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Anyone have any experience with the Expedit bookcase from Ikea? Quality? Appearance? It's awfully inexpensive so I'm a bit worried. There is a similar one (white - I want white) at West Elm and a big one at DWR. Anyone know any other sources for something similar? I've looked at furniture stores and nobody has it.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?cattype=sub&topcategoryId=15561&categoryId=17066&parentCats=15561*15639*15651&storeId=12&catalogId=10103&langId=-1

My next-door neighbor has the shorter Expedit (four across, two tall) and it is VERY sturdy. She has a lot of AV equipment on it (heavy TV, stereo, DVD, etc.) as well as the cubes full of books and it's not at all wobbly or sagging.

The Expedit is great. As with all IKEA furniture, I advise using wood glue on the wood pegs. The more you move the bookcase, the more wobbly it will get, but if you keep it in one place it works great and its practically free.

i bought a small lack bookcase late last summer and it came with little, um, thingies that attached it to the wall to make it more secure. i'm thinkng the expedit should come with them also, to add to the stablility and not-falling-on-your-headness of it as well.
as far as quality, well, it's ikea. for the amount of use it gets, it's held up well.

I have an expedit, the 16 cube one. It holds a TON of stuff and I love it, but my boyfriend and I nearly broke up over the assembling of it. It was frustrating, because moving forward in the assembly can mess up things you did 5 minutes ago-- it's very touchy. Can't beat the price, but be prepared for a battle. I suggest a glass of wine and the aforementioned wood glue.

does anyone have experience with DWR B-pop chairs, the wood (not stripy) ones? i am mostly concerned with comfort aspect.

Hi everyone. I want to put all my AV equipment (dvd player, digital tv receiver, video recorder, etc) in a cupboard underneath the TV, but want to be able to use the remote controls without opening the cupboard doors. I'm sure I saw a solution to this once - it was some sort of receiver that sat on top of the cupboard. I can't remember what it was called. Any ideas?

i think IKEA assembly is the true test of a relationship.

I looked in the AT archives but couldn't find anything - does anyone have, or know about the VTech I5871 cordless phone? I got a $100 gift certificate from Best Buy burning a hole in my pocket and my phone is dues for a replacement. I can't afford the fancy Bose one, and this one looks the least ugly of lots out there. Any suggestions for this one or any other?


www.amazon.com/Vtech-I5871-Expandable-digital-Answering/dp/B0009J4X14/sr=1-1/qid=1167940422/ref=sr_1_1/104-8993803-9371169?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

okay i'm an idiot because i jsut tried "VTech" in the search and the exact phone came up. duh.

but, i'd still love anyone's 2 cents on whether or not its worth buying.

thanks!

i have the expedit bookcase, the white 5x5 model. i actually got it at a yard sale. my boyfriend and i went through hell trying to put it together. for the first attempt i had no instructions and didn't have a rubber mallet. you definitely NEED both, and you can NOT put this thing together all by yourself.
as with most ikea furniture, the 'wood product' may chip but it is pretty sturdy if you follow the instructions and don't move it too often. ours is loaded with records and books and seems to be just fine.

Would anyone living in a small space care to share the dimensions of your bathroom? Is it shower only, or do you manage to fit a tub, too? I'm thinking about converting a half bath to a full bath in a house I'm considering buying, and just want to know how much space I need in order to do this. Thanks!

I have a question. I just bought a Barcelona table for $125 on craig's wonderful list. When I got it home, I looked underneath to see if there was a stamp, and to my surprise there was a K and a P stamped into the steel at the intersection of the legs. It's all one piece and I love it regardless, but I was wondering if it's an authentic Knoll Barcelona Table. Can someone advise me on this?

This was beyond helpful, so thank a lot. I don't have much Ikea experience but they did say in the catalog that it needs 2 people to put together. I shall have wine at the ready and be prepared for a battle!

The Expedit is pretty sturdy, but watch out if you're moving. I've helped a friend put together 3 because he loves it so much, but it's broken the two times he's moved. I'd take Jennie's advice and use the glue. If you plan on staying in your place though, it's great!

I've had a couple Vtech phones, they're great, drop resistant and Ana-proof, can't beat that!

Susie in England:

I think you're looking for an infrared receiver to sit on your cabinet.

But I think you're *really* looking for the whole system-- you need an infrared repeater box, which you would hide away in the cabinet, and then you attach little gizmos to each component, so that the the receiver picks up signals from your remote, the signals get channeled through the repeater box, and sent to the right component.

I've heard that some fancy plasma tvs can interfere with all the infrared action, so you need to make sure you get the right set up.

I don't own such a contraption, myself, but it's on my wishlist.

Good luck with it!

Pink -

I actually put the Expedit together by myself (the big one!) - it was do-able because I had the instructions, a rubber mallet, and a small enough room that I could brace it against one wall while squeezing it into it's cube shape. Also a bottle of wine and a good dose of stubborn. So I just wanted to give you that dose of confidence. I couldn't lift it off the floor and into place when I was done, but being able to assemble the damn thing by myself was an accomplishment! You can do it! But I would lay down a blanket or something on the floor so you don't accidentally scratch it. (the floor, or the shelves!)

best of luck!

I put the EXPEDIT (the big 5 x 5 one) together by myself, but I needed help placing it where I wanted it when I was done. Sadly, I just moved out of the loft where I had it, and it's too big too move. So I left it there and I hope the next owner will want to keep it. Next time I'm buying something I can move more easily. Like 2 Billys.

I don't know if VTECH has improved, but I had a couple of their cordless phones (over 5 years ago) and thought they were terrible.

I got two Lacks instead of an expedit b/c I had to assemble them myself.
Used as a room divider. They are perfectly stable, but the shelves don't hold much weight. Right away one of the shelves broke and collapsed. The inside is basically hollow, except for some paper combing. Don't put anything too heavy on them!
Although I do like the look. Got white and they're great room dividers for my studio.

Any ATers from New Orleans, or visitors thereto? I'm darting away for the weekend and am wondering about good design and/or thrift shops, preferably near Mid-City.

We bought a shag rug from West Elm a few weeks ago and I love love love it. It reminds me of sea anemones. However, it keeps shedding like mad. There are white furry tumbleweeds all over our apartment.

Does anyone know if shag rugs ever stop shedding?

Shannon- I lived in New Olreans for a couple of years, just moved back to nyc in September. I lived Uptown, so I don't know a ton about mid-city, but Magazine street is the shopping stretch. Tons of antique stores (they're heavier on the french antiques than the modern design) but there's also Neophobia, which sells vintage/50s 60s stuff, and Design Within Reach just opened a brand new store this week - also on Magazine. Not sure either of those are listed on magazinestreet.com, but that site will get you oriented. The section of Magazine closer to the french quarter (around Felicity street, downtown from Jackson) tends to be more hip, for lack of a better word, and less stuffy. But there are great clothing shops all along the way.

Any feedback on R&B's Lenox sofa? I thought I remembered seeing a discussion on here a while ago but haven't been able to unearth much via Google. Any opinions would be very helpful as we are about to buy it!

Janie, there was a post I happened to see a month or two back about the same thing, only it was an Ikea red rug. I think people mentioned other rugs as well.

Thanks again to all of you for your excellent advice regarding the Expedit. I will be sure to use this forum again! Brilliant.

OCGirl, my bathroom is 60"x95" (5'x8') and it seems small, but I've seen smaller. You could go down to 5x7, but I think smaller than that would be really cutting it tight. You'd need some creative arranging.

My layout has the sink, toilet and tub all in a row, and the door opens along the 5' wall, next to the sink.

Janie5,

I bought one from Pottery Barn, and then sold it again. It was a felted shag rug, so maybe that was why it wouldn't stop shedding.

You have to figure that this is why some rugs cost $5,000 and some rugs cost $500.

I have been looking at both Expedit and Lack for my office but now I'm worried. How much weight will these things hold before they break? Can anyone give me an equivalent in books? I'm just trying to figure out if I can stuff all my books in one or if I need cinderblocks and plywood.

I am male, 27, single.
I have an appreciation for modern design, and seek the same in a nice young woman.

I possess fantastic IKEA assembly skills.
I enjoy cooking.

I also have a rubber mallet.

Tom - I'll take you.

My boyfriend is hopeless. His idea of hell is IKEA, which is my idea of heaven.

So obviously we will be meeting at the IKEA cafeteria when we die.

Anne - I am a grad student, so I have TONS of textbooks. They all live in my 5x5 expedit bookcase. Almost the whole thing is filled. I do have it attached to the wall with the included bracket, for added stability.
Hope that helps!

I'll take you too, Tony. I don't have a boyfriend, and I got your name right ;)

Gretchen - thank you! That was it - an infrared receiver. I'll go googling on the whole repeater box thing. It sounds complicated, but I'm sure I can work it out. Luckily, no fancy plasma TVs or anything like that round here. All the equipment is very basic and low-key so hopefully there won't be any problems.

I'll report back with my findings when everything is set up. Got to build the cupboard first, though. :-)

I'm still trying to figure out what's so hard about putting together Ikea furniture. I'm no rocket scientist, but it always seems pretty easy.

(And in addition to the glue on the pegs, take the time to properly level the piece. An off-kilter piece of RTA furniture with some weight on it puts undue stress where there shouldn't be any.)

-Bobby

Second the Magazine Street suggestion, but don't overlook the Quarter. Although known to have the more expensive shops, there are some smaller "funkier" ones with less expensive, if not actually cheap, items. I'm doing this early in the morning from memory, but there's a fun 50s/60s shop on Royal, and a couple of borderline junk shops a block off the Mississippi.

Bobby Jones,

The Expedit is notoriously difficult to assemble. I haven't bought one myself, but my friend, not a literal rocket scientist but a biochemical researcher with a Ph.d who works on cancer cures, had trouble.

About the bathroom size...I currently have a bathroom that is 6'x 8', and am quite comfortable. It never feels cramped. The pedestal sink and toilet are on the left, the bathtub is across from it, and there is a small linen closet between the tub and the far wall that is about 1' wide, and 3' deep.

Thanks cat, I am very reassured. That earlier comment about someone overloading their bookshelves and breaking one had me worried. But I've never broken a shelf yet and am not planning on purging more books anytime soon so I might hve to go pick me up that Expedit. And, apparently, a rubber mallet. Thanks again!

Anne, that was me who said the bookshelf overloaded. It was the tall wide Lack, not the Expedit. I had one shelf with hard cover cookbooks, and then smaller books on top of those, and that's the shelf that collapsed. Maybe it wouldn't have happened if I distributed the weight more evenly over the wide shelf.
On the upside, I didn't really have any problem assembling it all by myself.

Thanks Debbie, I'll keep that in mind.

This is an excellent tute: http://wehow.ehow.com/how_2000031_assemble-ikea-expedit-bookcase.html

Gonna put two together tomorrow. Ugh.