A community site showcasing creative modifications of IKEA furniture, from bookcases and secret doors to server cabinets.
Commenters point to it as a source of interesting, affordable furniture hacks, though one says the hacks often seem more work than they're worth.
You cannot make sense of Ingvar Kamprad and IKEA without taking a moment to look at how Scandinavian culture is very different from American culture. First, we should talk about the infamous "Jantelagen":
> The Law of Jante is the description of a pattern of group behaviour towards individuals within Nordic countries that negatively portrays and criticises individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate. (...) Used generally in colloquial speech in the Nordic countries as a sociological term to describe a condescending attitude towards individuality and success, the term refers to a mentality that diminishes individual effort and places all emphasis on the collective, while simultaneously denigrating those who try to stand out as individual achievers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante
(It should be noted that these days, Jantelagen as petty as described here does not really apply so much to urban Scandinavian culture, but rural areas can still be very much like this)
Kamprad grew up on a farm in a small village in the 1930s, so we can be fairly certain that this attitude was part of the social values that he grew up with. That is enough to explain why Kamprad did not show off wealth: it would be considered offensive back home.
It is also easy to imagine how one can consider cheapness a positive character trait with this mindset. So I am inclined to believe that Kamprad sincerely did not care about money despite his billions, at least not in the…
Not quite the same but when we were rebuilding during COVID we knew we wanted two good WFH spaces but really only had room for one (tiny) office - as our second we built a shelf in our bedroom wardrobe that lifts up to reveal a work surface and a 32" monitor - inspired by this guy's work on ikeahackers:
https://ikeahackers.net/2020/10/fold-out-desk-home-office-pax.html
Works really well and given the cost of space for a second desk it was a very cost effective solution - only minimally affects the utility of the wardrobe as a wardrobe. (We didn't build the laptop holder this guy describes, the laptop just gets sat on top of the clothes in the drawer below that shelf with attention to make sure we're not blocking a fan intake. We had a powerpoint and a ethernet port put into the back of the wardrobe but actually we just end up using Wi-Fi mostly.)
When I see videos of people creating custom made tables from a large slab of oak and some resin pour, it looks awesome, but probably IKEA could furnish your whole house using the same amount of wood and still cost less. IKEA is a blessing for this planet.
As for self-assembled stuff perceived to be more valuable, I also think it is nice to know that you can assemble, and more importantly, disassemble it yourself. It's more repairable (IKEA sells spare parts as well), makes moving easier, and also allows you to "hack" IKEA products: https://ikeahackers.net/
This is an amazing cultural reference point for modern western thinking. I mean, no longer do you actually build something out of real materials like wood: rather, you take the notwood chipboard+plastic laminate available in an over-marketed unit shipped half way around the world in volume, modify it, then post to the internet about how to do it. Finally, people respond with anecdotes like the comment here ... http://www.ikeahackers.net/2014/06/balcony-bar.html ... this is going to be some hardcore retro content in another twenty years.
I woldn't buy a desk, chair or couch from Ikea cheapest options, but I have some bookcases, shelves and so on. I like them because they're hackable[0] and price is also a factor. I have great desk and couch but my other furniture in "office" changes all the time - I buy some Lack, Expedit and Capita and build stuff. Angled shelves, messed bookcase, stands from drawers ...
[0] - http://www.ikeahackers.net/
It was weird to me that they mentioned Ikea all over the place, but not Ikea Hackers:
http://www.ikeahackers.net/
Which I think is really interesting, sure there's some kind of obvious things in there, but also some really genuinely useful ones as well.
For example, I quite like this Ikea Pax to Synth station build: http://www.ikeahackers.net/2017/06/pax-synth-workstation.html