Tell me about IKEA

[TLHB70]

It was announced yesterday that we will be getting an IKEA here in Charlotte. I have never been to one. I don't know anything about it except what the news reports are saying. I see that it is a huge, popular furniture store. What is it like? Is the furniture nice? Tell me about it.

 

[debbi801]

The furniture is ultra modern, Danish style furniture. Generally, you assemble it yourself when you get it home. The few things we have are just a melanine laminate, not high quality. But, it has all held up pretty well and their prices are very reasonable. It is a fun store to go through, lots of neat stuff to look at. And, they have a play room area available for kids.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The furniture is nice quality--ready to assemble--furniture. Some of it is even real wood (actually a bunch of it is). You can stain it, buy it stained sometimes or whatever. We have several pieces (mostly small as we hauled it from elsewhere to our home in Florida).

The decor is interesting--we do have a little trouble finding things that would fit with our home decor b/c lots of it is contemporary (I think! Don't know my classifications of style).

It is a nice place to shop (and have a quick bite to eat for not too much $$$$). My girls love the playroom.

It is more than just furniture--it is a home decor store though. I wouldn't consider it just a furniture store.

 

[Sleepy]

The IKEA here is a 2 story building. Top floor is beds, tables, etc. I find the furniture to be on the cheap quality side, yet expensive. Some things like shelves you can find reasonable, but still cheaply made. THey have all sorts of items for the bathrooms, kitchen. Stuff like shelving, etc. Downstairs is the kitchen bathroom items like dishes, etc. I really like the dishes. Glasses are reasonably priced. The whole place is a madhouse. People crawling around like ants. It really is an unpleasant experience, but I suppose it is worth it to get what you want.

 

[MainStMandy]

I love IKEA!!! Ex and I furnished our entire home with Ikea stuff. Made fairly well, held up pretty good (although we didn't have kids).

The reason everything is cheap is they don't really have salespeople (you go into the warehouse and pick it up yourself) and you put it together yourself. We had a blast doing it and I have never had a bad experience there.

 

[golfgal]

We have the US Flagship store here in MN, it is huge from the outside, I haven't been in it yet because it is still pretty new and a nightmare on weekends . THey have a lot of funky home storage things that are pretty inexpensive. My sister got some wall shelf things that she keeps her kids' school papers in, etc. I guess their fabric/window treatments, etc are very inexpensive.

 

[Beth76]

It is sooooo cool. I've been to two even though we don't have one here. We really need one. The closest one is in Chicago and they have two--not fair. Its a huge place with part room displays intermixed with bins of "stuff" to buy (cheap!). There's also a huge area for household items (think like Bed Bath & Beyond)--again cheap!. And there's a warehouse where you can actually pick up the needs-to-be-assembled furniture. They have a cafe too. It's really a lot of fun.

 

[wendy46001]

Love it, but its apartment furniture so it would look very small in my house.....also i could never put a couch together....so i bought dishes...

 

[CheshireVal]

IKEA is dangerous. Dangerous, I tell you!

I love the bottom floor of ours that is filled with basic housewares. I end up walking out of there with all kinds of stuff that I don't really need (frames, candles, placemats, curtains, bathmats, kitchen stuff), but it's so cheap it's really hard to resist.

We actually got our kitchen table there a few years ago. Table and four chairs for $99. Can't beat that!

 

[Breezy_Carol]

The whole place is a madhouse. People crawling around like ants. It really is an unpleasant experience, but I suppose it is worth it to get what you want.

My experience has been totally different but I guess it depends on the store.

We don't have any real furniture but have a number of bookcases from IKEA. And their sheets are very nice. All of our down comforters and covers are from there.

When the kids were little, they loved going to the play place.

Yours will be a madhouse when it first opens, but give it a chance after things settle down.

 

[TLHB70]

So am I understanding this right?????..........


the rooms are displayed so that you can see what you like. Then you go to a bin and pick up the piece of furniture that you want/like?
I like that there are other things for the house besides furniture.
I have been looking for a reasonably priced shelf for our DDs' toy room to hold their board games. However, I cannot bring myself to pay a high price since it will be in a toy room just holding board game boxes. This sounds like a good place for stuff like that.
Do they have paintings and art work for the walls?

 

[KikiFan]

Man I love that place. They've got great stuff and the prices are reasonable. They're sales are usually fantastic. Last year after the holidays, I stocked up on green pillar candles 8 inch for .15 Red napkins for .10. It was great.

 

[CheshireVal]

Our store was really unpleasantly crowded for the first year it was open, especially on weekends.

I had better luck going on weekdays, before noon.

I haven't actually been to IKEA in a long time, though, so I have no idea if it's still as crowded as it used to be. Maybe it's time for another trip!

 

[TLHB70]

Yours will be a madhouse when it first opens, but give it a chance after things settle down.

Yes, I figure that I will not even try to visit it for a long while after opening. Then I will try to avoid it on weekends if possible.
They are saying that they will start building it next year so we still have a long wait. I was just curious about it because I have never heard of it before now. The people interviewed on the news reports were definitely fans, though.

 

[CheshireVal]

So am I understanding this right?????..........


the rooms are displayed so that you can see what you like. Then you go to a bin and pick up the piece of furniture that you want/like?
I like that there are other things for the house besides furniture.
I have been looking for a reasonably priced shelf for our DDs' toy room to hold their board games. However, I cannot bring myself to pay a high price since it will be in a toy room just holding board game boxes. This sounds like a good place for stuff like that.
Do they have paintings and art work for the walls?

That's pretty much exactly how it works. They give you a slip of paper and pencil so that you can keep track of what you want and also where to find it in the "warehouse" section as you leave.

They do have some nice artwork and tons of frames!

 

[Teresa Pitman]

A lot of the furniture in my home is from IKEA, because it is inexpensive and pretty sturdy. I've found a variety of styles - some is too modern for my tastes, but there is plenty that I like. We also shop there a lot for bedding - they have nice duvets and duvet covers that are 100 percent cotton and usually a good price (especially during the sales). Some unique children's toys and items, too. They have a "kitchen starter kit" box (or used to - I don't think I saw it on my last trip) that I have given as gifts to people moving into their first home.

We like shopping there, even if we're not buying. Usually the top floor includes a number of "rooms" and it is interesting to see how they have arranged and decorated the rooms. It can give you ideas about what you might do at home. They have a playroom for kids and my kids (and now my grandkids) loved playing there. And the restaurant food is cheap (they do a $1 breakfast at the one here, although I would not rank it high on nutritional value!)

Teresa

 

[fan_of_small_world]

I have shopped on and off at IKEA since they came to the US. I've been to three different IKEAS, and each of them many times, here in the US (Illinois, Maryland, and Pennsylvania), and fortunately none of my experiences are similar to Sleepy's. (Except for the crowds - weekends are extremely crowded, and I'm sure when one first opens that is even more true.)

You will find different levels of quality. As an example, some wood furniture is made entirely of wood, others a mix of wood and particle board, some pretty much all particle board. I've bought things at all levels and while the particle board pieces don't last forever, they are pretty good for that kind of construction. I think the prices are fairly reasonale, too.

All furniture is made so that you carry it home in flat boxes and assemble it yourself. The boxes can be quite large, however, so a minivan, SUV, or truck may be needed. I believe they may offer an assembly service, but nobody I know ever needed it. The directions are very clear and don't require anything beyond the tools they supply or basic tools anyone would have at home already.

I've always been pretty happy with anything I've bought there. Since I started shopping there as a college student, the all-particle board stuff was more in my price range. Now that I'm older, my tastes and (obviously!) my income have changed and I don't shop there for major pieces of furniture. However, I do plan to head there soon for bookshelves and such for the finished basement. I also have bought some of the all-plastic kids furniture for the playroom, and those are almost indestructable.

Styles there are, as others have said, on the contemporary side, although I have seen many pieces that would work very nicely in more traditional or even country settings.

And, again like pointed out above, there is way more there than just furniture. The store is laid out in sections (living room, dining, bedroom, office, children's, etc.) and each section will have accessories for that area. I also LOVE shopping in the "Marketplace" - it's where you can find all kinds of decorative accents, lamps, rugs, kitchenware and gadgets (I love their cutting boards), organizing stuff, office stuff, just about everything.

Definitely go when they open just to see whether you like it or not. If nothing else it's really fun to walk around and grab lunch (try the meatballs!).

 

[TTFN]

We have twice driven 4 hours to shop in the Atlanta IKEA. The last trip we got smart and arrrived at the store at opening on Sunday. We actually found parking immediatly...the previous trip we had to circle and circle the parking garage! I love shopping there! Our last trip was expressly to purchase storage/bookshelves for the den. I love the stuff so much we will head back soon to get the matching pieces for an entertainment center. I wish it was closer; I'd like to get some of the plain (cheap) glass plates to use at Dad's 80th birthday party!

 

[Pixie_Summer]

Ikea is the best! My family loves going there. They have so much cool furniture, lots of pink But they have a place to eat, place to drop off your kids and lots of different places to look around. As someone else posted, they have like little displays to show how the furniture looks and stuff. So, i really like Ikea, go see if you do as well!
P.S. if you go make sure you get the Ikea Chocolate rolls. They are the reson we keep going back!!

 

[fan_of_small_world]

I forgot to say that they also usually have an "as is" area (not sure that a brand new one will have this yet) that can be really fun to poke around. We got our office desk top from there (the scratch was on the back, so you can't even see it since it goes up against the wall). Then we bought legs in the regular section and paid a lot less than we would have.