Make Your Own Names for Ikea Furniture

by Allen Stern on July 29th, 2009

Ok, this might be as useless as 90% of Twitter apps, but at least this one is fun! It’s called, “The Blogadilla Swedish Furniture Name Generator” and as you might expect it allows you to enter your name and then it morphs your name into an “Ikea-like” product name. A product photo is also displayed and each time you refresh the page you receive a new name and product. (sshh, you can also enter friend’s names and send them the resulting images)

So far I have been morphed into ÄLLENRA which is a bed and ÄLLENBY which is a dresser. All it needs now is a “tweet my ikea” button. And don’t forget to check in on Nils.

CenterNetworks

Ikea: Come Into The Closet

by Karen Day

Inviting everyone to "come into the closet," Ikea's playful ad campaign uses an interactive flash-based dance scene, controlled by sound, to highlight their creativity when it comes to closet organizing systems. The clever promotion revolves around various characters who dance robotically to music in four different rooms, each pulling accessories from the different storage solutions.

A five song selection dictates the characters' dance moves, but customers also have the option to upload their own tunes or create original music using a computer keyboard and mic. Skillfully blending modern dance, video that effectively illustrates product functions, an intuitively fun interface and absurdist styling (like a suit jacket and tie worn with boxers, socks with garters), the micro-site makes for a compelling diversion.

While already a year old, the campaign is still a fun way to show off the product line and an example of the fun-loving side of web design. From Mexican wrestlers to a blonde afro'd family, Ikea understands how to make organization entertaining.

Ikea: Come Into The Closet

Live music at the Bistro …

Gardening by the moon …

  jmlandscaping

The Farmers Almanac Gardening by the Moon Calendar is determined by our age-old formula and applies generally to regions where the climate is favorable.

Get all 12 months of our exclusive Gardening by the Moon Calendar inside the Farmers' Almanac. This calendar lists favorable and not so favorable dates for various gardening and farming chores.

July 2009: 

30-31 Extra Good For Fall Cabbage, Lettuce, Cauliflower, Mustard Greens, And Other Leafy Vegetables. Good For Any Aboveground Crop That Can Be Planted Now. Start Seedbeds.

Farmers' Almanac Gardening Calendar

10 Design Ideas to Steal from the New IKEA Catalog

Aaron did a great post earlier today on the brand new IKEA 2010 catalog, and as fun as it is to see the new items, we love to see the new room set-ups even more. Nobody does IKEA as well as the catalog stylists and this years book is no exception - it's full of clever ideas that are do-able with or without the IKEA pieces...

Apartment Therapy

Bedding discovery at IKEA

My dear friend Amy gave The Boss and I a gift card to Ikea for our wedding last year, and even though we had an Ikea close to us back on the east coast, we never visited the Swedish/now Dutch owned superstore together until we moved to L.A.

Last month, while getting settled into our new home, we took a trip out to the valley, to the Ikea in Burbank, and picked up this Kajsa Blad bedding set.

The duvet cover and two matching pillowcases were included in the set for $15, which is a giveaway in the world of bedding, and The Boss and I also picked up a fitted sheet and two more pillowcases in dark blue to complement the print.

sliceoflemon.com

Mistakes When Planning Your Ikea Kitchen

When you get the Ikea Kitchen Planner, install it on your computer and play around with it for a couple of days and do some rough schematic designs.

Ok now that you are doing good with the software, now is when to get some really good measurements from the kitchen you are planning for. If you’re not comfortable with measuring the kitchen yourself, you can hire a service to come out and do it for you, or enlist the help of a friend or family member that’s handy.

Ok so now we have our measurements ready to go, now you get to play with the planner software and try to do your very first design.

Start off by creating a new project in the Ikea Kitchen Planner Software and input your kitchen dimensions and finalize your room layout.

When the room layout is ready to go it is time to play with the software a little, you can now start to place your cabinets into your newly created room and see exactly what it will look like.

MetaMagz

Is IKEA the Least Sustainable Retailer?

Image: Apartment Therapy

Currently in The Atlantic, there's an article by Ellen Ruppel Shell on the unsustainability of IKEA. In Buy to Last, Shell makes these points...

• [IKEA is] ...by some measures the world’s third-largest wood consumer. The company declines to pay a premium to ensure that all timber is legally harvested, citing costs that would be passed along to the consumer.

• IKEA furniture is made of particleboard and pine is not meant to last a lifetime.

• [IKEA] positions outlets far from city centers, where taxes are low and commuting costs high—the average IKEA customer drives 50 miles round-trip.

• Designed but not crafted, IKEA bookcases and chairs, like most cheap objects, resist involvement: when they break or malfunction, we tend not to fix them. Rather, we buy new ones.

The article regards the need for quality and value, and their effects on consumption and hence the environment. It's something we all probably think about daily as we assess how we live and better our homes. Where do we strike a middle ground of affordability and quality that is most sustainable?

Read the full article at The Atlantic

Ikea: A cheap alternative to childcare …

Ikea's childcare center is seeing an almost 15% increase in drop-offs this year at some of its stores. The retailer is a cheap place to leave the kids for a short while and visitors don't need to shop to use it. Ashley Milne-Tyte reports.

American Public Media

We won’t have to worry about this in Denver …

IKEA Announces Fee for Weekday Ferry Riders

by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 07-21-2009

Those With Receipts of $10 Will Get a Reprieve

RED HOOK — IKEA Tuesday announced that on Aug. 3 it will begin charging a fee to weekday riders of its water taxi service who do not shop at its Red Hook store.

However, the summer hours for the water taxi service will be extended, operating from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. These changes are part of a periodic review and seasonal adjustment of the store’s transit options based on cost, demand and ridership.

Additionally, the weekday shuttle bus service from nearby subway stops – which will remain free of charge to the public every day of the week – now will run from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.

“With the store open for more than one year, we have a strong sense of the shopping and transit pattern, customer expectations and of costs required to support key customer services,” said Mike Baker, IKEA Brooklyn store manager.

The water taxi from Manhattan’s Pier 11 to IKEA Brooklyn in Red Hook will charge passengers $5 per ride. Customers spending $10 or more per person at IKEA Brooklyn will receive an immediate $5 credit on their fare for use during future visits to the store.

A ride from Red Hook to Manhattan also will cost $5 per passenger, but IKEA Brooklyn customers with a purchase of $10 or more simply can show their receipt to be exempted from the fee. Children age 12 or under can ride for free.

This policy of charging non-IKEA customers during the week will not affect weekend service – which will remain free of charge to all riders.

Brooklyn Eagle