It's cheap and I'm cheerful (or the other way around) (Ikea)

Member Name: non_sense

Product:	Ikea
Date:	04/12/08 (397 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap and not bad quality

Disadvantages: Don't go near it at sale time without body armour

Who hasn't heard of IKEA? Drive along the M6 past Wednesbury when the IKEA sale is on and you'll find that the motorway has stopped due to the volume of traffic heading for the store. I'm sure it's an image repeated all over the country. If you turn up at an IKEA store 2 minutes before opening on a Sunday, you'll be able to see lots of people who can't think of anything better to do on a Sunday morning, but wait, what was I doing there?

IKEA isn't some guys name, well, not really. The I and K are the founder's initials (Ingvar Kamprad was his name) and the E and A a reference to where he is from in Sweden (I'm not spelling that bit). He started all this in 1943, but these days the company is actually kind of Dutch, but keeps the whole Swedish theme going.

The Store
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If you're not familiar with the IKEA layout, the stores normally have two floors. When you enter the store you are directed to the top floor, which is a continuous string of demonstration rooms. This is where you want to go to find furniture. After you get a bit tired of these rooms there will be areas showing all tables, all chairs, all beds etc etc. If you're an IKEA expert you'll know that if this stuff is of little interest to you, then there is usually a way of cutting through it and going downstairs, to what they often describe as 'the Market'.

The Market
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The Market area is where you will possibly spend most of your money, although you won't realise this as you're walking around. A £5 rug, a £10 lamp, some £1 tealights that will sit in the £20 cupboard you originally came in for, a couple of £2 plants and before you know it you've acquired enough stuff to leave you short of cash for a couple of months. The Market is basically where all the small stuff is found, everything from kitchen utensils and rugs to duvets, pillows, fabrics and lamps. Various boxes and random pieces of small furniture are dotted about the place to tempt you to buy. Some of this stuff can be very cheap. Almost every kitchen item I own is from here! There are some great bargains and some great items.

Warehouse
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Following the market and before you get to the checkout you will pass the warehouse. This is where you'll fetch all those larger items that you selected upstairs whilst wandering around the demo rooms and masses of furniture. If you were smart you would have picked up a pencil and piece of paper at the start of your IKEA journey (they are there) and if you are smarter still you would have jotted down some alternative items for the ones you selected, as they often aren't in stock. This is particularly true for the cheaper items, which might not affect you so much but it certainly affects a cheap guy like me.

Other things
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This isn't all there is to the IKEA adventure however. Somewhere in the store you'll find a restaurant, where a cheap meal can be found (breakfast can be very cheap). The meatballs are always a popular option. For those of you with an IKEA Family card you'll get a free drink and on some days some free or very cheap food too. On the way out of the door you'll also be able to buy some snacks like hot dogs or some packaged Swedish food.

The Tricky Bit
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Most (if not all) of your furniture items will require some construction. The instructions are usually pretty clear and to be honest we have quite a lot of fun building the stuff. The trickiest item we had was a bed, but it's still standing! Expect to become acquainted with fiddly alan (did I spell that right?) keys and if you need a screwdriver they'll sell you one in The Market section quite cheaply.

In conclusion.....
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For me IKEA is a near perfect solution. I don't have a lot of furniture and I move house often, if I need something new or something different I go to IKEA and it's cheap and usually of sufficient style and quality to not make my place look too silly. When I last needed furniture for a new place it cost me less than £400 to furnish my place and it didn't look too bad! (My opinion I know). For those with more expensive tastes, they cater for you also, the quality does seem to be (quite rightly) related to the price.

If you prefer to shop at home then their website has most items online, not sure how the whole delivery thing works however. If you live within easy driving distance of a store they'll probably spam you with their catalogue a couple of times a year. When buying at the store you can arrange a delivery on the way out (it does cost money) or you can hire a roof rack for your car.

Summary: Exactly what I want from a furniture and homeware store