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Hacking IKEA Furniture

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Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#231

Post by MomsAVoxell »

unsupp0rted wrote: post #136
MomsAVoxell wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. I have lived and worked around a fair chunk of the western world, establishing my local headquarters each time, building myself a home. Long, long ago, I gave up on IKEA for everything except cookware and meatballs. The reason? I grew rapidly tired with seeing my living room everywhere. Move across the US, get invited over for dinner with new…

I don’t understand this at all. Everybody has my phone and my AirPods, or a model close to them, and that’s fine. I don’t need my AirPods to have a monogamous relationship with me.

A couch is something I've shared with my loved ones, old and new, watching TV, chatting together, crying together, having real memories over time. A dinner table, same factor: life is punctuated by the scratches and tears that accrue.

Besides that, it's not about having a monogamous relationship with a material object.

It's about mono-culture, as a whole, being somewhat detestable. If you travel through your life, change cities, change countries, change cultures, learn new languages, you might have an easier time understanding this.

Variety is the spice of life. Seeing the same bland furniture across the globe, not so much.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#232

Post by MomsAVoxell »

jitbit wrote: post #219
MomsAVoxell wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. I have lived and worked around a fair chunk of the western world, establishing my local headquarters each time, building myself a home. Long, long ago, I gave up on IKEA for everything except cookware and meatballs. The reason? I grew rapidly tired with seeing my living room everywhere. Move across the US, get invited over for dinner with new…

This comment is (mostly) AI generated. Which is funny because it complains about the lack of originality

I assure you, I am quite human.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#233

Post by liotier »

rerdavies wrote: post #112
bborud wrote: post #69

An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look…

Yes, the tried-and-true first apartment cheap stuff is still there. But the majority of what's for sale in IKEA these days is of significantly better quality (and significantly higher price). The best alternative to IKEA furniture is more expensive IKEA furniture.

Indeed, Ikea nowadays caters to a range of quality/price optima. Kitchen door finishes make a world of difference in durability and prices. Bedside tables exist with wood-on-plastic-slides drawers - and other models with ball bearing drawers.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#234

Post by dolmen »

MomsAVoxell wrote: post #123
bborud wrote: post #69

An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look…

>IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. I have lived and worked around a fair chunk of the western world, establishing my local headquarters each time, building myself a home. Long, long ago, I gave up on IKEA for everything except cookware and meatballs. The reason? I grew rapidly tired with seeing my living room everywhere. Move across the US, get invited over for dinner with new…

It's still better to go to an AirBnB and get well known IKEA furniture than the cheaper/low quality/bad look things. But photos immediately reveal that.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#235

Post by dolmen »

mastermage wrote: post #211
bborud wrote: post #69

An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look…

Ok so i have varied opinion on this. IKEA is great for getting some stuff quickly and you know what to expect. The big problem I have with Ikea is it creates a sort of disposable Furniture Industry because quite often people will throw their Ikea Stuff away after the first or second moving. Or not even take it with them. Because it is so easy to get and so cheap.

Well, because of wide availability, it allows to get a kid room for cheap and with consistent style over time always buying second hand.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#236

Post by soco »

MomsAVoxell wrote: post #123
bborud wrote: post #69

An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look…

>IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. I have lived and worked around a fair chunk of the western world, establishing my local headquarters each time, building myself a home. Long, long ago, I gave up on IKEA for everything except cookware and meatballs. The reason? I grew rapidly tired with seeing my living room everywhere. Move across the US, get invited over for dinner with new…

I'm not sure building their own furniture is an option for most of the people. I definitely won't do it, ew. Heck, even you aren't doing it, why even recommending it? Yes, flea markets are a budget friendly option, provided you can wait until something passable shows up, and you can arrange transport and putting it up.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#237

Post by wongarsu »

bmitc wrote: post #202
clickety_clack wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IKEA is fine when you’re just starting out, but after years, you realize that it’s got a shelf life. Good furniture really is better. You can get great stuff for very reasonable prices on Craigslist and Facebook marketplace, and it’s much more solid, durable and interesting than the cookiecutter ikea stuff.

I've had a lot of my Ikea furniture for over a decade. That includes a dining room table, several bookshelves, office table with glass top, coffee table, and several other things I've forgotten about, and we have some dressers that are years old as well. And several of these pieces have been involved in a move or two. Applying care and some wood glue during construction will yield a very solid product for years to co…

Even their honeycomb stuff can be surprisingly good. I have a Malm desk for over a decade, disassembled and reassembled twice for moving, and it's as good as new

Sure, you could probably punch through the desk surface with a screwdriver. But within normal use it holds up great

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#238

Post by cannonpr »

teiferer wrote: post #214
cannonpr wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a complex topic and I’m not going to do it justice in a comment, but I feel like modern society might just be destroying social mobility in the name of what you described, while the already rich are dynasty building just fine as usual via a variety of legal means only available to them selves.

Could you elaborate on which aspect you consider to be destroying social mobility?

Well, play it out in a simulation, what happens if you have two groups of humans, one can build wealth across generations, and infact already have access to better education, food, and the enormous privileged of rolling the dice and failing without suffering extreme consequences. The other group doesn’t, and now on top of it? They can’t work harder to build some wealth and pass it on to their descendants because the “state” legally disincentivises it. You have in essence legally protected the rich from competition even inter-generationally.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#239

Post by gregoriol »

unsupp0rted wrote: post #136
MomsAVoxell wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. I have lived and worked around a fair chunk of the western world, establishing my local headquarters each time, building myself a home. Long, long ago, I gave up on IKEA for everything except cookware and meatballs. The reason? I grew rapidly tired with seeing my living room everywhere. Move across the US, get invited over for dinner with new…

I don’t understand this at all. Everybody has my phone and my AirPods, or a model close to them, and that’s fine. I don’t need my AirPods to have a monogamous relationship with me.

That's because you do have the most common stuff: that's a choice. You could have a less common smartphone (iPhone SE? Fairephone?), audiophile headphones (Denon? Kef?), ... that would be more personal and better choice.

Re: Hacking IKEA Furniture

#240

Post by ulnarkressty »

bborud wrote: post #69

An architect friend of mine once said that he admired IKEA above all other furniture manufacturers because it made a modern range of aesthetics available to the masses. IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer. And I do have to agree. I can remember what ghastly furniture most shops used to have around here. There was a lot of what we call "cabin furniture" - which isn't made to look…

I think most people who are critical of IKEA would be fine with cheap carboard furniture, if it weren't for their unethical practices hinging on corruption in developing countries. I recently learned of their practices of clearing old growth forests and was quite ashamed for falling for their greenwashing campaign. I won't be buying their products anytime soon.

Some recent documentaries about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSV7RlgQtWc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=860f0EqmYao

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