I judge myself.

[stephm0188]

I hate hate hate when I look at a blog and I can tell that everything is Ikea. I don't know why, but it bothers me.

And yet, I am perfectly willing to fill my house with it.

I have a Liatorp sideboard sitting in my living room. Technically, it was a curbside find from my neighbor. It had a free sign on it because the finish is a little chipped at the bottom on the side, but you can't even see it. Still, it was on my shopping list of things I wanted. Also in that room is a black metal $20 Ikea side table.

Billy bookcases in my sewing room for storage. $15 easel for the kid.  Hemnes dresser in our master bedroom.

Today we went and I left with a white barstool for the kitchen from the as-is section. Nothing wrong with it, just out of the packaging. Probably a return. It was $35 and assembled (score!) and perfectly matches my non-Ikea kitchen chairs. I need to pick up another.

I also decided that I really like the look and feel of the Henriksdal chairs, so I'll probably end up with those for the dining room but I'll have a table custom stained at a local unfinished wood place.

My biggest sin is our bedroom. We need a bedframe and nightstands. The box spring is on the floor currently. I know, I know. We're going to be paying for one more year of preschool, and then kindergarten, so buying a nice set of furniture for that room is on the backburner for now. So we're buying a Hemnes bedframe and two cheap nightstands as a short term solution.

My house is going to look like Ikea threw up in it. My child has nicer furniture than we do.

[sjh722]

I am nestpoor.

We have two Hemnes dressers in our bedroom, a Poang chair and footstool in the nursery, and I am waiting for my mom to bring her Expedit shelf that she no longer uses to put in my new office. (So, hand-me-down, free Ikea? LOL!)

Also, the only curtains currently hanging in my house are from Ikea, and all the curtain rods, because they were cheap, and who can really tell on plain black curtain rods? No one who visits my normal house.

[TBM]

I think it is all about what you do with it/how you put it together, that makes the biggest difference in whether or not it looks like Ikea threw up. Chances are that most people irl aren't that aware or don't care anyway.

It's sort of like how some women can wear a t shirt and jeans and look put together and elegant, while someone else wearing the same thing will look like a slob.

I <3 ikea, and I like mixing stuff from there with things from other plac and old stuff to give it a different feel.

[Deleted]

Feb 16, 2013 20:32:18 GMT -5 sjh722 said:

I am nestpoor.

This is where I am! I only have three things from Ikea (a lantern, a cutting board and a play tent for Rubes). Mainly, because the nearest is 3 hours from here. However, let's not talk about the massive amount of stuff I own from Target. I could have a clearance sale in my own house. Not to mention the massive amount of furniture I stole from my Mom or inherited from my grandparents.

Whatever. No one I know IRL remotely cares about how coordinated my rooms are, muchless where it came from. As long as it's cute and comfy we're good to go.

I laugh when people say, "OMG. That house is so full of IKEA or XYZ Store." Then follow it up with, "I only buy the things at Pottery Barn." It's the same concept people just overpriced.

And I give up on blogs...great inspiration but 3/4s of the real world doesn't live or coordinate that way, including the bloggers who have to get back to real life when they're done staging the picture.

[ssmjlm]

Eh I was all "I'm going to refinish furniture for the nursery" then DH pointed out winter isn't the best time to try and paint stuff. So yeah her dresser, bookcase and toy storage are all ikea.

Our breakfast table and chairs, tv stand and bookcases in the office are all ikea. And some is going on 6 years.

A lot of people don't have ikea stuff bc we don't have one close. I get my fix when we go to md to visit my parents.

[stephm0188]

I have an eclectic mix of stuff so I'm hoping it won't look too Ikea-y.
My tv stand came from Christmas Tree Shop and the coffee table in my living room is our old kitchen table with the legs sawed down. My kiddo's furniture is nice, but it's still Craigslist/Goodwill/stuff from the curb. Apparently people in our neighborhood throw away a lot of perfectly good furniture

I buy nice linens but cheap furniture apparently. Still hanging on to my ladder bookcases from Michael's. Bonus points for anyone who remembers that craze. Even the tables in our family room were cheap... clearance from Sears!

[pitterwoo]

The only time I worry about having too much IKEA stuff is when I think about what the internets would say about it. They have a lot of great stuff and the proportions are great for my house size. There was a time when it seemed ikea was the only place to go for furniture that wasn't overstuffed, oversized McMansion furniture. That's not going on so much now thank goodness.

[prazenjc]

DS's big boy room is ikea: platform bed (don't remember the name) and the hemmes dresser from his nursery. our basement has a sleeper sofa from ikea, too (again, i never remember their funky names). there is a small storage cabinet in a couple of our bathrooms and i have lots of open shelf storage in our pantry and basement storage areas from ikea.

to Dairy's point, everything else really does fit into the stylishly getting by on the cheap. I have clearance PB coffee table/end tables (closest thing in this list to what someone IRL might be impressed with), outlet clearance rug in DS's room is LON, the rest of my house is more of a world market-fest: dining table/chairs, family room storage cube ottomans & media cabinet, master bedroom chest of drawers & long rectangular storage ottoman bench.

[auntie]

I don't get the hate.

Ikea is kind of like Old Navy. It's not Nordstrom but it offers fun and affordable design options on the cheap. While you can do a whole space in Ikea, it's most effective when you mix it with other pieces. My home office is Ikea except for my desk chair. DS has a platform bed and dresser from Ikea. I'm doing a library with Billy next month. I have better stuff in my dining room, living room and bedroom.

I always judge the Ikea judgers who have a house filled with stuff from Ashley or Raymor and Flannigan.

[boiler717]

I have a lot of Ikea, especially for people who live 3 hours away from one! It's priced well, is decent quality, and 90% of people who come to our house have no idea what Ikea is. Why wouldn't I shop there? I don't care that I can afford something else, if there's a cheaper option that's good quality, why wouldn't I buy it? I don't get hating on that.

[315]

I know what you mean. My LR looks like IKEA threw up all over one side. Billy bookcases, the TV console, the chair, the filing cabinet. I'm thinking I need to ween myself from it going forward.

[emoflamingo]

I got Monkey's dresser put together (Hemnes 3-drawer, sue me) and honestly? That thing is nicer than MY bedroom furniture I bought at a freakin' furniture store. (Okay, it was a discount furniture store, but still..)

I can't wait until the Ikea opens here because I'm going to replace my own dresser and nightstands (the night stands were Wal-Mart and meant to be temporary until I could get something I liked better.