Topic: Framing my life at Ikea's

[Francois]

Yes, yesterday I went a bit crazy... but this might interest somebody.
We always need frames for some reason. And the big ones always cost an arm and a leg.

My local Ikea store is liquidating their Bredis frames at totally insane prices! It probably is the same at every store in the world (looks like they won't sell them anymore).
These frames are polycarbonate plastic with an acrylic front. They're the ones with the back smaller than the front so they cast a shadow on the wall (you can identify them with the bunch of big holes punched in the back). 50x70cm (19¾x27½ inch) BIG

Now get seated, they sell them for 2$can

Now if I can just find a place to put that big pile of thick plastic...

[FrankB]

Are we talking about the "glazing"?

How about cutting it down a bit, giving it some punishment with a bit of sandpaper and using it below the enlarger lens as a diffuser?

[Francois]

For 2$, you can do whatever you want to them

[eddie]

Great value.  Storing the frames is always a problem they are so bulky.  We have no Ikea in Dublin yet but we are getting one soon. Enjoy your frames.

[LT]

We have no Ikea in Dublin yet but we are getting one soon.

  fight it - keep it away, you'll spend hours wandering aimlessly around miles of furniture called "Sprang" or "Oondie" unable to break away from the Ikea controlled "path of spending", unable to divert from the prescribed direction that takes you past each and every product they have for sale.  Children will be screaming, you'll find men with long beards and hair who "popped" in for a new set of wine glasses 50 years ago, still wandering around barely surviving off of left over swedish meatballs.  You'll fill up a trolley and several baskets, get to the checkout after the momentous journey, only to find a hoard of people emptying their goods out before they even get the the till, there'll be piles of goods picked up on the way (ooh, that's nice, we could do with one of those, etc) that, with the cold light of the exit just beyond the checkout, everyone suddenly realises they never needed in the first place, it was only the strange pagan-viking subliminals that made them put it in the trolley.  Then, when you you finally get back to your car, without even the thing you wanted when you went in, only a 5 pack of dime bars to show for your effort, you'll swear never to go back again .... untill the next time you need some cutlery.

do you think I'm bitter?   

[FrankB]

No.

Bitter is when you realise that everyone trapped on the 'IKEA path of spending' is moving at the same speed, so that brat screaming robustly into your left ear, the pair of misbehaving eight year-olds and the chav couple having a major domestic are going to be part of your life for the next two hours...

Bitter is when you get home and realise that it's infinitely harder to fit tab A into slot B when the minimum wage packer has put neither tab A nor slot B in the box...

Bitter is when visitors enquire about your new coffee table and your fleeting pride turns to ashes when they recognise it as a PLONKA.

And its owner...

[Ailsa]

the chav couple having a major domestic...

I have a friend who has always maintained that IKEA should offer a relationship counselling service at the exit - somewhere near the meatballs.

[david b]

the chav couple having a major domestic...

I have a friend who has always maintained that IKEA should offer a relationship counselling service at the exit - somewhere near the meatballs.

...And a paramedic for anyone who touched said meatballs or the lingonberry pie...

[FrankB]

Bitter is when you realise that everyone trapped on the 'IKEA path of spending' is moving at the same speed, so that brat screaming robustly into your left ear, the pair of misbehaving eight year-olds and the chav couple having a major domestic are going to be part of your life for the next two hours...

I feel I should also point out that the designers of the "IKEA path of spending" are well aware of this phenomenon. That's why the kitchen department with its carving knives and heavy-based frying pans is always at the start (where people still have a modicum of self-control) and the fabrics, bedding and cushions are always at the end.

[Francois]

I'm lucky, I survived (yet again) a visit through the biggest IKEA store in Canada (Aren't we lucky ).
Our store has a slightly different layout than most. There are a ton of shortcuts to be used so the shopping trip can be a lot shorter (look for them, they got them in every store).

When I think I was only going there for a cupboard... and ended up with a ton more stuff... Their As-Is section nailed me again. But how could I resist.

Now, I got to figure out where to put those big frames

Well... they did have a sign near the exit that says "Hej Då!"

(For the musical Leon, good things can come from the big blue and yellow, like guitars http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/02/ikea_guitar.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890)

[db]

I use their RIBBA frames.  They come in different coloured timber, diferent sizes and which look surprisingly good for the money. I do however buy as many as i can carry to RIDOOS the number of return visits I have to make to the store. (hmmm. perhaps that is part of the KUNNINK svedish strategum?)

SHOTCUTZ are there to be had if you LOOK (oops that's an english word too isn't it?) I spotted a heavy plastic service door the shop fitters must use to take two or three kilometers off their daily journey. It's almost hidden behind a wall of coffee tables. I duck through when nobody is looking and and it pops you out right next to picture frames and dinky little candle-holders. I think I've dodged the home-office section, lounges, children's, beds, kitchens, bathroom, mirrors, dog kennels, tree houses and plastic plants. yay.

[bobf]

The solution to the Path of Spending when you just want some crockery or blinds etc is to just go in via the exit...

Cheers, Bob.

[Francois]

That's where they put the As-Is department... a very bad idea to start there