The State Of Furniture

[TheTiddles]

So do my wife and I. Some of the stuff is actually quite well made and robust for the pricepoint. Kitchen units are pretty good as well.

IKEA is fabulous. Enabling average people to have nice things.

 

[danst96]

Ikea getting good rep on a woodworking forum, whod have thought

Enabling average people to have nice things.

agree with this though. My parents house is full of it.

 

[Distinterior]

Ikea getting good rep on a woodworking forum, whod have thought

I've never been in one in my 59 years....I really should make the effort to, so I can see what people like/ hate about the stuff.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

1965 gplan wardrobe cost = £69, dressing table cost £29, average 1965 wage £936/yr. 2021 average wage is £29600 ...

Average wage figures are misleading. Around here thousands haven't a hope in hell of earning £29,600. My father had labourers in 1965 working seven day weeks to take home £10.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You are only the second person in my whole life I've heard say that. The other was a swede

Called Kamprad, was he?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've never been in one in my 59 years....I really should make the effort to, so I can see what people like/ hate about the stuff.

Nearest one to me is a hundred miles away, so I'll not be in one soon.

 

[profchris]

The gulf between mass produced items and craftsman made is huge today. For example, a playable guitar can be had for £300 or so, luthier made starts around £3k.

But I'd say the reason is that mass production has become so efficient that the price has dropped to create the gap, rather than the top end shooting up in price. My low end guitar is now 3 days average wage, it was more like 3 weeks in the 1950s.

 

[doctor Bob]

You are only the second person in my whole life I've heard say that. The other was a swede

Some of their stuff has broken new ground, habitat and Ikea have brought modern design on leaps and bounds.
The purists knock it but time stands still for no man.

 

[user22161]

Average wage figures are misleading. Around here thousands haven't a hope in hell of earning £29,600. My father had labourers in 1965 working seven day weeks to take home £10.

Well, I started work as an apprentice for 39/= p.w. (for the youngsters, that's £1.95) Times have changed, we started marriage with hand-me-downs but the kids of today want everything new and have credit cards which hardly existed 50 years ago. Maybe I'm stuck in a time warp but amazed just how much people will pay for junk furniture.

 

[TheTiddles]

Ikea getting good rep on a woodworking forum, whod have thought

agree with this though. My parents house is full of it.

Not everyone on here is a stuck-in-the-past cynic with no idea how much they owe the modern world for their continued luxurious existence, but don’t get me wrong, there are a lot!

 

[clogs]

we have just about finished setting up a lux holiday home for rentals.....
buying furniture that's affordable, looks smart and will at least last 3-5 years was very dif.....
Mostley we bought hardwood inside /outside and around the pool Aluminium.....
maintenence was the next worry.......
I have decided to build a new dining table and chairs from hardwood as frankly just nothing around thats not made of chip board/Mdf..or knot free super fast grown, stained to hell pine....
Although we did find a German lux designer store where a table started at €4-5,000 and upto €12,000, and chairs were 500-800 each....
catering for the rich Russions here I guess....

my bill for hardwood will be just under €1000 at the mo to make a 6 seater table n chairs......but looking further afield to buy it at a better price right now....

when I worked in the states kitchens were mostly custom made to fit the room, fixed/applied fronts (dont know the term for comp built front panels and doors) and birch ply inside (painted or stained)...
In S Africa at the time virt no firms making fitted furniture (kitc/ bedroom).....so we bought the sheets of MDF, the correct end strip rolls and a machine to apply it......and made our own.....

lastly, my house in France had French oak fronts, bought in the UK for better than 1/2 price in France...
talk about coals to Newcastle....hahaha

were very lucky in Europe, every style u could ever want in almost any material......just depends on how deep ur pockets are.....!!!

 

[Chunkytfg]

Another vote for Ikea being great.

Walk in with a full understanding of what it is youre buying and you can't really knock it. £4 for a Coffee table!! okay then I'll buy 2 and put the spare one n the loft till I need it in 6 months time! How many would you need to break to cover the cost of a Hardwood handmade one? How long would that take?

We have alot of their stuff including Kallax units seemingly in every room. As time goes by I'm sure I will go round and replace them with my own designs of stuff I want to make but for the time being they are absolutely perfect.

 

[Keith Cocker]

I have 15 Billy Bookcases! Wonderful value for money and solid as a rock.

 

[bryan267]

Why buy new furniture. I dont know what the second hand market is like on the mainland but here on the isle of wight you can buy amazing furniture very well made at monthly auctions. I had this piece delivered yesterday which set me back a whopping £125 with taxes.

 

[danst96]

£4 for a Coffee table!! okay then I'll buy 2 and put the spare one n the loft till I need it in 6 months time!

isnt this half of the issue though? Its a flawed mentality and wasteful even though it does cost pennies. I guess it comes down to personal preference too but i would find so much more satisfaction in a handmade piece of furniture that costs 10 times that and it would last me 10s of years and look good beyond that 6 months.

 

[Distinterior]

isnt this half of the issue though? Its a flawed mentality and wasteful even though it does cost pennies. I guess it comes down to personal preference too but i would find so much more satisfaction in a handmade piece of furniture that costs 10 times that and it would last me 10s of years and look good beyond that 6 months.

Exactly how I feel too! ^^^

In these times of looking to try and reduce our carbon footprint as a society,...How do people feel about adding to the aforementioned by buying new and replacing stuff every 4 years..?!!!!!! That is, in my opinion, obscene!

 

[boggy]

My parents when first married just pre-war, bought Utility furniture which was all that was available. My mother denied that it was Utility but the mark was visible when the piece was upended. I inherited most of it but disposed of it all mainly due to the smell of the wood, but it was well put together and lasted two lifetimes.

 

[smackie]

IKEA is fabulous. Enabling average people to have nice things.

Absolutely this. If you have any interest at all in working with MDF (and especially if you have to use breakdown joints to get finished items into tight spaces), you owe it to yourself to stare at how IKEA furniture is assembled and where they put the work into the joints. Sure, the bigger pieces have a reputation for being complicated but, having built a bunch of flat pack over the years, it’s still amongst the very best for construction and solidity using that method.

 

[pe2dave]

And yet if you visit 'junk shops' and antique shops, with the same mindset, you can get solid wood furniture that requires a few hours to clean up and will last for years.
A £7 painted set of oak drawers. Stripped, sanded, finished. Still looks good 50 years later.
The only other place I've seen jaw dropping furniture is at makers showrooms, where prices are in thousands, but may be worth it.

 

[davedevelopment]

I think the IKEA type flat pack stuff is generally fit for purpose, but it is only made to go togeather once. If you're moving, and need to take it apart and then assemble it again, you're probably going to have problems.

And to be honest, I think that is by design ...

I've had far more pieces go up, down and back up again successfully than I have that have failed. We moved 2 years ago and the only Ikea items that didn't make the journey were some wardrobes, the new place had built-ins in all bedrooms. Having said that, the wardrobes are the items most likely to fail in my experience, I think the back panels are too flimsy and don't hold the carcasses square and rigid well enough, so lots of strain on the joints if you try moving them. Or if your children swing on the doors...

If you ground your expectations, in terms of fitting out a house quickly with reasonable looking furniture, I don't think you can go wrong with Ikea.