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IKEA furniture

I managed to massively fuck up building a billy bookcase the other day by unknowingly putting the central shelf the wrong way round with the chipboard exposed to the front.

Obviously I only discovered this AFTER I'd secured the thing in place with the screws and slid in the back panel, AND nailed the back panel to said shelf :facepalm:

Cue another 40 minutes of cursing, ripping out nails, removing the back panel, unscrewing, and readjusting. I was livid with myself for such a schoolboy error.
 
We have the joys of assembling a Billy bookcase at some point over the weekend. This is after MrA drove 30 miles too far having missed the turn, worse still they are out of stock of extra shelves.
 
Elpenor said:
I have some Kallax units with the shelf upside down. Not so much of an issue as the insert means the mess is hidden. It annoyed me at the time but it wasn’t worth redoing them.
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Late to this, but...I am no stranger to unloading, stripping, and rebuilding furniture when I make errors like this. Which, on the whole, is quite an encouragement to getting it right first time 🤔
 
Love a bit of ikea. Shopping the cathedral of broken dreams🤣

I swear by malm drawers, to date mine have been virtually indestructible with only a single drawer per decade failure rate

I’ve relegated myself to a box room in the house in a vain effort to minimise my stuff. Looking at an ikea bed hack to fit a bed in and plenty of storage in a room with one of those annoying stair boxes. Think ships cabin 🤣

No doubt a period of experimentation and frustration ahead
 
bellaozzydog said:
Love a bit of ikea. Shopping the cathedral of broken dreams🤣

I swear by malm drawers, to date mine have been virtually indestructible with only a single drawer per decade failure rate

I’ve relegated myself to a box room in the house in a vain effort to minimise my stuff. Looking at an ikea bed hack to fit a bed in and plenty of storage in a room with one of those annoying stair boxes. Think ships cabin 🤣

No doubt a period of experimentation and frustration ahead
Click to expand...
I've had a Malm bed for the last 5+ years, and it's seen sterling service (no, not like that, you filthy bastards)

I bought 2 bedside drawer units, but the geometry of the bedroom is such that I can use only one by the bed, so the second one remains as an unexploited treat. I may wrap it and give it to myself for Christmas.
 
There was a British company making shit flatpack furniture, I forget their name even!!

Then there is Ikea, shit Skandi flat pack furniture..

The only thing reliable about Ikea is the meatballs!! :)

I have a table, 6 chairs, bookshelves, a futon, from Ikea ..

The table had to be rebuilt with reinforcements, the chairs proved flimsy and some collapsed, the bookshelves (Billy) well I didn't have many expectations and they weren't exceeded, and the futon, well the futon well I liked the futon but our aged cat who was terminally ill with kidney failure decided to crap and pee all over the futon's mattress which wasn't washable.

The chairs were a pain from the beginning, we went to blue water Ikea, we decided what chairs we wanted then went to the warehouse to get them, we wanted 6 but of course there were only 3 in stock. Ikea wouldn't order any for us even though I was prepared to pay in advance. The wouldn't take an order for 6 which we would collect, they wouldn't deliver 6 to us either, the only option we had was to buy what they had at blue water, (3) and drive round the M25 to the west end Ikea and see if they had any of the particular chairs there .. and no they couldn't phone to ask if they had any chairs? nor could they look it up on their computer either .. I can't even recall the final humiliation of trying to buy 6 chairs from Ikea but suffice to say I wasn't impressed.
 
I’m
weltweit said:
There was a British company making shit flatpack furniture, I forget their name even!!

Then there is Ikea, shit Skandi flat pack furniture..

The only thing reliable about Ikea is the meatballs!! :)

I have a table, 6 chairs, bookshelves, a futon, from Ikea ..

The table had to be rebuilt with reinforcements, the chairs proved flimsy and some collapsed, the bookshelves (Billy) well I didn't have many expectations and they weren't exceeded, and the futon, well the futon well I liked the futon but our aged cat who was terminally ill with kidney failure decided to crap and pee all over the futon's mattress which wasn't washable.

The chairs were a pain from the beginning, we went to blue water Ikea, we decided what chairs we wanted then went to the warehouse to get them, we wanted 6 but of course there were only 3 in stock. Ikea wouldn't order any for us even though I was prepared to pay in advance. The wouldn't take an order for 6 which we would collect, they wouldn't deliver 6 to us either, the only option we had was to buy what they had at blue water, (3) and drive round the M25 to the west end Ikea and see if they had any of the particular chairs there .. and no they couldn't phone to ask if they had any chairs? nor could they look it up on their computer either .. I can't even recall the final humiliation of trying to buy 6 chairs from Ikea but suffice to say I wasn't impressed.
Click to expand...
you have anger administration and incontinence cat issues rather than IKEA issues 😁
 
Boudicca said:
Here's my recently finished Ikea Havsta, zhuzhed up with Farrow & Ball Pink Ground paint.

It made an appearance on the DIY thread as I tried and failed to break the glass so that I could use rattan. Plan B was to just glue the rattan to the glass but that didn't work either as it was skew wiff, so I ended up just using some film.

I at last have some lounge storage and can unpack the boxes that have been in my junk room for a year.

View attachment 407546
Click to expand...
I'd love some Havstra. We will have to empty a room at a time shortly for plastering purposes - dreading taking the IKEA furniture, mainly Kallax, apart and trying to get it back together again! The Pax wardrobe has popped its back off and is very unstable :(
 
weltweit said:
There was a British company making shit flatpack furniture, I forget their name even!!

Then there is Ikea, shit Skandi flat pack furniture..

The only thing reliable about Ikea is the meatballs!! :)

I have a table, 6 chairs, bookshelves, a futon, from Ikea ..

The table had to be rebuilt with reinforcements, the chairs proved flimsy and some collapsed, the bookshelves (Billy) well I didn't have many expectations and they weren't exceeded, and the futon, well the futon well I liked the futon but our aged cat who was terminally ill with kidney failure decided to crap and pee all over the futon's mattress which wasn't washable.

The chairs were a pain from the beginning, we went to blue water Ikea, we decided what chairs we wanted then went to the warehouse to get them, we wanted 6 but of course there were only 3 in stock. Ikea wouldn't order any for us even though I was prepared to pay in advance. The wouldn't take an order for 6 which we would collect, they wouldn't deliver 6 to us either, the only option we had was to buy what they had at blue water, (3) and drive round the M25 to the west end Ikea and see if they had any of the particular chairs there .. and no they couldn't phone to ask if they had any chairs? nor could they look it up on their computer either .. I can't even recall the final humiliation of trying to buy 6 chairs from Ikea but suffice to say I wasn't impressed.
Click to expand...
Could you order them online? We do, it saves visiting the shop and buying more things than we need.

We shall soon be moving into our new home. We shall do a lot of shopping in Ikea because we will have only a sofa and two single beds. I'm looking forward to the challenge.
 
weltweit said:
There was a British company making shit flatpack furniture, I forget their name even!!

Then there is Ikea, shit Skandi flat pack furniture..

The only thing reliable about Ikea is the meatballs!! :)

I have a table, 6 chairs, bookshelves, a futon, from Ikea ..

The table had to be rebuilt with reinforcements, the chairs proved flimsy and some collapsed, the bookshelves (Billy) well I didn't have many expectations and they weren't exceeded, and the futon, well the futon well I liked the futon but our aged cat who was terminally ill with kidney failure decided to crap and pee all over the futon's mattress which wasn't washable.

The chairs were a pain from the beginning, we went to blue water Ikea, we decided what chairs we wanted then went to the warehouse to get them, we wanted 6 but of course there were only 3 in stock. Ikea wouldn't order any for us even though I was prepared to pay in advance. The wouldn't take an order for 6 which we would collect, they wouldn't deliver 6 to us either, the only option we had was to buy what they had at blue water, (3) and drive round the M25 to the west end Ikea and see if they had any of the particular chairs there .. and no they couldn't phone to ask if they had any chairs? nor could they look it up on their computer either .. I can't even recall the final humiliation of trying to buy 6 chairs from Ikea but suffice to say I wasn't impressed.
Click to expand...
I think your problem sounds more like it's about flat pack furniture in general than IKEA furniture in particular.

When I started getting IKEA furniture, the main players in the flatpack market were people like Argos and MFI. Now their stuff WAS crap - flimsy, often not that accurately drilled, and often with parts missing. IKEA was a revelation - I don't recall ever having a problem with assembling IKEA stuff that wasn't, when it came down to it, an error on my part.

I do agree that the whole purchasing experience can be (or at least was) a complete PITA, especially as IKEA stores were usually a bunfight on the weekends. But that's improved - you can check stock levels before you head to the store, and even order the stuff for collection.

IKEA do (or used to) sell products in 2 or 3 ranges. There was the cheap-as-chips stuff, which I never really bothered with - I suspect that those were their built-to-a-price products, and often looked rather flimsy. Then their was their main range, and - barring a few small design glitches - I've not had much in that range that was flimsy. Billy bookcases are very definitely in that range, and I'd say, given the vast numbers sold over the years, that your experience isn't typical.

Like any furniture, though, flatpack stuff relies on being properly assembled. Get that wrong, and yes, the product is going to seem rubbish...but then the responsibility for that lies with the assembler.

I've had conversations with people who both hated flatpack furniture, and weren't very good at assembling it (connection there, maybe?). Then you point out to them that they can always go and buy assembled furniture, or pay someone to assemble theirs, and they throw their toys out of the pram at the cost. Well, you can't have your cake AND eat it. Flat pack furniture has the huge advantage of being much more economical to ship (you're not carrying a load of which 90% is air), so it stands to reason that fully-assembled stuff will cost more at the shop. Similarly for paying people to assemble it.

But it's definitely not for everyone. Which is fine.
 
moose said:
I'd love some Havstra. We will have to empty a room at a time shortly for plastering purposes - dreading taking the IKEA furniture, mainly Kallax, apart and trying to get it back together again! The Pax wardrobe has popped its back off and is very unstable :(
Click to expand...
Backs of wardrobes (and bookcases) are a bit of a weak point. I don't bother nailing them - I use 3x20mm screws, instead. It's worth making a little jig so you can get the screws consistently placed. And, with Billy bookcases, I usually screw through a thin bit of timber at the top, middle, and bottom, to keep it all neatly in place. One time, not having any suitable wood, and being impatient, I used some drilled metal strips instead, which worked a treat.
 
moose said:
I'd love some Havstra. We will have to empty a room at a time shortly for plastering purposes - dreading taking the IKEA furniture, mainly Kallax, apart and trying to get it back together again! The Pax wardrobe has popped its back off and is very unstable :(
Click to expand...
Havsta is real wood so a bit more robust. They often come up on marketplace, and because they have a matt finish they are easy to paint. The backs are still cardboard but have some fancier fixings.
 
existentialist said:
Backs of wardrobes (and bookcases) are a bit of a weak point. I don't bother nailing them - I use 3x20mm screws, instead. It's worth making a little jig so you can get the screws consistently placed. And, with Billy bookcases, I usually screw through a thin bit of timber at the top, middle, and bottom, to keep it all neatly in place. One time, not having any suitable wood, and being impatient, I used some drilled metal strips instead, which worked a treat.
Click to expand...
Yeah, sometimes you need to tweak it a bit, just to be sure.
I’ve braced a couple of 2x4 kallax with a diagonal metal strip as I was unable To fix to the wall. There’s no danger of tipping forwards but a definite chance of going sideways, hence the brace.

Not my pic!
8502D355-AC23-4738-8273-77F5D213FD4F.jpeg
 
existentialist said:
Backs of wardrobes (and bookcases) are a bit of a weak point. I don't bother nailing them - I use 3x20mm screws, instead. It's worth making a little jig so you can get the screws consistently placed. And, with Billy bookcases, I usually screw through a thin bit of timber at the top, middle, and bottom, to keep it all neatly in place. One time, not having any suitable wood, and being impatient, I used some drilled metal strips instead, which worked a treat.
Click to expand...

danski said:
Yeah, sometimes you need to tweak it a bit, just to be sure.
I’ve braced a couple of 2x4 kallax with a diagonal metal strip as I was unable To fix to the wall. There’s no danger of tipping forwards but a definite chance of going sideways, hence the brace.

Not my pic!
Click to expand...
Ikea Ivar comes with Observator braces to make them stay upright, only £2. They could work.

1725780556159.png
 
Boudicca said:
Ikea Ivar comes with Observator braces to make them stay upright, only £2. They could work.

View attachment 441716
Click to expand...
You'd have to be a bit careful with Kallax, though, as there are only a few points where the wood is solid enough to use plain screws (the outer panels are mostly hollow construction except at corners and other strategic places), so it might be better to be prepared to use hollow door fixings if you're not able to anchor into those strategic places (you'll know, the minute you drill into it).
 
existentialist said:
You'd have to be a bit careful with Kallax, though, as there are only a few points where the wood is solid enough to use plain screws (the outer panels are mostly hollow construction except at corners and other strategic places), so it might be better to be prepared to use hollow door fixings if you're not able to anchor into those strategic places (you'll know, the minute you drill into it).
Click to expand...
Ah yes, very true.
 
Top tip, if you're not sure. Drill a pilot hole (2 or 3 mm) for the screw, and if the drill pops into the void only shortly after starting, whip it out, and drill a hole suitable for your hollow door fixing instead. Otherwise, carry on and use the screw.
 
Ended up with son putting the shelves together with some help from MrA in just over an hour. Thankfully this meant the air was not blue from swearing and the job was done properly.
 
weltweit said:
If Ikea allows you to check stock online now that is good, and if they permit online ordering and even deliveries that is also good.

Back in about 1999 these things were not available.
Click to expand...
Yes, they do now have a much improved online service. They also do small deliveries, which they didn't used to do, as well as the more expensive big truck deliveries for larger items. Do remember, 1999 was a quarter of a century ago - they've had plenty of time to get their act together!

As for the traditional monster queues, if you have the IKEA app, you can scan as you go, and just turn up at the express till at the end. It's miles more civilised than it used to be.
 
existentialist said:
I've had conversations with people who both hated flatpack furniture, and weren't very good at assembling it (connection there, maybe?). Then you point out to them that they can always go and buy assembled furniture, or pay someone to assemble theirs, and they throw their toys out of the pram at the cost. Well, you can't have your cake AND eat it. Flat pack furniture has the huge advantage of being much more economical to ship (you're not carrying a load of which 90% is air), so it stands to reason that fully-assembled stuff will cost more at the shop. Similarly for paying people to assemble it.
Click to expand...
I feel the same about shucking oysters.
 
existentialist said:
Yes, they do now have a much improved online service. They also do small deliveries, which they didn't used to do, as well as the more expensive big truck deliveries for larger items. Do remember, 1999 was a quarter of a century ago - they've had plenty of time to get their act together!

As for the traditional monster queues, if you have the IKEA app, you can scan as you go, and just turn up at the express till at the end. It's miles more civilised than it used to be.
Click to expand...
Also, go in the week or early Saturday morning, if possible. NEVER ON A SUNDAY.
 
I think their expansion has helped with queues too. ikea store nearer to you means less likely to buy a huge amount in one go?
 
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