Lifehacker has 10 neat IKEA hacks. That’s right, toss the manual and start making your own cool Scandinavian-infused furniture mods. In particular, I enjoy the tutorials on making an Allen wrench drill bit and embedding scrap bowls into your counter top. I remember reading one time on the IKEA hacker blog about how you could “make” a couch by binding together a series of the same chairs with plastic ties. That was pushing the bounds a bit, but most of these are straight-up useful, especially if you’re a nerd.
furniture
Quality Van Lines Responds To Complaint
By 9.24.08
Earlier this week we posted about Cory, a man who had a bad experience with the moving company he hired to schlep his belongings from New York to North Carolina. Now Quality Van Lines has responded with their side of the story.
Knoll 'Authorized Dealer' Tries To Charge 300% Restocking Fee
By 9.22.08
Ethan emailed us to ask if we’d ever heard of a company charging a 300% restocking fee, and guess what, we hadn’t. Who does that? The authorized dealer Ethan is working with ordered the wrong parts for his Knoll Life chair, and now he’s trying to sidle his way out of treating Ethan fairly. We called Knoll and found out their real return policy, and it’s nothing like what the dealer is telling Ethan.
"The Moving Company I Hired Was Incompetent—What Do I Do Now?"
By 9.22.08
Cory and his girlfriend moved from New York to North Carolina this summer. They hired Quality Van Lines out of Clifton, NJ to handle the move, but soon regretted the choice: they overcharged him, failed to deliver on promises, and damaged not only his belongings but his car. Cory wants to know what his options are now—and we want readers to know how to avoid hiring companies like Quality Van Lines in the future.
Restoration Hardware Shifting Nearly All Of Its Furniture Production To China?
By 8.11.08
If what this alleged Restoration Hardware employee says is true, the home furnishings chain may have just sacrificed its last remaining claim to distinction—high quality, American-made furniture—in an effort to increase profits. Supposedly, shoppers will see the effect of outsourced furniture through lower prices. RH furniture was always known to be fairly good stuff, if not cheap—can we now expect cheap but not good?
You Must Hurry, These TV Stands Will Go Fast
By 7.30.08
Walmart.com doesn’t just sell phantom coolers. They also have awesome deals like this priced-to-move TV stand. We guess when you already have low low prices, there’s not much room for extra discounts. (Thanks to Adam!)
Furniture Store Deducts 20% From Refund For Furniture They Never Delivered
By 7.21.08
If a store sells you something, and then fails to deliver the product, you should be entitled to a full refund, right? Not so at Furniture Bargains of Calumet City, IL. There, even when they don’t give you the furniture you ordered at all, they’ll take 20% off your refund, at “the manager’s discretion.” Which I guess is just a fancy way of saying, “we feel like robbing you today and the manager said it’s ok.” AJ’s story, inside…
This Furniture Store Uses Creative Math
By 7.1.08
Wow, look at this nice five-piece bedroom set. Only $599! Not bad, especially when the description says it’s normally $1800. Five different pieces—that would fill a bedroom with a lot of cheap class! Now let’s put the fine print filter on it:
How Can I Convince Crate & Barrel To Finally Give Me My Furniture?
By 6.5.08
Reader Brittney is tired of waiting for Crate & Barrel to deliver her couch, but she thinks it may be her fault that she’s got nothing to sit on because she was too nice. Now she’s wondering what she should do:
UPDATE: IKEA Apologizes For Charging You A $60 Restocking Fee On A Defective Bookcase
By 5.20.08
The mighty EECB (executive email carpet bomb) has brought justice to West Chester, Ohio, says reader Drew. Drew was mistakenly charged a $60 restocking fee on a defective bookcase. He wrote to us and launched an EECB on IKEA. The results? A very nice apology letter, a full refund and a $25 gift card. Looks like it’s Swedish meatballs for dinner tonight.
IKEA Charges $60 Restocking Fee On Defective Bookcase
By 4.29.08 — Updated: 11.1.12
If IKEA has a 30% restocking fee on defective items that you tried in vain to assemble (twice) only to decide that you just didn’t want the stupid thing anymore, we couldn’t find any evidence of it on their website. Nevertheless, reader Drew says buying and returning (rather than exchanging) a defective bookcase cost him $60 and a sore back.
Why Does It Take IKEA Four Months To Replace A Defective Couch Cover?
By 4.26.08
Joyce has been waiting since December for IKEA to send her a replacement couch cover. IKEA admitted that the cover had a known defect, but since they were out replacements at the time, they promised to call Joyce a month later when new covers arrived. Joyce gave her information and asked for a reference number, but was told that one wouldn’t be necessary. Wouldn’t that have been nice?
Shopping Strategy Of Millionaires: Buy Used Or High Quality
By 4.2.08
Ordinarily I find “money tricks of millionaires” lists to be sort of annoying and unhelpful, but this one, found on the Dumb Little Man productivity blog, and based on a book called ‘The Millionaire Mind’ by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, is an exception. It offers one bit of practical advice that I think everyone should at least consider.
"We Do Not State That The Wood For This Chair Is Black"
By 1.16.08
One problem with ordering furniture online: you may not get what you saw on the website. Then, when you contact the store to explain that the light wood sitting in your living room is nothing remotely like what you ordered, you might get this response: “I would like to inform you though that we do not state that the wood for this chair is black, although the photo we do have shows that the wood is dark we do not state that it is black.”
3 Deer Attack Pittsburgh-Area Furniture Store
By 1.15.08
A group of three deer attacked a Pittsburgh-area furniture rental store, breaking windows and leaving a trail of hair and blood as they rampaged through the sales floor, says WPXI.
By 12.10.07
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Levitz Furniture will close all 76 stores. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
By 11.16.07
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Due to bankruptcy and sale to a liquidation company, tomorrow is the last day to redeem any gift cards at Bombay and Bombay Kids furniture stores. After that you will have to make a claim through bankruptcy court to get anything from the gift cards.
