Owned by the Swedes

[chipotle]

So yesterday (Monday) I stopped by Ikea after work and looked around at various pieces of furniture, and found a couple likely culprits for a computer desk. The one that I had in Florida was one that I liked a lot, really -- a Mission-style desk from Target (of all places). It was the absolute basics for a computer desk: a flat wooden surface, a pull-out keyboard drawer, and that was it. With the drawer pushed in and the chair pushed in under the desk, it took up very little space, making it great for my living room.

Today, I bought a desk similar to that (and at the same $99 price: high for Target, moderate for Ikea), but in a more "antique" style: a computer desk from the Leksvik series. (Oddly enough, the desk is in the photo on that page, but doesn't appear to be selectable as an item.) The desk is currently in a box in my bedroom. The box has been opened, enough for me to read that the assembly instructions are many pages long and in 33 steps. I'm pretty sure the desk from Target was easier to put together. I may start tomorrow morning. I may not.

I definitely see the evil of the store. It's designed to make you walk through showrooms which give you lots of ideas for other rooms in the house, then through a "marketplace" of reasonably-priced knick-knacks. At one point I found myself thinking, "Hey, I bet Samanthia would like this kitchen design." (The cabinets were black. A lot of their kitchen design was pretty cool, actually.) Monday night, I ate dinner at the store, in the little cafeteria. Swedish meatballs, naturally--and a surprisingly good apple cake. Bork bork bork.

I'm tempted to go back to Ikea for the chair, too, alarmingly enough.

Comments

*grin*

[jadedfox.livejournal.com]

Um, did I mention I'm 4th generation swedish. My great grandparents on my father's side emmigrated from Sweden. Strom comes from a word that means stream. ;)

Just thought I'd add that after reading. :)

[chastmastr.livejournal.com]

I love Ikea! :) Who's Samanthia?

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

The very first time I was ever in an Ikea, I realized the same thing about their marketing strategy that you did. Very clever. Of course, being aware of it, I quickly learned that the first thing to do is to get the map of the store. There are always shortcuts for the staff to get around quickly, and when you find them, you can bypass most of the displays.

God, I love those Poang chairs...

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Excellent, shelves.

As for the chair, well, it greatly resembles my artist's chair, which set me back some $200 or so. Doesn't seem to have quite as good a backrest though.

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

The table I got didn't come with the shelf unit, but for the moment I'm not worried about that because I don't have any idea what kind of monitor I'll eventually put on it. I'd like a 20" Apple Cinema Display, and a lot of the "hutch"-style computer desks don't play well with bigger monitors.

The back rest is the one thing on that chair I'm not sure about, actually, even though it's definitely in the "pretty good for $80" category. Presuming the chair floating around Tugrik's spare room isn't too bad, I'll probably just stick with it for the moment while I do a little more research.

[nerfcoyote.livejournal.com]

if you need any help assembling, let me know. I managed to get my GALANT desk and TROMSO loft assembled mostly okay (i.e. they haven't failed catastrophically yet after five days).

The GALANT series is all very modular, but the site doesn't price out individual parts. Like I was thinking of adding a semicircular end to one of the table parts but it doesn't list that part separately.

I actually am considering putting a couch in my room now. My tiny 10'2 x 10'7 room with the desk and loft and piles of clothes, papers, files, boxes, etc.

[momentrabbit.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's evil in the store layout, yes. But there's also redeeming grace.. the as is section. Lovely desktops without legs. Display models they'd rather not disassemble. Returns that didn't fit the room. Random parts that add value to what you already have.

And once - once - there was a wonderful day, when the air was crisp and cool, the light was soothing, everything was just so - and there was a stack of black Billy bookcases, still in their cartons, unassembled - for half price.

Somebody had dropped a forklift full of them in the warehouse, and it was faster and cheaper to just take them to the as is department, than take them all out of their boxes and check them for damage.

Bought four. One has a slight chip on a back-facing edge. Otherwise in perfect condition. o.O

Besides, you have to like a store that sells Grogg and Scum, and is proud of the fact.

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

oooooooh thank you thank you thank you!
is that in the Palo Alto or the Emeryville store?

[momentrabbit.livejournal.com]

Actually, it was the Queensway store. In Toronto, Ontario. And the bookshelves are long gone by now. (sheepish grin) Sorry. But they should all carry pretty much the same things, foodstuffs and bookshelves alike..

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

Ah, but I haven't seen that department here. Darn!
Maybe I just haven't seen it because of all the distractions yet. I'll look for it.