right out) in 10-15 years, major renovation in 20-30 years, and will likely be torn down in 60 or fewer.

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

#179
post #156

There's no IKEA in Mexico, and I really miss it. Anything here with a decent design almost falls into the luxurious range. Sure IKEA has some cheap stuff, but you can also get better products by buying their more expensive products. I bought a couch 10 years ago that I later sold to a friend and he is still using it. We had some Kallax (expedit) in our previous office bought in 2004 and are still being used by someon…

In Pakistan, IKEA furniture is an imported luxury good. There are fancy high-end boutiques selling IKEA furniture in the most upscale consumer markets.

In the mean time you can go to the crummiest street workshop and buy gorgeous handmade furniture with woodwork that you will never see in the West, sold for a pittance. It really boggles the mind.

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

#180

There's a disconnect when I look at the price of good furniture compared to products that are insanely more complicated (laptops, smartphones), heavier than furniture (motorbikes, snowblowers, lawnmowers), as bulky as flatpack bookcases (big screen TVs), and need to be shipped even greater distances than furniture (all my examples would be coming to the U.S. from Asia). Furthermore, furniture has much less regulation…

Your TV could conceivably stay in functioning order for 20 years. More likely 5 years.

Your table could conceivably stay in functioning order for 2000 years. More likely 500 years.

Quality built wood furniture has essentially an indefinite lifespan.

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