I live in quite a small little cottage, but some of the teeny tiny apartments in the Smallest, Coolest Apartment Contest over at Apartment Therapy have to be seen to be believed. A list of all the apartment entries is here, and as of writing this there were 30 in the contest.
Not surprisingly, shopping at Ikea seems to be a prerequisite for most apartment dwellers. You know, not that I have the Ikea catalogue memorised or anything...
3 comments:
When travelling on the train past the Rhodes railway station last Monday night, there was three city boy types (ok, yes, they were cute) discussing this very topic. For those unawares, there is a HUGE new Ikea store that has recently opened in this area that you pass by on the train.
Anyways, one of the guys, I'll call him Blondie, lets go of an impressive observational tirade and theory about said Ikea. He belives, telling his friends and to my interest, that Ikea has become like a religious experience. Some seek God, others enlightenment, and yet for many all they really seek is that pefect rug and sofa to go with the coffee table in the longeroom. He said Ikea is like a new Church for the consumerist society. One of his friends jokingly said that explains why its always impossibly busy there on a Sunday.
I could not help but smile at Blondie and to the amusement of all his friends heartily agreed with him.
Personally, I can't understand peoples interest in the place. But this is also coming from a person who currently resides in a reasonably large two story abode. Along with my flatmates, it looks all very Queer Eye for the straight guy AFTER the makeover has been completed. All rather tasteful and chic, even if I do say so myself. But I can assure you that there is not an Ikea item in sight.
Anyways Andrew, have you not seen Fight Club? It's my favourite movie of all time (yes, its has His Brad-leyness in it, but thats not the only reason). He goes on many rants against consumerism and the Ikea "make my life complete" mentality. One indeed gets the satisfaction of seeing a carefully created Ikea filled apartment literally exploded in the movie.
"It's only once you've lost everything", Tyler said, "that your free to do anything". Indeed it is so.
So I remain anti-Ikea. I don't need all that stuff to find domestic nirvana in a perfectly co-ordinated space. These are the same people who make Volvo's for heavens sake, do you really wanna buy their furniture?
Its all completely beyond me. The odd tastefull and more personal piece from a designer or independent store however is perfectly acceptable. All my stuff after all fits into one very large but very me bedroom. I'm sure Tyler would understand ...
Bodhi :-)
Sydney, Australia
Bodhi,
...and, breathe!
Better now? :-)
I like Ikea, but I don't like everything and I certainly wouldn't treat it as a holy shrine. However, shopping there is fun, the gear is very reasonably priced and in amongst the odd bit of strange design there are some nice pieces. A lot of their storage ideas are good for small apartments.
I've usually shopped at the Moore Park store here in Sydney, which is wall-to-wall gay boys. Not unusual to see couples shopping hand in hand. A lady friend of mine (in her 50's and married) recently commented about the Rhodes superstore "Nice, but too many breeders...". :-)
Wall-to-wall gay boys at Ikea Moore Park you say?
Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Maybe your right, I think I may need to seriously look at my aversion to all things Ikea. At the very least do some serious research and development into the possability. Repeated testing, just to be thorough you understand. And Moore Park is much more central for me. Now, what should one wear while ummm, "furniture" shopping ...
;-)
Bodhi
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