Reasonable amount for furniture?

Amarante

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 12:03 pm

I don't know how to quote from multiple quotes but on the issue of book shelves, you can place shelves on a wall with brackets. It's inexpensive and sturdy.

Even if you feel that doing it yourself is beyond your DIY capability, you can hire a handy man to put up a lot of shelves and it would not be expensive because it's a very easy and quick thing to do. You just need to find the studs in the wall and use a level tool. But the wood shelves and the actual brackets are very inexpensive.

These are cheaper than even the least expensive IKEA bookcases - they aren't cases of course but they still hold books and whatever else one puts on a shelf.

As a child, there was no IKEA so I had those kinds of book shelves in my room for a number of years until my parents had money to enable me to "decorate" my room.

seeker

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 1:06 pm

Strange, I have the wide Billy for about 6 years now full of a heavy, full-size set of Gemara and Shulchan Aruch, as well as other books wherever there was still room left, and there is no sagging. My older Pax shelves are sagging, though, even without books. I rearranged them to have less space between shelves (hence limiting their loads) and moved the heavier items to the sides rather than the middle to try to reduce the load on the middle of the shelves. The sagging has not worsened since I made those changes. But my fully loaded down Billy still looks absolutely perfect. I love the Billy series. The quality of Ikea products vary widely but this one is a keeper.

amother

Indigo

Wed, Oct 18 2017, 2:59 pm

Thank you so much everyone for all of your thoughts and ideas!

I think I will get new tubs for the Trofast I already have, but a Kallax for additional storage after that - it does look much more versatile!

I was nervous about the Malm dressers because of stability, and then I bumped into this fantastic study: http://www.kidsindanger.org/do.....l.pdf - It has tests done on a whole bunch of dressers to see which ones are the most tip-resistant!

Based on that I decided it's better to get slightly more expensive ones from Walmart than to get the Malm from Ikea. I don't think the quality is better, but the design is more stable. (I chose the Sauder Shoal Creek 4-drawer chest for $132 and the Sauder Pogo 3-drawer chest for $153).

I thought long and hard about the shelf/bracket idea instead of bookshelves, but I think it won't end up THAT much cheaper after the cost of wood planks, will fit less books, and look worse.

I found a lightweight shelving unit (Ikea Hyllis for $15) that should fit in the closet that will be much cheaper than the Algot series, and I think it will work okay for what I need.

The kids spend a lot of time at their desks, so it's important to me to get proper desks for them. I couldn't find anything better than the Micke.

Cost breakdown (for those interested!):

IKEA
- Trofast tubs $28
- 5 Micke desks $250
- Kallax $65, boxes $10
- Svarta bunk bed frame $170
- Hyllis shelf unit $15, boxes $16
- Billy bookcases $883 (7 full, 5 half, 2 corner hardware) - I may need less
- Stenstorp kitchen cart $150
- 3 Raskog carts (1 for kitchen, 1 for arts & crafts, 1 book trolley) $75
- Linnmon/Adils table and Snille chair for library $45 (maybe)
- Misc items (knife rack, shoe hangers, rail for kids artwork, tools, changing pad, magazine file) $90
Shipping: $350 (ouch)
= Total $2144

AMAZON
- Oil-filled radiator $67
- 3 mattresses $150
- Broom holder $14
- Pantry door storage $35
- Wood glue $6
- Kids' picnic table for arts & crafts $54
- Queen size bed frame for guest bed $70
- Tax $30
= Total $425

WALMART
- 4 Shoal Creek chests $530
- Pogo chest $154
- Tramontina 12 piece tri-ply set $300
- 6 qt stockpot with drainer $32
- Computer armoire $126
- Sterilite cabinet $78
- 2 smaller Sterilite cabinets $88
- Sterilite wide drawer cart $14
- 2 closet rod doublers (so kids can reach) $16
- 2 mesh shelf bins (for produce) $25
- Tax $109
= Total $1471

HOUZZ
- Rug $110
- Tax $11
= Total $121

LOWES
- GE oven $500
- GE fridge $500
- plus tax, minus discount
= Total $1000

= For now $5161 with tax and shipping

I hope I can actually do it soon!

amother

Burgundy

Wed, Nov 01 2017, 11:42 pm

amother wrote:

I know... I actually saw on Monday. Been pretty bummed this week because although I am ready to borrow money, I don't have who to borrow from now. Crying

I'm not sure what was better, just living in chaos and thinking there was no way out, or being now THIS close to getting to a state of normal but not being able to get there?

Nu nu. Thank you so much for thinking of me.

I see white Billy Bookcase is now only $59

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/cata.....63850

I don't know if this is a possibility or not, but can you perhaps afford to get partial ikea most needed list - just totaling $250's worth of items from them to avoid any shipping fees on it and can start organizing your things - maybe even just starting a little bit will help you feel better?

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, Nov 02 2017, 8:37 am

Here are my 2 cents, as an avid IKEA user:

1. The Malm dressers are great, especially because you want drawers that slide easily. Malm excels in that aspect, and I'd be very surprised if Walmart was better. As far as the instability: this is a problem that *all* dressers have, and even though some may be better than others when unanchored, you never want to use them unanchored. You need to anchor any dresser to the wall. That is true also of bookcases. There are no safety issues that I know with anchored dressers and bookcases.

2. Billy bookcases have a one day sale next week, but otherwise, they're $79 for the standard 6-shelf 31 inch bookcase. If you have the wall space to spare, get 4-6 of those, and you'll have room for tons of books. (I happened to get the extension for a 7th shelf for my IKEA bookcases; it is not particularly cost-effective, but we needed to do that because of space constraints in the two places before this that we lived in.) I myself don't find that the corner bookcases add that much; but it all depends on your configuration.

The brown-black Billy bookcases look really good, not at all cheap. I cannot say the same about the white or natural/oak finishes. I would recommend against the white.

3. I find the cheap (around $100 each for a twin) innerspring mattresses at IKEA to serve well for quite a few years (7-10). I would recommend those.

If you need to pass up free delivery, that's what you have to do. I'm sorry because it looks like a good deal. But in many areas you can get IKEA delivery for $100, so hopefully this will be doable.

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, Nov 02 2017, 8:51 am

Also:
You can get a set of Farberware classic pots for $106 on Amazon. I'm still using my mother's set from the 1980s and it's in great shape. (However, they now have non-stick coatings on the skillets, and realistically, those will not work as well as the stainless steel skillets that I have.)

I would save the money on the pots and put the extra couple of hundred into a higher-end fridge. I don't go for fancy refrigerators, but I've lived in a lot of places, and I can tell you that life with a side-by-side is so much easier than life with a top-freezer refrigerator. You cannot compare. (I am not advising splurging on a French-door bottom-freezer refrigerator, which I now have, thanks to my house's previous owners; it is no more convenient and freezes less well than a side-by-side, IMO.)

Whatever appliances you get, don't go for something rated lower than 4.5 stars. Do you live near where Towne appliances delivers? They give advice as well as good prices.