Getting the home office furniture isn't always possible. Sometimes, you just got to go with whatever works. A lot of people are using furniture that comes from IKEA. While there it's easy to set up your whole home office from IKEA, if you use your imagination, you can come up with some interesting hacks and reuses to make your work area less plain.
We have been using IKEA furniture on and off for a few years, and while we'd like to get something that would look more distinctive (we probably will at some point), there's no denying that IKEA hits the sweet spot, in style and price.
This all-white look is definitely something eye-catching. The slightly asymmetrical shelving that was set up is also intriguing. There's a 4×4 Expedit on one side and a 4×2 on the other. The most alluring feature is the centrally-mounted 4×1 Expedit. It can be used to house peripherals, odds and ends, and papers. It's perfectly placed to ensure that your workstation doesn't get too cluttered. The desk is a white Galant, which is big enough for a dual, triple or quadruple (if they're placed in an arc) monitor setup.
The wall lamps give the overall look some class, and there's a Fillsta table lamp, which looks almost decorative. The monitors could also be placed at the same height using this trick we learned from Ronny's setup (pictured above).
This setup coup benefit with some LED ambient lighting strips, strategically placed behind the bookcases and the desk, to serve up some well-deserved mood lights. Instead of trying to find a workable cable management solution, we'd try to create a faux-wall to hide all of the cables. This fake wall could be painted to match the wall color or painted white to match the white furniture. It would certainly make this setup look clean.
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(Images with permission: Flickr member Mitchell Camps, click though images for other image credits)
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Rooms done all in Ikea are definitely one of the things I hate most when it comes to interiors. I mean, by all means decorate how you like, it is none of my business if you love Ikea furniture and want to surround yourself with it in its unaltered glory. But I can't help but feel like I'm getting stabbed in the face by a mound of the most boring, uninspired decorating when I am in a solely-Ikea room. To me it just looks like someone really phoned it in, which is great for all the folks I know who hate shopping/looking at furniture. And I love Ikea as much as the next person, but to me it is just like American Apparel: yeah, I'll buy some underwear or a jacket, and their tees are great to screenprint on, I wouldn't wear only AA because it looks really dumb.
The problem with pure Ikea rooms is not that it will look just like a page from the Ikea catalog, but it usually look exactly not like one, because the way things are organized.
Ikea showrooms are always roomy, clean and devoid of clutter, and usually complimented with windows of ample light. They also usually have a few higher quality pieces that are less affordable, to brighten up the room.
A normal person's room with Ikea furniture is usually small, equipped with gaudy windows and doors of a different style, walls painted with a lack of color sense, filled with misc nik-nacks and books not of the same color, furniture pushed all the way to the walls, tarnished by some poor choice of hobbies and ugly posters, and featured mostly the cheaper selection from the store.
So a person walking into such room would never blame its own incompetence for its ugliness, but on Ikea, since it's a good punching bag. I would imagine their rooms will still look like crap even if it's filled with stuff from DWR.
Ditto on what Pak-Kei said... I feel the same way about a room packed with DWR pieces. Put a little effort into it. Shop at more than one store...
And the quality of the furniture is ghastly. Particle board has it's place but not everywhere. And a recommendation to anyone buying IKEA or other cheap furniture made of "wood" as soon as you get it put another coat of poly on it. You'll be happy you did less pealing and water rings. Also glue everything together and it will be 100% sturdier. That said I love IKEA as a source of cheap yet stylish furniture legs.
Cue the pathological IKEA haters.
Oh, wait, they're already here!
A+ for the Pogo desktops.
Ikea has it's place, but you definitely get what you pay for. It worked for me for setting up when I initially had my first place, but most pieces did not hold up well. My Expedit bookshelf has done ok, but it's for display so it doesn't get heavy use like my peeled and warped desk and buckled dresser. Also, if you are environmentally concerned, most particle board contains formaldehyde, and Ikea's exceeds most emission standards last I heard. For the same price I can usually find a sturdier, more unique and hard wood piece of furniture on Craigslist.
@sunspot42: Spot on.
Actually, Ikea's offgasing standards are set lower than the strictest standards, Germany's. I was delighted to read that when I chose their kitchen cabinets--they offgas less than many plywood cabinets.
As far as quality goes, well, you get what you pay for. But Ikea's kitchen drawers (the Akurum line) come equipped with high-end European hardware, and ours have been opened thousands of times with no trouble at all. If I needed a clothes dresser from Ikea, I would buy a kitchen drawer unit.
Ikea fills a void otherwise it wouldn't be so popular in the states. There are really a lot less choice at the modest price point than most clueless individuals think. Some people don't see their homes as an extension of their self worth or a showpiece for their good taste; homes are spaces to eat, play, sleep and work. Ikea pieces satisfy those needs at a reasonable price. Ikea hate is baffling to me given that the haters aren't being asked to pay for or live in those spaces.
I don't get the IKEA H8ters either. I'd rather see a room entirely furnished with IKEA that is smartly customized than some of the frankly fugly slapdash rooms curated from dumpsters we see too much on this site.
IKEA products are well-designed and most importantly, they are affordable. Their basic shapes and clean lines are a great starting point for the more creative types among us.
I've seen high-end, big-ticket designers that use IKEA products to great effect, especially their AKURUM cabinetry. A good designer never shies away from well-designed products, no matter their provenance.
Either you get it or you don't.
I don't get why anyone would buy something directly from IKEA when you can get it for a fraction of the price on Craigslist (excluding things that could be harboring bedbugs, of course). No matter what piece you're looking for there is usually a college student out there who is trying to get rid of theirs.
HUH? Everyone on Craiglist is trying to get rid of something they no longer want. Some of us don't want sloppy seconds.
aychihuahua, even if it's in perfect condition? Even if you're flush with money it's awfully irresponsible, from an environmental perspective, to buy something new when you can get the same thing seconhand.
I suppose someone who only shops at Costco for groceries has a refrigerator that's usually small, equipped with gaudy peanut butters and jellys of an off brand, sour milk, misc unhealthy foods and huge salad dressings with low quality ingredients, food pushed all the way to the back to make way for their poor choice of beer featured mostly the cheaper selection from the store.
But who are we to judge? The same "crap" can be had from other bargain stores at a MUCH higher price. One house full of IKEA will always beat one house furnished from Value City or Room Store anytime, which seems to be the go to place for people who don't know any better at all.
Dual subwoofers for an under-desk office setup? Maybe a bit over the top don't you think?