apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We've had them in the uk for a while now and some of the pieces are great but the majority of them look cheap in the flesh. the footstool pictured, for example, looks really fake when viewed in store.
the wooden furniture doesn't look quite right and in the uk, at least, they're more expensive than a lot of originals that are available from dealers and charity shops which carry similar looking items.
Some of the glass products are really good though.

I saw the foot stool in IKEA Emeryville yesterday. I had no idea that it was even part of the line, it looked no more quality than their regular inventory.

I have only seen a few of the wooden pieces in person, and they are indeed more expensive than most ikea goods, and they do not look like any better quality. In fact, they look kind of cheap. If you can find similar style pieces through garage sales/flea markets, you are better off.

Bad bad bad idea! The whole point of IKEA is that the stuff is so inexpensive that quality is almost beside the point.

Target has gone down this path, too. The furniture that's available only online is surprisingly expensive -- and then when there are user reviews, the reviews are usually complaints that the quality is low for the price.

Ha, only available online. Here, I was going to buy a 75 dollar shelf thing (I really forget what it was, it was a while ago) and I got through the check out, and the shipping for this item was almost 300 dollars.

I like the Stockhom chair, but I don't know about $300 bucks for it.