02/10/12: Love/Hate at Ikea
About 15 years ago my husband and I got into a fight at the Ikea in Elizabeth, NJ. We were not mad at each other really, but the place brought out the worst in us. The physical store was the antithesis of its touted Swedish simple design. It was crowded, difficult to navigate, and didn’t have the products we had picked out in the catalog. We had rented a Zip car, the trip took hours longer than we expected and we spent a chunk of the time frantically trying to communicate to the powers that be at Zip car that we would not have the car back in time. On the way home we made a pact, we would never go to Ikea again. Ever. No matter how much we needed a Boksel or a Billy. As the years passed we told ourselves we didn’t want anything from Ikea. The stuff was cheaply made. When we would get tempted, I would remind myself of the time my husband busted a hole in the back of a particleboard dresser during assembly.
But then an Ikea opened in Brooklyn. And we thought it can’t be so bad, it’s closer! And it was better. We bought some Grundtals. And some Bjarnam. The designer in me fell back in love. So what if the stuff was totally prefab and cheaply manufactured? Not all of it is composed of particleboard. Ikea has taste and it’s affordable!
Now we live in a house in NJ. You know what happens when you move from an apartment to a house? You realize that you need stuff. Like Laks, and Ivars, and Expedits. So we braved the Ikea in Elizabeth again this past Sunday. Only this time, for added torture, we brought a 2-year old. It was even worse than our last visit to the Elizabeth Ikea. In our haste to quell a screaming toddler, we ran out without arranging the delivery of our big purchase assuming we could arrange it over the phone. We couldn’t. I had to go back again to do it in person.
I went on a Tuesday. Alone. Ikea on a Tuesday is nothing like Ikea on a Sunday. It was amazing. I lingered. I threw some Godis in my cart. I bought the awesome poster pictured here (the Olunda). I fell back in love. Hand me an allen wrench please. I have to assemble a plant stand.