The new Ikea catalogue came the other day.
Time was when I would spend hours poring over its pages, marveling at all the great ideas. And then I would figure out how I could achieve the same end with stuff I already had around the house.
I know I’ve changed in the intervening years, but it seems to me that Ikea has, as well. Didn’t they used to be about living well in small spaces? I seem to remember that they used to have some really great ideas for doing that.
Now they seem to be more about storing ever more stuff in ever more stylish containers, which, from the reading that I’ve done, is pretty much where the market is these days, certainly in North America. While we minimalists would like to think we’re part of a Big Trend, we probably need to drop our delusions along with our crap.
In terms of the versatile, multi-purpose furniture that I’m so interested in these days, they have a few sofa-beds. We even own the one in the picture. It rolls out into a bed quite easily and is really comfortable to sleep on.
But there’s not much else, which is kind of disappointing. I really wish they’d get into designing things like affordable Murphy beds. There’s one out there that serves as a dining room table when not in use for sleeping. How brilliant is that? Two activities that hardly ever take place at the same time in a single piece of furniture. It’s also really pricey. I’d like to see Ikea’s take on it.
They did come out with an all in one kitchen a few years back. It was really clever. And it didn’t sell.
We need to move to smaller digs. All of us. As part of our environmental reform, we need to reverse the trend to ever-bigger houses with ever-more stuff to store. But as long as there’s no affordable design out there to make a smaller space convenient and comfortable, not many people are going to be willing to make the move.
So I’m challenging Ikea and any designers out there to come up with one room living in a box. If you know of anyone who’s doing it, please let me know in the comments.
I understand that Walmart is selling coffins. That come apart to make bookshelves or desks or something. Then when you croak, your loved ones ‘assemble’ your coffin from the furniture. Creepy neat idea. If you’re into burial. I think I prefer cremation, but then with global warming…. Maybe just toss me on the compost. Oh, that won’t work either. Hm. What a dilemma, and how far off topic I’ve gotten. Must be the sinus medication….
I wanna try me some of that stuff!
Actually, there are ways (still in development I think) of being composted, um, tidily.
The bookshelf coffin idea is pretty cool.
If only it weren’t Walmart…
Do you follow any of the various blogs about tiny houses? Many of those, since there is sometimes not much to um, say about tiny houses, venture off into multi-use furniture and the like.
The archives of Coming Unmoored:
http://www.comingunmoored.com/
and these active blogs:
http://www.shedworking.co.uk/
http://thistinyhouse.com/
http://tinyhouseblog.com/
http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/
Wow! What a cool bunch of links! Thanks so much Kim!
I was recently at an IKEA store and they actually had something very similar to what you are talking about on one of their floors, I believe it was near all the kitchen stuff. What they had done was built a model of an 800 square foot home. It had a small kitchen, dining area, living room area, two bedrooms, and one bathroom. They had cleverly set up the house so that you could walk through it see with a little creativity this small space could be both beautiful and functional. I walked around that tiny space for a long time. I was pretty impressed.
My boyfriend and I want to buy a farm one day but he and I both agreed that we really want a small house. I like the thought of just having one big open living space with two bedrooms (we constantly have guests over) and one bath. That’s all we want and I cant wait to make that dream come true.
You’re right, Shana – they often do a good job with the store displays.
And maybe as more and more of us start to see the advantages of living in smaller places, they will do more of that.
Best of luck following your dream!