Struggling To IKEA
Well not really struggling, but you wouldn’t have thought that getting a few simple baskets would be so difficult.
IKEA Branas Basket
The picture shows one of their Branas baskets.
To fit out my bedroom I need eight. So I thought I’d buy them on-line when I bought the storage frames that will hold them. But and this annoys me so much about IKEA, they were one of the products that can’t be bought on-line. But they did have lots in stock at Edmonton. As I did have a couple of spare hours and I wanted to take some pictures close to their store. I decided to go and get some this afternoon.
So I took the Victoria line to Tottenham Hale and then got a 192 bus to IKEA.
I had worried that the boxes might not be flat-pack, in which case they would be difficult to manage on the bus, back to either Tottenham Hale or almost to home if a 341 turned up.
But my worst fears were unfounded as the boxes were flat and I reckoned I could carry four, in two IKEA blue bags. So perhaps half-an-hour soon after arriving and after perhaps ten minutes in the queue to pay, I was back at the bus stop, waiting for a 341 to move up to the departure stop.
Shopping on the 341 Bus
As you can see from the picture, the two bags with their cargo of boxes fitted in the luggage space on the bus, which sped me to within two hundred or so metres from my house.
Three boxes were quickly put together, but the fourth lacked a bottom and will have to be returned.
I did phone the store to see if they could post me a bottom, but rules is rules and it will have to go back to store with the till receipt.
So instead of two trips for eight boxes, it will now be three!
At least though, I don’t pay the fares for the bus and tube.
Dead Naff Designs
I am a fan of Grand Designs, although I don’t watch it very often, as it’s on Channel 4 with adverts.
But the show, as the title of this post suggests, was rather a disappointment. I saw a lot of stuff that IKEA do better, but I did find a couple of companies that might be useful to me. I also found a company to help me with a project, but they said they didn’t do that, as they concentrated on their own designs. As the designs weren’t the sort of things that I like, it was probably best anyway! But like me he was an arrogant git!
So all in all, it wasn’t worth the £18 I spent.
The Light From IKEA
As I said here, I bought a light and here it is installed by the front door.
IKEA Orgel Vreten Light
It looks good for something that cost just £20.47. It also uses three small SES bulbs. I got three in Sainsburys in Dalston for just £2.99 each. They were 8W Phillips Tornados.
I think that possibly the one from Selfridges may be more elegant, but at £75, it should be.
Sainsburys should be congratulated in pricing energy-saving bulbs at a competitive price. John Lewis are cheaper, but most retailers charge about £4 for this bulb. Especially, as you can buy tunsten bulbs for pound or two in the market next door.
How To Get A Chair Home From IKEA on a 341 Bus
I went to IKEA today to see if they had any suitable lights. I did buy one and it might be suitable, but I’ve got to buy some bulbs first.
However, when I went to get the bus home, this chap was taking home a basket chair on the 341 bus, by sitting on it in the wheelchair space.
How To Carry a Basket Chair on a 341 Bus
I hope he got home without any trouble from Health and Safety. He seemed happy enough when I got off the bus at Northumberland Park.
A Two Man-Hernia Job
In the 1960s, the amount of effort required to do a job with lifting used to be measured in man-hernias.
IKEA's Two-Man Hernia Label
This packaging on an IKEA bookcase, clearly identifies this as a two man-hernia job.
Sorting the Wall-Mounted Vegetable Rack
As you’ll see from this photo, I’ve now got a proper wall-mounted vegetable rack courtesy of IKEA.
Wall-Mounted Vegetable Rack
When I bought the Bygel wire basket, I thought it needed to be hung on a rail, but you can take the handle off and screw it directly to the wall. They cost only £1.52 each, but I did need to supply my own screws and washers though.
So it cost a lot less than the one I found from Trovit homes at £229950.
Ftustrating IKEA
I need some rails and drawers for two built in wardrobes. At present they have some useless fittings that were built by Jerry, the builder.
IKEA do some nice standard fittings, but they don’t come in a width to fit my wardrobes! They are just five centimetres too wide! They make them to fit a range of heights, but why not widths?
It is all so frustrating as getting ones made to fit will cost a fortune and probably won’t be as nice as those from IKEA.
Getting the Hang of IKEA
I need to order a washer/dryer as the current setup is tedious, slow and a bit difficult with the clothes washer in the hall cupboard with the boiler and the dryer in the garage. Every time I transfer clothes in and out, I seem to bump my head somewhere or lose socks on the floor.
After my experiences with John Lewis and Dixons, I thought the best thing to do was go and see the various washer/dryers on offer at Currys at Tottenham Hale. Quite frankly I wasn’t impressed, as they are all large and I just want a smaller one, as anything other than my smalls and towels goes to the excellent laundry. I also wanted to get a prescription, so Tottenham Hale was a good cjoice as there is a Boots there. It’s also just a bus ride to Highbury Corner and then three stops on the Victoria line.
I did notice one disadvantage of not driving at Tottenham Hale.
Where's the crossing?
This was the drive-in lane to Burger King. So if you want to get fat, eat lots of gluten and die before your time, you might take a pedestrian with bad eyesight with you, if you drive to get your burgers.
From Tottenham Hale I took the 192 bus to IKEA, as I needed a couple of bits for the kitchen. I also bought an assortment of picture hooks in a box. But the surprise was lunch, which was a bottle of Belvoir ginger beer and some gravadlax. All gluten-free of course. So I’m now finding IKEA a lot more friendly.
It was then back on the 192 and then the Victoria line to Seven Sisters, where I took a bus to Stoke Newington to pick up some paintings I’ve had framed, including one of my mother, by her brother from A & B Framing.
A & B Framing, Stoke Newington
I’ll admit I did struggle home with the framing and the stuff from IKEA. But I did make it and my mother and her cousin and sister-in-law are now reunited on the wall in my living room.
Cousins Reunited
Judging by the date on the drawing, my mother, who is on the left, was around four at the time. The caption is explained by the fact that my uncle, Leslie, married his first cousin, Gladys.
Beating IKEA
I ordered two bookcases from IKEA and they came this morning, courtesy of a cheery man from Parcelforce. They are now made up and installed in my living area.
Two IKEA Billy Bookcases
At least they look quite square, even if they don’t match my dresser to their right. But then they were only £80 the pair and they were capable of being put together by a man with only one good hand, dodgy eyesight and not-fully-working brain. It could also be that in the words of the song, I’m getting better all the time.
So perhaps IKEA’s designs are not that bad. I would put in little improvements to the design of these bookcases, but mainly because it is quite easy to confuse which way some of the panels go. I’ve put together quite a lot of flat-pack furniture in my time and compared to the best, this scored about 6 out of 10.
Welcome to IKEA
I finally got the spice rack last night at IKEA in Croydon.
It’s quite an easy journey by public transport, as I just get the 21/141 bus to London Bridge, a train to East Croydon and then the Tramlink to Ampere Way.
In a strange way, the journey summed up one of the things I like about London; friendliness. I chatted about my troubles and travels to a pleasant guy called Duncan from the Bank of England and then as I waited for the tram, I talked to the tram driver, who was to take my tram to Wimbledon. Incidentally, Duncan doesn’t have a car, so like me he uses public transport everywhere. Perhaps, we’re ahead of our time and in a few years or so, non-driving will be the normal thing to do.
The only problem, I had on the journey down, was caused by a slight lack of signage at East Croydon, my uncertainty about how to use the tram and which one to get.
Duncan pointed me at this book; The Brain That Changes Itself. I shall check it out!
I was then presented to this at IKEA.
Welcome to IKEA
Just look at those concrete benches, that are ideally placed to bump the shins of people with limited vision. It wasn’t the easiest walk to and from the tram stop, with some roads controlled by pedestrian lights and others that worked on the cross-quickly-and-be-lucky principle.
Coming back was quite easy, in that I took the tram to West Croydon and then took the East London Line to Dalston Junction. But there is no signage at West Croydon to the Overground from the tram stop. Supposedly, plans are in place for a better connection. At Dalston, I was even lucky enough to avoid the five minute walk, by getting a convenient bus along the Balls Pond Road.
The spice rack is now on the wall.
The Anonymous Widower 