Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with ikea

Help me stain or paint my ikea desk

If only I had a penguin... — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:38:31 -0800

I want to stain (ideally) or paint (less good) my ikea wood veneer desk. How can I best do this? I have a desk made of the same material as this one. It's basically a light coloured wood veneer. I'd like to make it a darker brown-black colour. While I could get a desk of the same material in the colour I want for a mere $69, it's not the same size and I really need the new desk to be the same size.

How can I stain or paint this? I'd prefer a stain or a glaze that would let the original grain markings through, but I might settle for paint. Whatever you advise, I will go to Ikea and buy a piece of board of the same material/colour in the as-is section to try it on before tackling my actual desk.

I'm aware of a previous question about painting ikea laminate, but I don't think this is laminate (except, see next paragraph)

Oh, and one more thing: I'm not absolutely sure it's wood veneer. It might be some kind of plastic. What makes me doubt is that I have an Ikea Billy bookcase that is an ash veneer (stained brown-black) and you can actually feel the grain of the wood. You can't feel anything on the desk. It's super-smooth. Does this mean it's not a wood veneer?

So what do you advise oh wise hive mind?

Furnishing a small apartment.

Authorized User — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:21:23 -0800

Help me furnish and decorate my new small studio apartment. My new apartment is a small (22.5 m²~ 240 square feet) studio apartment. Pictures and floorplan here. The living area is approximately 260cm by 430cm. The fixed cabinets are both 60cm wide and the gap between them is 140cm wide.

What I need is a decent sized bed, preferably at least 120cm wide (I'm not picky; I could sleep on a sofa bed IF it's good enough), a good desk and some chairs for the kitchen table. What I would also want is enough room to occasionally seat about 4 people in comfort and possibly for watching movies from the computer screen. The table could also fit just enough chairs to also seat 4. Storage-wise I should be good with the existing storage with the exception of a bookcase and possibly some desk drawers. If there was enough room and a place to hide away a gaming table that is 120x180cm and is disassembled into a package measuring 120x60 plus some legs, it would be perfect, but that is not really necessary.

And since the apartment is new and shiny, I'd like the furniture to also at least not be ugly so something that fits the apartment would be nice.

My budget is basically big enough for Ikea stuff or any alternative at a similar price point. (Note that I am in Finland). I already have some Anssi bar stools suitable for the table and an black Expedit bookcase. The rest of my old furniture is either something I'm looking to replace or is just too clunky for this place and I'm not married to the bookcase either.

Any tips, tricks or input are appreciated. How would you decorate this place given these requirement or without them?

Julen träd? at IKEA?

ian1977 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:43:18 -0800

Real Christmas trees at IKEA? Has anyone gotten a real Christmas tree at IKEA? Specifically, the Bloomington, MN IKEA? Someone told me they had them and they were quite reasonable. I can't find anything on IKEA's website.

If you got one there...is it nice? How much was it? Did the needles fall off a la Charlie Brown's tree? Did you have to put it together with brackets and wooden pegs? (i kid)

How do you open a childproof zipper?

TurkeyMustard — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:14:37 -0800

How do you open a childproof zipper on an Ikea children's mattress cover? We want to take off the cloth mattress cover on my son's Ikea mattress. It has a zipper on one end that appears to be childproof. See photos. But we'll be jiggered if we can figure out how to release it. I've tried pulling it with needle-nose pliers, I've tried twisting, prying, bending, pushing, bumping, jerking, snapping, wrenching, and doing the Mashed Potato. You can see the marks in the photo where my needle-nosed pliers have soiled it a bit. I've tried a paper clip. I've also googled this question to great frustration, with this story about a product from a different company sounding tantalizingly close but still insufficient to solving our problem.

Can you help? How do we release that zipper without simply destroying it?

Is it worth the trouble/effort to buy IKEA in Canada and drive it back into the US?

davertron — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:11:19 -0800

Anyone with experience buying and bringing IKEA stuff from Canada into the US? I want to drive up to the IKEA in Montreal to purchase some furniture because it's the closest IKEA to where I live here in Vermont (about 2 hours away). I'm guessing that you probably have to deal with import procedures when coming back into the states if you spend a certain amount of money or are bringing back a big truck full of stuff. Does anyone have any experience with this? Do you think I could avoid it if I had a van vs. a Uhaul or something similar? What would this procedure involve? Would the current exchange rate make it worth the trouble?

I'm planning on buying some bigger items, so it might be difficult to sneak through unnoticed, but I might be able to borrow a decently sized van or something if needs-be.

Ikea part number help, please!

brandman — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:32:20 -0800

Help me identify the part number for this Ikea part! I've had an Ikea dresser for about 12 years now, and it's held up very well...with the minor exception of the rails that hold the drawers in place. They're starting to crack, and a trip to the Ikea store over the weekend proved unsuccessful in finding a replacement (although the customer service folks were able to find a similar part for one of my other dressers). Anyway, was hoping someone out there could identify the part number for this, so I can go online and "Ask Anna" for replacements. I guess the other option would be to try and fashion a substitute myself, but I'm sure that would have disastrous consequenses.

(Note: The three knobs that stick out of the plastic are the fasteners that connect the rail to the dresser - it just pops in.)

Thanks...

How do I get replacement hardware for an IKEA office chair in the US?

l33tpolicywonk — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:26:19 -0800

How do I get replacement hardware for an IKEA office chair in the US? As the result of a move, I lost the hardware to my IKEA Karsten office chair. The instructions aren't real helpful on what the dimensions of the screws are - basically, I need seven large screws for the chair and back, and four smaller screws to attach each of the arms. I tried going to the hardware store, but the screws I got there were too long (they pointed through the cushion) and using them set the screw holes off center from the chair base - I could only get two of the four screws in. I went to IKEA College Park, which told me they could not give me replacement screws without my receipt (long since gone). It's possible IKEA stores in other countries would replace it, but I can't easily get to one. I bought a bag of loose screws there, and didn't quite have screws big enough to do the job. Any suggestions about how I figure out exactly which screws I need to order, or how I convince IKEA to send me new ones?

How to quiet my creaking loft bed?

raygan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:30:48 -0800

How can I minimize creaking/cracking noises from my new IKEA STORÅ Loft Bed? So, it's my first real New York apartment, and my room is pretty small. Not a closet, but pretty small. I knew I still wanted a full size bed (I'm a tall guy) and that a bed that size would take up most of the room, so I opted for a loft bed, so I'd still have room for a desk.

I picked this bed, the Stora bed from IKEA.

Three days later, I have the loft bed built, and it's my maiden voyage up the ladder. Ceiling height checks out; so far so good, and then...

Every motion I make, going up the ladder, getting under the covers, rolling over, is met by a loud cracking noise. We're talking about more than a simple creak; it's a series of loud, sharp cracks, with every motion of the bed.

So this is why they don't let you go up the ladder of the one in the store! I expected the bed to make some amount of noise, but this is rather more than I can deal with. I'm afraid my housemates are going to be woken up by it.

Is there any way to lessen the noise? I've tightened the bolts to no avail. Should I lubricate the joints somehow? Put carpeting under the legs? Cover it in duct tape and foam baffling? Please help, before I have to take a saw to this thing and turn it into a regular bed!

Why is my bed performing works by Edgard Varèse?

winna — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:03:17 -0800

My bed sounds like a banjo made of metal being strummed by Edward Scissorhands whenever I turn over. Could someone else with the same model of bed tell me if this is a feature and not a bug? I have the queen-sized Heimdal bed from Ikea. I like it quite a bit.

The problem is that whenever I move once I am supine the bed goes SQUEAKSCRATCHCREAK quite loudly. It doesn't do it when I am sitting on it or crawling onto it, only when I am lying down. Do other people with this bed have this problem?

I have the Sultan Liared slats and a queen-sized mattress if that makes a difference.

Hack my table, please.

eunoia — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:41:39 -0800

I need advice on changing the color and leg length of an IKEA table. I've had this table from IKEA for almost two years. In my current apartment, I've used it in the eat-in kitchen, but the apartment that I'm moving to has an open layout. Because of the lack of space in the kitchen area, I'd like to turn it, most likely, into a sofa table or, much less likely, a crafts table. For either of those purposes, however, I don't like the [lack of] color or the overall height.

The sofa we will be purchasing is 34 5/8" high, and the table is 35 3/8" high so I'd like to take an inch from each of its four legs. Which would be less likely to leave me with a wobbly & uneven disaster, a saw or a sander? Maybe a combination of the two?

I also want to change its color to something else- perhaps a light-ish blue or green. The table is made of a solid birch wood & covered with a clear acrylic lacquer. Do I definitely need to sand it first or can I just spray paint (or regular paint or lacquer) over the acrylic lacquer? What about wallpaper or a sturdier paper on only the top? Bad idea?

Any help is appreciated!

Ikea To Go

shew — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:38:37 -0800

I am planning a road trip to Ikea (Denver -> Draper, UT). Some friends are saying I should fly to Salt Lake then rent a truck to haul the stuff back. Some friends are saying I should drive out using my SUV. Help me make the right decision. I recently purchased a home and am finding much of the local furniture options either very low quality and hopelessly ugly. I've decided that I must have some pieces from Ikea that are simply not available in the Denver metro area.

Shipping is out of the question. A TV console costing $400 ships for $350 dollars!

The 8 hour drive from Denver is doable. I own an SUV and can easily drive over there, get what I want and drive back. Some friends are suggesting I do a one-way flight ($49/Southwest) and rent a truck/van/something big to bring the stuff back. I've looked into this and most of the car rental companies at SLC seem unmotivated to do a 2-3 day rental one way for < $300. This seems unreasonable to me.

I need to execute this whole thing in 3 days or less.

Here are some things I need to buy:

1) A TV console
2) Living room storage (in the form of kitchen wall cabinets, Billy book shelves or other standing shelving units).
3) A desk (I -really- want the Gallant desk but it is a lower priority)
4) Miscellaneous nick nacks and other cool stuff that I won't be able to pass up.
5) I'm still 'shopping' in my mind. I plan to have everything mostly figured out before I get there so I can just buy everything and turn around and come back.

Questions:

1) If you were me, how would you do this? Ship, flight, drive?
2) Any tips from fellow Ikea-shoppers out there?
3) Will I be devistated when I get there to find out that they don't really have Billy bookcases ready to go? Anything unusual like that?
4) Any recommendations (for things to buy) from other Ikea lovers?
5) Out of the box ideas?

How to cover a weird shaped chair.

like_neon — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:48:33 -0800

How to make/get a slipcover for my Ikea chair Ektorp Tullsta? - I don't like the ones offered on the Ikea website
- I tried Ikea Hacker and their forums
- Craftster.org also turned up nothing specific enough to help me
- It doesn't need to be fancy with the separate cover for the seat cushion and the flaps, just needs to be better than throwing a sheet over it.

Any suggestions or other forums to search? I am willing to try sewing one myself but would need lots of handholding.

Hacking an IKEA Galant into a standing desk

andreinla — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:24:26 -0800

How can I convert my IKEA Galant desk to a standing desk? It has black straight round legs with gray plastic screw-like ends that extend a little bit but not enough. Any ideas? I'd like to get it to about 40-43" off the ground. I can provide a photo if necessary.

As the legs are perfectly round and pipe-like, I am considering buying pieces of pipe with inner diameter as close as possible to the outer diameter of the legs, then getting them cut to the final length I want and just slipping them over the legs.

My engineering experience is nonexistent and I'm sure there's someone with a better solution.

Any suggestions?

Ikea meatball help.

sugarfish — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:56:09 -0800

Help me with frozen meatballs. Wow, that sounds sad. I have a couple of bags of Ikea frozen meatballs that I'd like to cook in a crockpot with NO SAUCE. I just want to heat them up.

Do I need to thaw them tonight or can I just throw them in the crockpot in the morning? How long should I cook them? Is this a terrible idea? Am I going to have a grease slick? I need my oven for other things tomorrow and I'd prefer not to experiment when I'm having people over.

I have googled and googled, enough to know that I will never look at grape jelly and barbecue sauce the same way again. Every recipe I find seems to call for some sort of sauce.

Help me pick a latex mattress!

threeturtles — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:02:19 -0800

Mattressfilter: What are your experiences with latex mattresses, particularly with IKEA latex mattresses? For someone with back problems, details inside. Looked at the past threads on the topic, but would like some up-to-date opinions.

My husband and I went mattress shopping today at a local store. We were looking at Sealy's and decided we definitely preferred the Springfree latex mattresses to the ones with springs. We nearly bought a model called Tranquil Sea today for $1300. We decided to do some comparison shopping first and I'm glad I did because through some googling I've discovered that model only has a 1 inch core of Latex and is mostly poly foam. Which is apparently bad. If I'm going to shell out that kind of money for a mattress, I want to know it's worth it and that it will last. FYI, I've done my share of laying on memory foam beds and don't like the constant sinking feeling.

It looks like the next step up for Sealy latex mattresses (with 8 inches of latex) go for around $2000. I'm looking at the Ikea mattresses that contain 7 inches of latex for $700-800. We're planning on going to Ikea in Houston next weekend to try them out. What have people's experiences with any of these mattresses or similar been?

I have some pretty serious back problems, with three degenerating discs in my lower back and very severe pain at times. I'm usually a side sleeper unless my back just won't allow it. I liked the mattress I tried today because I felt like it allowed me to lay on my side without pressing back up on my hips, which is where I get a lot of pain. Thoughts?

I just want a nice box

like_neon — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:01:04 -0800

I can't believe this is so hard to find. I have this Expedit bookcase from Ikea. I bought some cubes from Ikea to fit on the shelves, but not enough. I bought 7, I need 5 more. I don't want to buy anymore from Ikea but I can't find this type of storage anywhere else in the UK! More specs inside. - I don't want rattan, or wicker, or seagrass or anything like those things. A light wood would be ok if I could stain it.

- Preferably made of some sort of fabric, but not leather because the shelves we have is a dark wood color and I want the boxes to pop out in color.

- Needs to be about 30cm x 30cm to fit well.

- If it's like a cheerful green I would be totally happy but now I'm not even that picky because I can't find anything that fit the first three requirements.

- This is in the UK.

- I don't know if it really matters but I am going to store yarn/wool in them, which are in plastic bags. (moth paranoia) I guess that matters in that I don't really want clear plastic boxes either.

Otherwise, anyone know of tutorials on how to make your own? I don't have a sewing machine but MIGHT be able to borrow one if I get desperate.

Why season matte enamel?

Kemayo — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:46:33 -0800

Why does my Ikea SENIOR casserole, which has a "matte enamel interior", come with instructions for seasoning? It was my understanding that seasoning cast iron cookware was only relevant when the iron was bare. It seems pointless if it's just going over enamel...

The seasoning instructions are in a little booklet with care instructions for the SENIOR line. I thought it might be that, say, the frying pan was bare cast iron, but according to the website, they all have the matte enamel interior.

(It seemed, from look/feel, entirely plausible to me that the interior could be bare iron. However, I'm not terribly familiar with cast iron cookware.)

Dear. your father and I would love to pass our heirloom dinner table to you, but the bolts fell out.

santojulieta — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:45:58 -0800

Sadly, we seem to have outgrown Ikea. What now? Well, the inevitable has happened. My husband and I excitedly went to Ikea today to look at a dinner table, and we realized that the majority of Ikea furniture is cheaply made, non-durable, and not really our style anymore.

Where do we go from here? We want to replace our desks, dinner table, bed, couch, book shelves, entertainment center, and just about everything else, but we can't stand MDF and pressboard and "veneer." Where else should we be looking?

Here are a few things to consider:
1. We are comfortable, but we're not the Hiltons, so price is a factor.
2. We have a small hatchback car that can fit smaller furniture, but probably not a sofa, so delivery is helpful.
3. We're also hoping to find solid wood construction, and pre-built, hopefully.
4. We live in Chicago.

We're already looking at Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, CB2, and West Elm. What are we missing?

Mediocre Home Makeover, Brokeass Edition

mr. remy — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:27:30 -0800

[Interior decorator filter] Help us arrange/decorate an 11-x-16 living area cum office cum tv room for minimal dollars and maximum effect. [ghetto blueprint and list of requirements included] $girl and I have a new place, recession-diminished bank accounts, and an empty place. It looks like this:

corny drawing

We're looking to decorate the place on a very tight budget (say, under a thousand), and we can't realistically paint. We'd love to do something that actually looks rad, feels comfy, and meets the following requirements:

1) A desk screened off from the rest of the room. On occasion I work as a writer, and, per professional mandate, suffer from idiosyncratic work habits. Specifically, I don't like anyone being able to read over my shoulder, even in passing. This is U&K for layout concerns.

2) A TV/loveseat combo would be nice, but not immediately adjacent to the desk.

3) We'd love to have a work-table with two chairs for craft/game/eating purposes. This isn't wholly necessary, but it'd be super handy.

4) A bookcase (cheap, big, sturdy, movable)

5) Furniture that comes flat-packed or is easy to move. We have limited access to a small-ass car. Ikea is acceptable, but we'd love to branch out.

6) Drops hella style on a thin tight dime.

We're in downtown Seattle.

What are the best bargains at IKEA?

cucumberfresh — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:19:28 -0800

IKEA Filter: What are some cheap, yet surprisingly durable or high-quality items worth purchasing at IKEA? I'll be making my annual pilgrimage to IKEA soon and I would like some general tips on what to buy. Whether it's been a wobbly lamp or a chair that won't adjust, a lot of the cheap stuff I have gotten there in the past has been of really poor quality, so I am looking for things that are both inexpensive and durable. Of course, you get what you pay for, but what are the best bargains to be had at IKEA? What are some things to avoid? Thanks!

Will an IKEA bedframe fit into a Prius?

puffin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:54:18 -0800

Prius owners: have you successfully brought home a full size IKEA bed frame in your car? Ideally, I would like to fit something like the Aneboda frame and two people into the car. (I don't own a Prius but would have access to one through a car sharing program, or possibly a coworker.) The largest package is 76" x 1.62" x 29.5". Is this possible?

Your rug shouldn't crawl. Ever heard of maggots hatching out of a rug?

lottie — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:37:27 -0800

IKEA Rag Rug nastiness: Has this happened to anyone you know? (Somewhat gross explanation ahead) (Warning: Grossness ahead.)
A couple of years ago, a very strange home furnishing-related thing happened to me and I've always wondered if it affected anyone else. I know it kind of sounds like an urban myth, but it absolutely happened to me.

I lived with a flatmate in Los Angeles at the time and we were having breakfast one sunday morning when we looked down and noticed a lot of large white maggots, or larvae of some kind, crawling over the floor. Keepers of a very clean home, we were horrified by this, and quickly moved everything out of the kitchen and swept and mopped before noticing that they were back again. Three or four times we swept them up, covering the floor in hot, bleachy water, only for them to return, seemingly from nowhere. We checked the drains and under the fridge and all cupboards, but couldn't figure out the source, and we both started to come unhinged. The maggots were the size of small dried beans, white and rubbery when we tried to crush them with the mop-head.

It was only later on in the morning when, giving up, we started moving some of the things which had been in the kitchen that we picked up an IKEA rag rug that had been on the floor, and literally dozens of these maggot things fell out of it. We remembered then that we had the same rug in the bathroom, and sure enough - a shower of them fell out when we picked it up. The floor was absolutely crawling with maggots.

Now neither of these rugs were very old, nor were they dirty. We'd actually bought them because we knew we could launder them frequently. We paid about $2 for them, and so getting our money back wasn't really an issue, it was more "What the heck?!". I called and complained, and (surprisingly) customer service kind of went "Meh. These things happen. They were hand loomed in India." (like that somehow explains it) and they offerded us a refund, which we turned down - it was just a really small amount and we really didn't care. I was more interested in letting them know that their rugs seem to be hatching, and sparing anyone else the anguish of having their homes crawling with larvae. I actually thought they would have been more alarmed, or have heard of this happening before. No big deal.

I can only guess that they were some kind of egg that was woven into the rug and the right conditions of moisture and heat had them hatching in our kitchen and bathroom. Would really like to know if this is a common sort of thing with these rugs. Anyway, has anyone else ever experienced this? Any idea what they were?

I'm not going to burn my house down, right?

GamblingBlues — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:51:04 -0800

I bought an Ikea Kassett cardboard box with drawers, and have rigged the bottom drawer for a power strip, top for my mobile gadgets power station-style. Is this a fire hazard? Neither the power strip nor the plugs seem to heat up, if that helps. The material of the box is thick cardboard. Thanks in advance.

Is this laminate defective or is this typical?

tristeza — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:02:46 -0800

Should I keep the $800 worth of as-yet uninstalled Shaw VersaLock laminate flooring, or is this just a shoddy product that I need to return to "Larry" at the floor store? Just started installing the Shaw VersaLock laminate flooring that I bought, following the instructions on the website, and so far the locking ridge at the end of almost every board has broken.

We've watched the video, read the PDF, read the box (mind you, all 3 versions of instructions are slightly different), but no matter what, the fiberboard ridges simply snap off/crumble with any movement whatsoever of the joined boards.

It's VersaLock AG 8mm laminate over deluxe underlayment.

Has anyone had an experience like this with this or similar products? Is it fatal to the installation to have this happening - as in, will these locking ridges continue to break under stress once the floor is installed?

Ikea cabinet owners: what do you think?

yoga — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:53:05 -0800

Ikea cabinet (kitchen and/or bath) owners! Please tell me about your experience with Ikea cabinets. We're talking anything about ordering, installation, wear & tear, how long has it been installed, are you happy with it, would you do it again? I've read a lot of reviews on forums and watchdoggie type sites like Consumer Reports. I want to hear from the folks who have them and actually use them daily. How are they?