3 ms·
> It was difficult to find a shop selling better furniture than Ikea, except for the designer furniture stores in the centre of Copenhagen -- and I'm not ready
by ashark 10y ago
> It was difficult to find a shop selling better furniture than Ikea, except for the designer furniture stores in the centre of Copenhagen -- and I'm not ready to spend over 5000kr on a concrete-topped table.
Same in the US. The options are: Ikea, Ikea knockoffs that're worse but somehow more expensive, tacky, bulky furniture that's poorly made and ~2x Ikea's prices, and then the high end that starts around 5x the price of Ikea, minimum, and goes up from there.
The semi-disposable nature of Ikea kinda fits modern US housing construction, anyway. It's odd to have a table that'll last 200+ years in a house that's gonna need significant cosmetic replacements (nothing's real solid wood so repairs/refinishes are right out) in 10-15 years, major renovation in 20-30 years, and will likely be torn down in 60 or fewer.
- mortenjorck 10y agoA perceptive assessment. You've got Ikea, which is generally quite tasteful, and then you have the likes of Target furniture, which is also tasteful yet somehow makes even the lowest-tier Ikea pieces seem rock-solid in comparison. You can step up to Art Van and get agonizingly milquetoast design for about 1.5x Ikea prices, or fiddly, baroque Arhaus for 2x. Then you jump up to the likes of Restoration Hardware, in that 4-5x Ikea range, with the real vintage aesthetics Arhaus is hamfistedly aping, and after that, the ironically-named Design Within Reach which matches Ikea's minimalism with maximum durability at what seems like 10x Ikea prices. I would say the one thing you've missed is Crate & Barrel, which is in maybe a 2-3x Ikea range and tends to have very tasteful design along with across-the-board durability.