Tuesday, March 13, 2007
All hail Ikea!
Ever since I've moved to Japan, I never had any good furniture. When I was in Osaka for 2.5 years, I remember watching tv while sitting on my futon or on the floor. Eating dinner meant sitting on the floor yet again and eating on the kotatsu (short table with a heating unit built-in). Once I moved to Tokyo, I inherited furniture and tons of other essential equipment from a good friend of mine (Mark, I'm forever in your debt!), but still, something was missing in my home. Even though I now possess a sofa, it's too soft for my taste and doesn't feel as comfortable as I would like.
Well, with the revelation that is Ikea, I now have a home that I can't wait to go back to. I won't go through too much detail for fear that this would turn into an advertisement for the franchise, but I will say this much: furnishing your home is not only affordable, it's damn cool!
The sofa that has forced me to sit on the floor to watch tv? No problem! I bought a cheap 2900 yen chair that is surprisingly extremely comfortable to lounge in. As I type this post now, my laptop is resting comfortable on my lap while I'm drinking tea and leaning back in a relaxed position. My feet resting on the aforementioned kotatsu makes the experience complete along with the tv facing me at just the right angle. I do require a tv stand however, since the tv's sitting on the floor, but I'll acquire that soon enough.
Now, at the risk of sounding like an Ikea Ad, I will say that the Ikea store itself is fantastic. There's a huge cafe/cafeteria inside that serves Swedish meatballs, slices of raw salmon, various kinds of pasta and soup, pies, and the best part, free refills on coffee and other drinks!
Food aside, the best part of the store is how they have various rooms setup with Ikea furniture that show how space can be maximized with the proper furnishings. I never would have realized that a 27 sq. meter room with lots of stuff inside could still feel like there's more than enough room through the use of useful furniture.
Buying the furniture is pretty simple enough, though assembling the furniture does require a bit of elbow grease. For a service charge, you could have the staff in Ikea put the furniture together for you, cost is about 1000 yen I think. But, you'd be better off building the furniture yourself at home since you could save at least 10 bucks. Plus, there's a sense of satisfaction in assembling a chair and then sitting on the work you've done.
Well, with the revelation that is Ikea, I now have a home that I can't wait to go back to. I won't go through too much detail for fear that this would turn into an advertisement for the franchise, but I will say this much: furnishing your home is not only affordable, it's damn cool!
The sofa that has forced me to sit on the floor to watch tv? No problem! I bought a cheap 2900 yen chair that is surprisingly extremely comfortable to lounge in. As I type this post now, my laptop is resting comfortable on my lap while I'm drinking tea and leaning back in a relaxed position. My feet resting on the aforementioned kotatsu makes the experience complete along with the tv facing me at just the right angle. I do require a tv stand however, since the tv's sitting on the floor, but I'll acquire that soon enough.
Now, at the risk of sounding like an Ikea Ad, I will say that the Ikea store itself is fantastic. There's a huge cafe/cafeteria inside that serves Swedish meatballs, slices of raw salmon, various kinds of pasta and soup, pies, and the best part, free refills on coffee and other drinks!
Food aside, the best part of the store is how they have various rooms setup with Ikea furniture that show how space can be maximized with the proper furnishings. I never would have realized that a 27 sq. meter room with lots of stuff inside could still feel like there's more than enough room through the use of useful furniture.
Buying the furniture is pretty simple enough, though assembling the furniture does require a bit of elbow grease. For a service charge, you could have the staff in Ikea put the furniture together for you, cost is about 1000 yen I think. But, you'd be better off building the furniture yourself at home since you could save at least 10 bucks. Plus, there's a sense of satisfaction in assembling a chair and then sitting on the work you've done.
