Thank you for this great post! I had no idea this stuff existed. I love a lot of it.

Love this !

Unless you know Swedish, Parts of Sweden is useless. Do they have a little button somewhere that says, "Translate into English please?"

Valerie,

If you use Google Chrome as your browser, there is an option to translate.

How does the cost of Ikea plus add-ons compare to just buying decent furniture in the first place?

Good question, Growgirl! Prettified Ikea is still pretty low quality stuff. I say that as the owner of several pieces that are falling apart after a couple of years of light use.

Growgirl: I used to sell furniture for a large company in the Southwest. I constantly had customers who wanted "really sturdy," "no particle board," "made in the U.S.," and, my favorite, "I want solid hardwood." My reply would be "happy to show you that."

And when they saw the price tags, they fled back to made-outside-the-U.S. particle board.

What you call "decent" furniture is also expensive furniture. Far beyond the budgets of most of the 99%. Therefore, we have three choices:
1. Buy a few expensive pieces (I always recommend the upholstery since with care and slipcovers it can last a lifetime) and fill in with cheaper stuff.
2. Buy your furniture at estate sales and auctions. That's mostly what I do, but it's very time consuming, requires knowledge if you don't want to be ripped off, there are no guarantees, and there is no delivery.
3. Build your own furniture. It can be done.

I have purchased many things at IKEA. First and foremost kitchens. I have remodeled three houses — using IKEA fitted kitchens in all of them. The first one I did in in 1986, shortly after IKEA came to the U.S. I lived with that kitchen for 13 years. Never once had a bad drawer, a wonky door, loose hardware, damaged finish, or many other things that can befall a kitchen. When I sold the house, the 13-year-old kitchen was featured in the real estate ads. My second and third IKEA kitchens were installed by local contractors, both of whom were amazed by the quality vs. price factor.

I also highly recommend the versatile Billy bookcase, one of IKEA's oldest products. I've moved mine across country twice and they remain able to hold my collection of hundreds of books sturdily and handsomely.

Most IKEA assemble-yourself furniture can be aided by the application of construction adhesive during the building process. That has not been necessary for me in either my kitchens of the Billy bookcases. Many customers are also happy to know that Swedish IKEA holds to much higher green standards than are required in the U.S.

And, no, I don't now nor never have worked for IKEA.

You made my day! I had to settle on the slip cover that was closest to what I wanted through IKEA but I've never been very happy with it, I had no idea there were so many options through other sites! :D

Is there a DIY instruction for the white table pictured with overlay and glass?

Kelleyk and Cowgirl -

Dan from PANYL here. Jukesgrrl is right. In my home, I have a hand-made farmhouse table and hutch, from Branch Hill Joinery in rural Michigan (Amish guys, no power tools). These are heirloom quality and will be with us forever. But as such, they were investments.

We also have a lot of IKEA, because in some situations the price and practical factors win out. And, as with any brand, there are winners and losers in the catalog, so we do our research (Apple Newton, anyone?). The kitchens are the star example (and a major corporate priority for IKEA). For a comparable level of quality and design control in any other scenario you will pay most likely double, and easily more. But you'll sacrifice very little (i.e. IKEA cabinet boxes will outlast either your ownership of the property, or your life, if you let them).

Now of course, many of us prefer not to settle when it comes to design, regardless of price. When we buy IKEA, we want it to fit the aesthetic in our homes. All of the companies mentioned in this article offer different tools to allow people to feel good about using IKEA in their interior designs. And to finally respond to your original question, my guess is that in virtually all cases, any of the solutions in this article will still cost you significantly less than what "quality" brands charge.

In the top picture it looks like a a fat piece of beef is being used for a bookend! Hahahahah!!

To Valerie and all you non speaking IKEA fans out there.
Many thanks for your interest in us and our colleagues. IKEA is a fun platform to personalize from, and we will bring more good stuff to the market in only a couple of weeks. So look out!
The site will also be launched in English, France and German within the next couple of weeks. Meantime if any questions - please contact Sandra@partsofsweden.se. She's the queen of IKEA customization.
If you contact here - we promise to give you all a voucher for your next purchase.

Mikael Olsson
CEO
Parts of Sweden

Can someone please give me the name of the entry table in the first photo?
Also, does anyone know if it could double as a desk? i.e., can your thighs fit underneath if you're sitting on a chair in front of it? I am looking for something to use as a desk that is no deeper than 40cm for a tight space in my apartment. Merci!

Thank you so much Apartment Therapy!!!

Hi Veege and XSB16,

Danika from O'verlays here. We do tons of IKEA compatible sizes, but we also show examples of non-IKEA as well as ways to dress up vintage or trash finds. It just so happens that the photo used here was non-IKEA. It is actually the Crate & Barrel Parsons Console. I found it on clearance at my local outlet for $79 because it was scratched. I painted it white and used our 13.75" 'Gigi' squares under the glass top.

The table is actually being used in my office now as my desk, great leg room (and I am 5'11"). You can see it here in a recent office redo I did: http://gorgeousshinythings.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-office-finally.html

Also, we do custom sizing and are happy to help you if you can't find what you are looking for. You can contact me at danika@myOverlays.com. Thanks again, and I hope this helped answer any questions.

Danika

And there's the very low cost option: buy chairs but not the fabric covers. Buy only one cover, take it apart, then buy a few yards of inexpensive fabric (I'm in love with Ikea fabrics) and sew fun covers. We really wanted the hardwood Ikea chairs but didn't like the blah covers, so for 20 euros I made them ! Totally worth it.

I've never understood the purpose of heirloom furniture. Furnishings go out of style pretty quickly and your children are unlikely to love your hand-me-downs. (There exceptions, of course, but I'm talking about the usual cases.)

I do understand quality and design. I need the build quality to support my use for a few years (not several generations) and the design to appeal to me for those years too.

You forgot the bemz website which offers slipcovers for most any Ikea chair or sofa.

http://www.bemz.com/en-us/

That's a REALLY expensive piece of plate glass.

WOW! Fantastic info. And, Jukesgrrl: your post was extremely informative and helpful.

Another source for Ikea slip covers, even less expensive than Bemz, is comfortworks.com. Have never used them, so not sure what their quality is like, but may be worth checking out.

Sorry, that slipcover website is actually comfort-works.com.

You should probably mention that the Bemz slipcovers cost as much, or in some cases more than the furniture itself...

i love the barstool in the mykea pic. not ikea, right? where can i get one?

LOVE LOVE LOVE the first two ideas. Can't wait to try them for myself and my clients!

For a more DIY take, or for inspriation, my I suggest a visit to:

http://www.ikeahackers.net/

I really love some of the pet-related hacks.

we've had an IKEA couch for 9 years with daily/heavy use and it's held up really well. The cushions are still firm, no sagging, etc. I have purchased two slipcovers on Bemz and am really impressed with the quality. The IKEA covers always claim they can be washed but then would always shrink on me - even when simply washed cold and hung to dry. they also had zippers break, seams pop, etc. I have never had this issue with a Bemz cover. They look fantastic and really dress up the sofa to look more expensive than the $450 we spent on it.

I communicated with Sandra Andersson from Parts of Sweden re the price of a slip cover for the Klippan love seat - $429 + $72 shipping. Oh well.

I've had no problems with the one I have from Ikea - I wash it all the time but their choices are limited.

Great post

Just wanted to add that Knesting.com also offers unique and affordable slipcovers for many popular IKEA furniture models if you live in the US or Canada. Our quality covers are made in the USA, so they don't get hit with those hefty import duties and customs charges. Check us out and let us know what you think!

We weren't wild about the door options for Ikea but most of the custom builders we looked at used Melamine boxes and blum hardware so the quality can't be that bad. We did use custom doors from Modern Crafts we went with Walnut, and couldn't be happier, but they do have other options and they guys there were pretty nice. Everything was already predrilled and they even made a custom door for our microwave.