<p>DH owns a small house in his college town. D2 has decided she wants to live there the next two years. So now, instead of the former plan of moving into a furnished apartment, we are looking at having to furnish this house. DH wants me to put inexpensive but “nice looking” stuff in there with an eye to having it look good in 2 years for resale. A garage sale or consignment piece here and there is fine, but in general, he would like it to have a look which will work as a staging effect for resale. IKEA is an obvious option to look at. I went there the other day, and some of it is quite nice looking, but a lot of it just looks really cheap to me. I wonder if it will hold up for a couple of years. Then there is the issue of having to assemble it all.</p>
<p>IKEA apparently offers referrals to companies who are well versed in assembling IKEA furniture. Has anyone ever availed themselves of this service? Does the cost defeat the purpose of paying less for furniture if one is just going to have to fork over more money for assembly? There is no way I am going to be able to put all of this together, even with D2’s help. DH will be out of the country the entire time we are looking at moving D2 in. </p>
<p>I’m wondering if it would just make more sense to go to Rooms To Go (a chain which specializes in affordable furniture sold in groups to make it more cost effective) and just be done with it.</p>
<p>We bought a sofa and chair set from Rooms to Go and it was very poor quality–the fabric started pilling before we’d had it a month. They also advertise one price, then try to get you to pay for extras like a stain-resistant finish. I won’t shop there again.</p>
<p>I’ve bought plenty of things from Ikea. Most have held up pretty well. If I were going to put together several items now, I’d invest in a better tool to replace those little allen wrenches they provide.</p>
<p>I have never paid for assembly, so I can’t speak to the cost differential there, but I will say I’ve bought ikea desks, couches, and chairs and they still look like new 5 years later. If you buy the wooden furniture you do have to handle with care as it’s pine, it should stand up to normal use but you won’t get away with abusing it. We put a faint scratch in our dresser moving a 40inch tv onto it without being careful enough, but it’s nothing anyone but me would notice. I don’t know anything about Rooms To Go to be able to compare.</p>
<p>I have stuff from IKEA in my house that has lasted many years - bookshelves, computer tables, casual chairs. They are no fun to assemble and won’t take a lot of abuse - but should do for a starter apartment.</p>
<p>The ikea items on craigslist are used, not new. But they are assembled, which can be a bonus.</p>
<p>I won’t shop at Rooms to Go either. They are NOT all that affordable for what they sell. </p>
<p>Are there any furniture consignment or resale shops near where your daughter will be living? Also, as the school year ends, many college students are getting rid of things from apartments and houses as they move on. Both of my kids bought and sold at this time with great results. </p>
<p>D’s first post college apartment was furnished with Ikea bedroom furniture and also big tv stand. Still looks new. When I saw that for $59, they delivered, I couldn’t whip that credit card out fast enough. (D lived on 3rd floor–no elevator). With two, did not take long to assemble 5 pieces. That being said, her roommate’s parents couldn’t help with move in…so they paid for delivery and assembly. D said we should have done that ;)</p>
<p>Lived in an Ikea-furnished rental for five months. I <em>hated</em> the couch, incredibly uncomfortable and shoddy construction. Bookshelves and tables were fine. (I have some in my house, five years in, still fine.) </p>
<p>It’s not that hard to put IKEA pieces together- did it with D2 it when she was younger. But the instructions can be pictures (nearly always, I think,) so you have to have some idea of the basics, just to follow that. Bigger issue is the actual boxes can be very heavy- some will be tough even with two women trying to move them. We had no real complaints about quality- just have to treat the items with some respect, not slamming drawers, etc.</p>
<p>Having done this same thing at your D’s age (living in a friend’s family’s college-town house,) I just wouldn’t make this about the future staging. It’s a burden on young adults to have to worry about who does what, some scratch or spill. Even if you do IKEA, you can pretty-up the place later.</p>
<p>As for second-hand, my best luck was always when I found a store near a pricey neighborhood. Once got a brand new love seat someone gave up on day one, because the color wasn’t perfect. Still have it.</p>
<p>Used one of the recommended folks from IKEA, loved them. We were doing a bedroom set and my D would still be sleeping on the floor if we were left on our own. I do agree, some items are better than others so shop carefully.</p>
<p>I just bought a bunch of furnitature with my roommate, after we moved into together and between us had 1 chair, 1 card table, 1 mattress (my roommate didn’t even have a mattress). </p>
<p>My roommate loves IKEA, so he bought a bunch of stuff from there and I helped him assemble. </p>
<p>IKEA stuff is not hard to put together, but make sure she knows exactly what she’s getting because they cheap out on some things. For instance, the bookshelf/dresser thing, there’s no backboard, they just put it against the wall so you can’t tell without actually moving the display (and it’s a pretty big display to move). We bought a couch from IKEA, the couch that they showed in the store was much more comfortable than what we actually got. The look was the same but the feel was not. The only thing you can trust from looking at IKEA stuff in the store is that what you get will look like what you saw, but nothing else is guaranteed. </p>
<p>I didn’t like the “IKEA style” at all. I think, in large part, most of their stuff is pretty ugly. It’s all just really boring “boxy” looking furniture. I went to another furniture store to get the stuff for my room. It was a bit more expensive but not much (I paid more for a nice chair but it was better than any chair IKEA had - Desk, Bed, and Mattress were all priced at maybe the higher end of what you’d find at IKEA). Certainly the “IKEA style” isn’t for everybody, it’s a very specific style.</p>
<p>Just moving a leather ikea love seat back from Ds college town, where its been living in her BFs condo.
Aside from needing to restaple a place or two, its in great shape since we inherited it from my mother, 8 yrs ago.
Personally I like putting together Ikea furniture, I think its relaxing.</p>
<p>My experience with IKEA: never, never, never will I buy any furniture from them again. The two desks that I bought fell apart, piece by piece. Drawers fell off and the fronts came off first. Useless. The bookcase, which I wondered how could a bookcase fall apart, came off in pieces over the years too. First, the flimsy backing fell off. Then my son had to prop it up on one side (the side that leaned the most) with his old wooden blocks to keep it from keeling over. I thought maybe my luck was because I had purchased moving parts (the drawers), but I hadn’t noticed when the bookcase became so unsteady.</p>
<p>Haha, EK- I get a rush out of being handy. But dang, those boxes are so heavy. For a small kitchen table, I could move it onto the store trolley, but had to get the dock guy to load it into the car. Btw, we did get a backer board with the dresser. But some open-look pieces may be different. </p>
<p>Why can’t D2 assemble the furniture herself, or with a friend’s help? </p>
<p>Our D’s home bedrooms are pretty much IKEA showrooms. Their bookshelves are all in great shape. D1 is easier on stuff; her dresser is fine, while one of harder-on-things-D2’s dresser drawers won’t close properly. Added a low-rise boxspring to D2’s bed (not enough support for the mattress without it). And D2’s desk is falling apart. We the adults have a couple of IKEA second-hand bookshelves which still look fine.</p>
<p>Ikea quality does vary. We have had both cheap desks that don’t last and another desk that was more expensive but has lasted for over 15 years.
Some pieces are hard to put together. The thing about doing multiple pieces is that it gets easier with each piece as you get the hang of it.</p>
<p>When our D moved into an unfurnished bedroom in an apartment, Ikea was my first thought. After looking on-line a bit, I ended up ordering her a captains style bed, mattress, desk, chair, and dresser from Wal-Mart. I never shop at Wal-Mart but was surprised at the good quality of the furniture when I visited my D. They have a much larger selection of furniture on-line than in the store.It ended up being less than Ikea would have been with shipping and the furniture was of a better quality. She did end up having to assemble it herself, but even with her total lack of carpentry skills, was able to do so by herself with no problems. When she graduated, she was able to sell the whole lot for very close to what we had paid for it. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>The furniture isn’t hard to put together as long as you have spatial skills. Directions don’t use words so really just depends on you. </p></li>
<li><p>keep a zip-loc bag with directions, tools, and extra parts per piece of furniture. </p></li>
<li><p>As far as durability, this just depends on the user. If you treat it properly, it’ll be fine. Some of their stuff is cheaper but it’s generally easy to spot the ones that should be avoided. </p></li>
</ul>