Thinking of going over to IKEA - any tips?

edengarden

Just bought first house and am trying to furnish it on a tight budget. Would it be worth my while to go over to IKEA?

I'd be going over from Dublin would the Cardiff store be the handiest? Also for a Jeep and trailer anyone have any idea of ferry cost?

would love to hear if anyone has done this and what is the quality of furniture like?

Alun

Where are you taking the ferry from/to? If it's Dublin/Dun Laoghaire - Holyhead, then Warrington would be the most convenient to get to - motorway or motorway quality A roads virtually all the way. If it's Rosslare - Fishguard then Cardiff would be the most convenient.

edengarden

Well i'm from the midlands so to go from Dublin would be handier.

Alun

edengarden wrote:

Well i'm from the midlands so to go from Dublin would be handier.

Well, Warrington it is then!

Gandhi

I have found the quality quite decent. It's not stuff that's going to last forever, but I would say it is great value for what you pay. The most recent thing we got was a bench for the front garden, and it is solid as a rock. I have also bought mattresses, wardrobes, armchairs, couches that have lasted pretty well.

My wife has had a lot of trouble with Ikea lamps in the past, so we tend to stay away from anything electrical.

The flat-packs they use are great. You could fit a load of stuff into a jeep + trailer. Ikeas can get really crowded, especially at the weekends, so I would have part numbers and descriptions of any stuff you like from the web page ready to go when you walk in there, and maybe even phone ahead and make sure they have the stuff you want in stock.

Apip99

Take as big as possible truck or trailer. Trust me once you there you end up buying more than you thought you would.

I used to live in the UK, and Ikea is a great idea. But watch out for any sales days. Its murder. We went one sale day and the queue was round the corner, an hour after it opened. It was like a fun fair ride. With out the ride bit, and candy floss,,,... You get the picture

Quality is better than you would find at woodies etc. And some of the furniture looks very classy.

Best of Luck with your trip. Oh and stick to the yellow line..........

edengarden

Great thanks guys for the help!

Tazz T

I know someone said that the lamps weren't great quality but we've bought loads of them for kitting out apartments in Dublin and haven't had any problems. Lighting is where you'll find the biggest savings IMO.

Be warned that there are organised gangs working the car park. While in the store our van was broken into and over a grand sterling worth of stuff nicked. The security were very little help. Park as near as possible to the store preferably with the boot facing the restaurant.

charlesanto

Look into flying over...
This way you can go over & back the same day, mid-week so less busy, pick put the stuff you want and they'll organise delivery for you - guessing but £100 for a pallet. That's how friends of mine did it recently and they said that it was way cheaper than buying here and the quality is better !

Tazz T

Don't know how long you can wait but the Belfast Ikea is supposed to open by Xmas.

smashey

Have a look at Ikea in Glasgow. They organise your shipment for you and it is reasonably priced and quick.

viking

smashey wrote:

Have a look at Ikea in Glasgow. They organise your shipment for you and it is reasonably priced and quick.

It used to be reasonably priced @ £190 a pallet, now I believe it is £190 a trolley...

Idleater

Just a tip from some trips I made to ikea...

You should take a good look at the catalogue and write down the items that you want to investigate further. Like it has already been said, the quality on some items is not up to much wear and tear but for the price.....

If you are looking for tables, chairs, sideboards, shelves, etc (anything big) measure your room and see if the things fit. I had to discount several units for being inappropriate sizes and was glad to find that out before rather than buying and saying "yeah looks like it will fit all right".

The kitchen stuff is good too. Got several steel racks/shelves that are very handy. Curtains too...

The layout of the stores too are linear, as in you start at the entrance and are led through all the sections. it is not like B&Q where you can go up and down isles. You will have to fight against the traffic if you want to go back and get the item you said you would "consider".

Anyway, enjoy it,

L.

ScottishDanny

There are also stores at Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh. I know that they call Wednesdays in the Glasgow store "Paddy's Day" because so many Irish come over on cheap midweek Ryanair flights You could make a daytrip flight over and bring empty bags with you and order the bigger stuff for home delivery.

Hagar

Extract from my forthcoming new book "Hagar's Handy Hints for IKEA buyers".

Handy Hint No 452: Check your measurements.
Take all measurements very carefully, write them down, then measure them all again and check against what you have written down. Use only metric measurements. Measure all appliances, twice.

Handy Hint No 453: Read the Catalogue.
Just because you need two doors doesn't mean that there are two doors in the box you just ordered.

Handy Hint No 454: Read the Catalogue again, properly this time. There might actually be two doors in the box you just ordered, you don't want to buy four by accident do you? Remember it's too far to go back if you mess up at this stage.

Handy Hint No 455: Read the assembly instructions.

Handy Hint No 456: Read the assembly instructions again, properly this time.

Handy Hint No 457: Keep the first aid box handy.

Handy Hint No 458: Buy a magnet tray in the motor factors.
Count all the little metal fittings first to make sure all are present the keep them in the magnet tray to make sure they don't roll away. There is nothing quite like kneeling on screw to test your vocabulary.

Handy Hint No 459: Buy an extra box of panel pins in the hardware shop.
There are never enough pins supplied to do the job correctly.
Try and get ones with a slightly larger head if you can.

Handy Hint No 460: Keep some small pieces of paper handy.
Stick the panel pin through the paper and use it as a handle to hold the pin in position while you hit it with the hammer. Especially useful if you ignored Handy Hint No 457.

Handy Hint No 461: Use the smallest hammer you have.
This hint is especially useful if you ignored Handy Hints Nos 460 and 457.
Use a scrap piece of timber where necessary to protect the proper wood whilst hammering.

Handy Hint No 462: Put an old bath towel or blanket on the floor.
A lot of the time you will have the furniture "face down" during assembly, this will stop marking / scratching the surface.

Handy Hint No 463: "Dry fit" the flat pack furniture first to make sure you have understood the instructions ( see Handy Hint No 456 )
Buy and use a good quality wood glue, Evo-Stick Resin W or something like that, on all joints and in all dowel holes. Don't hammer dowels in too far. Glue even where IKEA say you don't need it, because you do need it. You want this furniture to last don't you?

Handy Hint No 464: Think ahead.
For instance don't put the doors on kitchen cabinets prior to putting them in place. Don't forget to cut holes where needed for pipes, wires etc

If you do have any trouble and get stuck give me a call on 1850 60 90 90.

mags16

Regarding getting to ikea, Irish ferries are offering a 99 euro day return to Holyhead for a car and up to 4 adults. The only problem is that they don't have any evening sailings back to Dublin anymore. So, we're thinking of going over on a ferry at noon and returning on a 2.50am ferry the next morning. Warrington is about 2 hours from holyhead. (Look up aa routefinder for directions.) We'll arrive at ikea at about 4, shop til we drop ( they close at midnight on weekdays) and then travel back to Holyhead at our leisure to catch the 0250 ferry. We'll be knackered but there is no other way of using this deal without incurring the cost of an overnight stay.

FrankGrimes

tatd only give you a few hours in ikea. trust me, if your buying more than a few items, thats not near enough time.

RebelButtMunch

Make sure you buy everything you want with one swipe of the card, if you use your credit card too often in quick succession abroad its likely to set alarms off somewhere and the transactions will be declined.

Gandhi

You can always phone up your credit card companies beforehand and tell them that you will be using the card outside the country. I always do this before I go traveling. There is usually a customer service number printed right on the card.

Having said that, my cousin phoned up his company and still had problems when he was shopping in New York.

Don't forget to try the Swedish meatballs and Swedish chocky bars in the restaurant. Best part of any trip to Ikea for my money!

mags16

I definitely agree about the meatballs. They're fab. And the restaurant coffee is great value - as many refills as you like for the price of 1 cup. You can buy their ground coffee in the food section. Its really cheap but I bet not ethically sourced. Anyway I'm off to warrington next wed.

tap28

Anyone had any experience with buying and bringing back a kitchen?
Are they good quality?
Are they straightforward to assemble?