apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It seams to me that IKEA doesn't get alot of respect. I'm in Nashville...IKEA is still cutting edge here. We have to go all the way to Atlanta to have the IKEA experiance. I'm still in the honeymoon stage. I've been wanting to send in pictures of my place but knew I'd get the "I spot IKEA" response.
Thanks for letting me get that off my ches

Lorne,
I'm grateful to IKEA for allowing me to enjoy some semblance of "design" on my "tap water" budget. I'm 6 hours away from an IKEA and friends know that will be on my itinerary when I visit. Thank heavens for their 16 year old who never gets tired of shopping with me!

ikea is just fine if you use it in moderation.
just don't take it all "off the rack" so to speak. make it your own. good design mags like domino use it all the time. just don't do your WHOLE PLACE in it or it will look kinda cheap.
i think the key is knowing what you have to splurge on.

Tapwater Budget= No Splurging
If you love IKEA and you choose to furnish your whole place with it then go for it. I'd like to know when the notification went out that everyone's home was entered into an interior design competition. Who cares if my place looks "off the rack" if it makes me happy. After all "I" have to live there.

I see furniture like cars. IKEA, or other "entry-level" design products, can be a good starting point. I can't afford anything much better than IKEA/Target/etc., so that's what I'm using. As I can afford better products, I will gladly move to "mid-level" design.

There's even room for Ikea in high-end interiors, even if you can afford other solutions.

Sometimes, Ikea is the only one with the right solution.

These shelves are very nice. However, I've had some problems with Ikea shelving in the past, where the shelves tend to bend in the middle after a few years. I'm an avid reader, so I have a ton of books. Shelving and wall systems at the Container Store are much better quality and easy to install.

I agree with Patrick. I don't just see IKEA as a "starting point" for if you don't have more money. In my bedroom, I have a somewhat expensive modern wooden platform bed and nightstands, designer lighting, beautiful bedding... none of it IKEA. My budget would have allowed me to spend several hundred on a 4x6 area rug. However, I ended up buying a Flokati at IKEA for around $60. It was the right color and I loved the funky texture. I didn't buy it because I couldn't afford to spend more, I bought it because I honestly *liked* it, IKEA or not.
I like what Mariegael said above. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with IKEA. I think when you don't mix it up, add some art and your own accessories, that it can quickly end up looking like one of the in-store "Life in 600 square feet" showrooms. I happen to live very, very near to a store (can see it from my balcony). I don't doubt there are hundreds of apartments near me that are IKEA-d out.
But like Patrick said, sometimes IKEA is the only one with the right solution. I was looking everywhere for a very simple mirror of a particular size and found one there. So what if it was cheap? The quality was perfectly fine. The "expensive" stores I looked in didn't have the size mirror I needed and the one I found at IKEA was the right size. It's just a happy coincidence that the price was so low.

I have Dirigent shelving at home and I love it. I have them in the brushed stainless steel. I have seen the white upclose and wasn't too impressed.

Ok, sometimes I think y'all are a little over the top with the Ikea love. My parents had this type of shelving waaaay back in the 60's -- from the hardware store. I see this and I think "basement den" not "chic". Maybe its the exposed metal supports?

I saw the white at the store a few weekends ago and thought it looked really nice. That's why I was asking yesterday if this was, in fact, the Ikea system--I think I am going to get it instead of the elfa I was planning on from Container Store. I wanted white anyway, and I like that the Ikea shelves are almost a laquer-y finish instead of the more matte finish of the elfa. Plus, it's like 1/2 the cost!

me--
The difference between this and the stuff in hardware stores is the shelves, not the brackets.

That curved edge and end-cap in metal makes this not look like the crappy hardware/Home Depot stuff. AN dmakes it *not* look like your hanging Elfa CLoste stuff in your living room.

i, of course, have the crap from home depot in my apartment ;)

Yeah, but is the brushed aluminum as cheap-looking as all Ikea brushed aluminum? You know, after watching my Malm bed darken to a dingy yellow like a cheap paperback, I can't help being a little skeptical. Probably you could get by, but why? You don't have to spend 5K on Vitsoe, since there are a several mid-prices versions of shelving systems and countless shelving units. Why not buy something for $500 with some resale value, instead of a "cute" object? Cuteness fades real quick. Still, if you're post-college like me, you might not have a choice; but don't fool yourselves: Ikea is chintzy.

And Elfa is even chintzier. I don't get your point.
And not everybody has $500 to spend...

So what, exactly, are the mid-priced shelving options between Ikea and Vitsoe?

shelving options -- i bought some shelves from gothic and painted them years ago. they're tacky but i can't find anything else that's cheap and won't overpower the room and WILL ACTUALLY HOLD ALL MY BOOKS and aren't too modern looking.

the one pictured above is cute. if you like modern and have about 1/10th of the books i do.

Has nobody noticed that it's not just the shelving unit that will make or break the look.

Think about how the shelves will be used, be selective about what goes on them and how it's displayed.

I spent $60 on the home depot stuff and a sheet of oak veneered plywood that was cut to make the shelves. I stained the plywood walnut (left the edges raw) I am selective about what goes on the the shelves and give thought to the display. This way the whole unit becomes about the contents. It looks fantastic.

Ya know I love AT but I sometimes think that we all get too caught up in labels. My bet is that if the above unit was presented as a new find from DWR with a 2K price tag we'd all be gushing about the clean lines etc...

I swear by Dirigent shelves! I bought them because we had a slanted ceiling in my studio and I could adjust the height of the shelves. Everyone who visited us commented on them- they looked amazing! It did take some AutoCAD drafting to figure out how many I needed to fill up my triangular wall. By the way, we took them off, moved them from LA to NYC and assembled them again- they are doing just fine and hold all my super heavy art books.

(but people would be bitching about the delivery charges!!) :)

agree with Julian...

I think 'design' is about solving a problem in an aesthetically pleasing (to you) manner.

Sometimes the solution is IKEA. Sometimes the solution is DWR. Most of the time, my solutions are found on Craigslist. And if any solution is unaffordable - keep looking for something that will work on your budget.

As a nice intermediate option how about ISS shelving? It's been mentioned here before:

www.issdesigns.com

I have a question for everyone. It has to do with a recent experience I had and since IKEA is the topic here, I thought I'd go ahead and ask you for your thoughts.

While browsing a jewelry booth at a trade show recently, I was struck by a beautiful looped rug and asked, "Is this an Angela Adams rug?" and they replied under their breathe (as though they were revealing a very dirty little secret), "No...um, IKEA."

Sometimes I don't get it, why is it that so many are afraid of stating the facts concerning where they found something, particularly if it's from a bargain home store? We eagerly pipe up if someone asks us about our DWR sofa.

In Germany, at least from my experience, my friends openly talk about IKEA like it's the best thing since the beirgarten. It doesn't seem to be a big deal to them to openly 'confess' that something in their hip pad came from the big blue box. Why should it be?

Hmmmm...This could be a whole new thread. But I wonder, Why is it that *some* of us are ashamed to say we purchased plates at K-mart and found our coffee table at IKEA or our bedding at Sears?

Could it be that brands are just so ingrained in our heads that designer jeans are no longer enough, we have to have designer homes, too? When I say 'designer', I mean homes filled with big name items, not homes that are designed by cool design mavens like Maxwell.

Just curious what others have to say about this...

Holly

My problem with shelving like this in general is how do you keep books from tumbling off the open ends? That's why I like enclosed bookcases.

Patrick - Mom & Dad's DID have curved ends & nice wood. I think the hardware stores were just nicer then, not the Home Depot behemoths that we have now.

I had no idea those shelves were ikea. I'm considering a hangable book-storage solution, and while I'd love one of those Atlas things that one of the smallest coolest apts had, I can't spring for that. Right now I have a combo of 1 Ikea and 3 rubberwood folding bookcases I got at a discount store years ago, and while I know I'd *like* to go to a slightly higher end bookcase, I can't settle on what size to get and haven't found one I like in my price range. I also would like a more "fit in this space" look, but don't want to buy something expensive specifically for this apartment as I'll be moving in a year or two or three...so, I would rather not buy a "protein piece" for something that I would most likely need or want to change in a few years.

Terry, in my case, I hung each shelf at a different height, so books rest on the edge of the shelf that’s positioned higher.
As far as Holly’s question, I really think it depends on the people you talk to. Some people tell me “You shouldn’t say it’s from IKEA. I think you should be proud if you managed to spot something at Ikea ( or Home Depot, etc) that looks different. In Germany, everyone I new had stuff from Ikea ( by the way, Dirigent is made in Germany) , and, at the same time, the most expansive faucets and toilets. It just made their interiors humorous, not boringly “High end”.

Holly-

I concour. All over the world Ikea, Elfa and other economical solutions are praised and proudly used in homes spaning the socio-economic range.

The concept of designer is one that plagues American consumer culture like the flu. I wonder how many folk tote around faux Chanel bags, or imitation Prada sunglasses etc... And how about all of us who shop at H&M who regularly stocks its shelves with cheaper knockoffs of designer brands. And I am positive that when in the grocerey store a helluva lot of us grab the generic sugar or coffee filters over the more expensive Itallian ones...

I suppose on one level it comes down to form and function. Some of us purchase things because the solve a problem we are facing be it how to filter coffee, protect our eyes from the sun or store our books. The main goal is to solve the problem, and if along the way we are able to make this solution aesthetically pleasing then that's fantastic. Some of us can't afford to buy the top of the line crap and comprimise, but who cares. Some of us can't tell the difference between a 5K chair and a cheapo, but who cares. And some of us have the money and it's no big deal to splurge...but who cares.

It's only an issue when the discussion turns from the elegance of the method used to solve the problem (the form, function, cost, application etc..) to the abstract status of the method used.

Someone mentioned the Ikea "living in 600sf" displays looking sterile and cheap... Ever opened up a DWR catalogue... steril and expensive.

Oh yeah let's not forget that the hard working folk behind the Ikea products are...oh crap what do you call them...wait for it...designers.

The brushed aluminum shelves doesn't look chinsy at all and they are very sturdy. I an a librarian so I got really great old book ends to use.

if i buy the wallmounts and brackets and wanted to get a nice walnut for the shelves, would that be economical? where can i get pieces of hardwood pre-stained and cut to measure? i'm in nyc. thanks.

This might be a nice temporary solution for the assorted books and objects in my bed nook. Affordable and easy to put up...it's a way to make use of high narrow wall space. Until I can afford a professional to "tsk tsk" at my endeavours and rip everything down, of course.

It's getting *very* hard not to take that free bus out to IKEA on the weekends to get ideas. But "ideas" usually turns into a big shopping bag of votives and cheap light bulbs.

Is everyone besides me a super-handyperson-type? Because I find that putting up any wall-mounted storage system is a huge pain in the butt; so much so that after one experience, I've given up entirely. The stud-finding, the deep drilling, the toggle-bolt twisting, and the perfect measuring & level-ing required -- and then the post-installation fear that it'll all collapse one day and bury me underneath a rubble of old books.

Am I missing an easy way to put these things up?

"The stud-finding, the deep drilling, the toggle-bolt twisting"

Reminds me... it's almost the weekend!!!

IKEA is wonderful because it brings good design at an affordable price to the masses. It was my starting point before I ever picked up a design magazine, and I still love it today. I also want to praise DWR for bringing other designers to the masses, even if it's actually "design beyond reach" of most people. I still look forward to the DWR catalogue. I wish somebody could fill the void between IKEA and DWR, good design at reasonable prices. It may be TARGET? Room and Board?

I also just bought the elfa system, and though the people at Container Store are extremely friendly, the competence of their staff is definitely lacking.

i heart etslee

I've had these bookshelves for several years now, in my home office, and they have held up incredibly well. They haven't bent or budged in at least 4 years. Highly recommended.

Does anyone know what the weight capacity is on the Dirigent shelving?

Thanks!

Yes, I am a kind of handyperson type. As far as the “DIRIGENT” installation concerned, it was easier than I thought. Vertical “wall upright” parts are sitting on “supporting rail”, and that makes installation simple. If you have a sheetrock walls like ours, you need bigger strong metal anchors and good laser level. It took me couple of hours.

Jashiki

Lisa -- don't know if this helps, but the details section on IKEA's web site says that the max. load for each shelf is 33 lbs, 1 oz (or 15 kg)

Width: 29 7/8 "
Depth: 11 3/4 "
Thickness: 1 "
Max. load: 33 lb 1 oz

I installed the whole Elfa system in my home office awhile back. I live in San Diego, and when we had an earthquake, everything stayed put. The way the unit is installed allowed it a bit of "sway". When the earthquake stopped, everything was sturdy and back in place. According the folks at the Container Store, each Elfa shelf can hold up to 75 lbs.

Matthew,

Vitsoe is way more than $5k. That's a tiny system, maybe.

C L, I was going to go with Rakks, but am ending up with ISS. The systems seem almost identical, with the ISS coming in a bit cheaper on the standards and a bit more on the brackets. The main price difference was the shelving. The Rakks extruded aluminum was pricy though nice. The ISS shelves are not aluminum, but are about half the price. I decided that the aluminum wasn't worth almost doubling the cost for my project.

Thanks Ellen!

I just recently had 2 bookshelves custom-made and built in for $800 bucks. Each 84"H x 54"W. they were mdf, installed, sanded, ready to paint (I enameled them myself) and they are simple and really nice looking.

They were built by a contractor friend of a friend in between bigger jobs. It's worth asking around for someone like that.

They could easily have been made as non-built-ins, though at that size you'd want to anchor them to the wall in some way. I realize that new york is a bit more expensive than boston, but even if you doubled the price it would still be cheaper than Vitsoe--though not quite as cool.

nice set up, but i'm a complete idiot and would figure out a way to assemble the cases, and then have it fall apart a month later

I was flummoxed when I bought this place - how I was going to house all my books - I have a metric ton. I also didn't want to drop a few thousand on cabinetry in the wake of a giant mortgage. So some sleuthing lead me to a carpenter in minnesota who made me 32" wide 7 shelf 9 ft high towers in hardwood with walnut stain and double varnish. the finish is gorgeous) based on a ladder style (but not uite as obvious or tacky looking) that he charged me 120 each for shipped on the caveat I order at least 4 units. I ordered eight, and they looked a bit light for the job, bu they went up gorgeous and they are incredibly strong. Plus I have this beautiful custom stuff that solves my problem and looks fantastic while supporting a small craftsman. It took a lot of legwork to find the right willing guy, but it paid off in spades aesthetically and solution wise. None of the commercial solutions from Ikea to ISS to blu dot to DWR were quite meeting the sweet spot between cost and looks I wanted, and I ended up outperforming my expectations. So it was worth the extra time and energy.

Speaking of bookcases, did anyone watch HGTV last night - there was a new designer fresh out of Endicott College who designed a basement for this couple and their son - it was a bright orange basement with custom bookcases?

Anyway, I loved the bookcase she designed that was 1/2 of an A-frame shape. Sorry, I can't think tonight... I don't know how else to describe it. It was really neat though.

Holly

Which half of an A-frame shape? The Top half? The Bottom helf? The Left half? The Right half?

Anyone have any experience with Rakks?

(As far as I can tell, Rakks seem like a good alternative to the Vitsoe system.)

Hi

Must admit the Rakks system is way more sleek, engineered to perection and comes in black, white and anodized aluminum. The only system for standards and brackets...practically unknown though..

w

I have a great Rakk.

The right half, Curtis.

Holly

I've got the brushed stainless steel Dirigent shelving in my home office and really love it. I have Rakks in my livingroom, and even though Rakks looks a little more refined, the shelf supports and bookends tend to bend to the left and right.

The Dirigent is solid as a rock and is fantastic for heavy stuff like art books and magazines. It's main problem is it comes in modular units that may not fit perfectly where you need them. Also, the rounded edges look a little clumsier than the straight lines of Rakks or the ISS stuff.

Stay away from the Dirigent plastic storage boxes and the CD racks -- I had to throw mine away they were such trash.

Oh and also regarding the Rakks and ISS systems -- the aluminum they are made of is SOFT SOFT SOFT so be careful as hell before you install them because they dent up really easy.

I love my Rakks system -- it really is beautiful (I used smoked glass for all the book shelves and then walnut ply on my two largest bottom shelves that hold my LPs and turntable)but my one big complaint with them is the whole system is top loaded (unlike the Dirigent) so if you ever need to take out the bottom shelf brackets you have to removes all the brackets above it.

It's not a big deal, just be sure to plan well or it's a pain in the ass.

There was a girl in my high school whose parents were very rich. She had a huge wardrobe and never seemed to wear the same thing twice and a lot of people voted her "best dressed."

But there was a second girl of modest means who always looked terrific. I thought she deserved to be voted "best dressed" because she did more with less. The first girl shopped at Saks. Big deal, I thought.

My point is: I appreciate things that look good, sure. But I have greater admiration for someone who is clever and figures out ways to create a satisfying look using less money, on their own, with creativity. A rich person has a designer and an unlimited budget. Yawn.

That I have done my place on my own with creativity and on the cheap and spending as little as possible to me ADDS to the pleasure I get from it.

People are embarrassed about stuff they bought at Ikea? I'm proud of the stuff I found on the street and fixed up!

Screw DWR.

Dirigent is a product that holds other crap you've bought that you don't need. Vitsoe holds intelligent books. Think I'm crazy? Check out the Vitsoe website and tell me who has better books, them or you? Fools! Ikea is mass distraction. Those Vitsoe owners understand aesthetics. They're rich and they could have had any silly shelving system, but they chose the Goddess of shelves! Still, better to have thrown all those books out the window instead, and enjoyed the expensive paint job and real live art, maybe throw a Thonet in there like the Big LC.

Every object is different. Chair table flatware shelves, it all means something. If you have ever seen an Ikea product and then see the original it was knocked off of, you will understand. I used to love my Ikea flatware, but then I saw Jasper Morrisson's flatware, and understood why it was knocked off, and why it looks different. Buying an object is buying into what the object means, and this meaning is subjective to a degree but it is more often than not substantially objective. An Ikea product is cute, not beautiful; cool, not powerful. It says, "I'm 'design for the masses'" and "I'm 'good design'". But it has nothing to do with US or our lives or how we should live them or how we might want to live if we weren't always going to Ikea or could afford to buy all the crap we can't afford to buy but are buying anyway because it makes us feel like we can afford to buy things. An Ikea chair is a socioeconomic class and the taste and humor that goes along with it.

Hardly anything is real in our society, so you have to really pay attention to what you love or redecorate every 2 years and waste resources and pollute the earth.

But to all those who love dirigent, I'm sorry to have insulted you! I love this website and even if I don't share tastes, I love how excited everyone gets about shelves (because solutions are utopian in direction and this excites me).

I make shelves because I hated what I found out there! I found that the shelves at Target are cheap painted plastic and sell for $30.00 for a two foot shelf? What kind of a deal is that? I make them out of hardwood softwood whatever the person wants. These shelves are approximately 2 1/2" thick and are strong! They will not bend or break because they are made of harwood not covered particle board. I also put a center support inside of them to ensure the brackets carry any excess weight load that may be out on the outer edge! My brackets are simple like the "spirit shelf" post here on AT. It is capable of carrying heavy loads. I just completed a shelf that is 15 inches deep for a client in NY. I tested this shelf with my bracket system and it carried about 70 lbs with 1/16 inch sag at the front edge! That is pretty good for a floating shelf that is 15 inches deep! If the shelf was a more common narrower depth it would hang a lot more weight on it WITHOUT ANY sag. The brackets were tested and failed at 255lbs. Pretty impressive I think and that is why I use them! So anyway I thought I would throw this out to you who can't find anything you like drop me a line I currently am producing the "chunky" style and crown moulding shelves of any design.

Sadly the Dirigent line has been discontinued in the USA.

I NEED MORE ALUMINUM DIRIGENT, but don't know where to turn.

If anyone knows of a person or store where I can purchase some PLEASE contact me!!!

info@PXL8R.com

I have tried to buy the Dirigent wall system and Ikea has no idea when they will get it.

How do I get the wall shelf system?

Sono arrabbiato perchè ho iniziato un arredamento complessop con mensole dirigent e improvvisamente non le trovo più.
roberto Magni