Ikea ! Did you know ?

hollydolly

hollydolly

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Location
London England
I've always known it's a Swedish Company... but I didn't know it was started by a 17 year old ! Wow!

Set up in 1943 by a 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad in Almhult, Sweden as a mostly mail-order sales business.


It wasn’t until after the Second World War that it began to sell furniture.


The first physical store opened in Almhult in 1958 before expanding to Europe in the 1970s and the UK in the 80s.


The Elmtaryd in IKEA is the farm where Kamprad grew up and the A stands for his hometown of Agunnaryd.
 

..Also Lego... I knew it was Danish but I didn't know it was invented by a Carpenter

Lego​


Lego is a Danish company which gets its name from the Danish saying ‘leg godt’ which translates to ‘play well’ in English.

Carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen birthed The Lego Group in his workshop in 1932.

In 1934 it became known simply as ‘Lego’.

Lego toys were originally wooden but production of plastic toys began in 1947.

The modern Lego brick design was patented in January 1958.

Lego is currently Brand Finance’s “world’s most powerful brand”.
 
Years ago, I had a gal-friend from Gothenburg, Sweden..
We were both married with small kids, so we'd visit each other for kids playday..and have lunch at each other's house.

Her house had all Ikea furnishings.

And, when we up-dated our beach condo...Ikea.

Love 💕 it!
 
My whole little office room is built from Ikea furniture.. Simple, practical and long lasting , that's all I need in here... The Picture frames came from Ikea as well, altho' the pictures are mostly Pictures I took myself and framed.. Clearly my Mac Desktop is not from Ikea or the ornaments on the tallboy .. but even the tall cupboard on the left is from Ikea, as is my desk...I just fancied the plain glass up a bit with patterned glass film..

office.jpg

IMG-7607.jpg
 
Sometimes I believe women think Ikea is better than a roll in the hay! lol!

That, and Island Kitchen Counters. What woman doesn't fantasize about Island Kitchen Counters?? ;)
 
I visited our local Ikea last month with a friend and we found it to be an absolute shambles.
She was looking for a duvet cover and we could not even find where they were displayed.

We looked for help and after about twenty minutes found a young salesman who tried to be helpful
but he could not find where they were either. The whole linen department was in disarray.
We noticed the same thing in the kitchenware area.

Another shopper was looking for help too and she told us she had heard that they were closing down all
the Ikea stores in Ontario which will be a shame as they are so few and far between here.

I loved visiting their store and the restaurant food was always good too.
 
Murrmurr said:
But, originally, it was cheap enough to replace
Click to expand...
Even if it is that's a problem. Throw away furniture is not good use of natural resources... Having one good table or something that lasts a lifetime is a lot better than several cheaper throwaways. I have furniture that belonged to my great great grandmother that works fine today, doubt anyone will be leaving Ikea for generations to come...
 
Alligatorob said:
Even if it is that's a problem. Throw away furniture is not good use of natural resources... Having one good table or something that lasts a lifetime is a lot better than several cheaper throwaways. I have furniture that belonged to my great great grandmother that works fine today, doubt anyone will be leaving Ikea for generations to come...
Click to expand...
I totally agree that real wood makes really good furniture. I have a few pieces made in the 30s, 40s, and 50s that are in excellent condition. But IKEA's concept was to use wood castoffs mixed with resin rather than more trees. And it was a noble idea where the tress are concerned, but I suspect the resins Ingvar Kamprad used originally were natural, and after IKEA became incorporated they're probably a lot less natural and leave more of a footprint.
 
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Alligatorob said:
Even if it is that's a problem. Throw away furniture is not good use of natural resources... Having one good table or something that lasts a lifetime is a lot better than several cheaper throwaways. I have furniture that belonged to my great great grandmother that works fine today, doubt anyone will be leaving Ikea for generations to come...
Click to expand...
Kind of off-topic, but remember veneers? I mean old veneer; very thin slices of natural wood that could make pine furniture look like mahogany or oak and whatever. I only recently learned that you can replace veneer yourself, at home. You can just go buy it. And replacing it is fairly simple and doesn't effect the piece's value.
 
Murrmurr said:
Kind of off-topic, but remember veneers? I mean old veneer; very thin slices of natural wood that could make pine furniture look like mahogany or oak and whatever. I only recently learned that you can replace veneer yourself, at home. You can just go buy it. And replacing it is fairly simple and doesn't effect the piece's value.
Click to expand...
Yes, they sell it in rolls. I was refinishing a side table and went right through the veneer in one spot. Should have used 150 instead of 100. Or sanded it by hand. Sometimes I learn a lesson the hard way!
 
EmptyCup said:
IKEA does (or did) have some solid wood furniture. I had an entire bedroom set that was solid. I eventually gave it to a nephew to use in his daughter’s bedroom. It wasn’t Amish handcrafted furniture by any means, but good enough!
Click to expand...
Exactly.. people talk about Ikea furniture as if it's made of Cardboard. It's very good quality for ''pressboard''... My father was a carpenter/joiner.. he used to say we'd all come downstairs one day and find a pile of sawdust on the floor where there once stood an Ikea piece of furniture.. what Tommy Rot...

It's good solid furniture... if very simple and Utilitarian
 
hollydolly said:
My whole little office room is built from Ikea furniture.. Simple, practical and long lasting , that's all I need in here... The Picture frames came from Ikea as well, altho' the pictures are mostly Pictures I took myself and framed.. Clearly my Mac Desktop is not from Ikea or the ornaments on the tallboy .. but even the tall cupboard on the left is from Ikea, as is my desk...I just fancied the plain glass up a bit with patterned glass film..

office.jpg

IMG-7607.jpg
Click to expand...
@hollydolly I love the green wall in your office. It looks so bright and cheerful. Did you use bright colors throughout your house?
 
Murrmurr said:
Kind of off-topic, but remember veneers? I mean old veneer; very thin slices of natural wood that could make pine furniture look like mahogany or oak and whatever. I only recently learned that you can replace veneer yourself, at home. You can just go buy it. And replacing it is fairly simple and doesn't effect the piece's value.
Click to expand...
We used veneer to cover the top of an old peddle sewing machine, and plan to use a piece to cover the top of a small table that is damaged. We bought it at A, I think.
 

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