Tag: #Ikea

  • Sharing Photos with the Kid

    There has been a project that I have been meaning to get started on, which is getting photographs framed, and up on the walls. I have been squirreling away picture frames for some time, because when we go to IKEA, I pick up one or two. (Yes, I have a very unhealthy obsession with IKEA.) With it being Spring Break this week for the kid, I thought this might be fun for us to do together. We went out to our storage space, and grabbed the boxes for pictures and frames, and settled in on this project last night.

    When I started pulling out the pictures from the box, all still in that folder envelope that your pictures would come in after they were developed, the kid wanted to know why they were like that. (She has only lived in a digital world, and will never know that you used to have to wait for your pictures, and even then, you weren’t sure that they would turn out.) The pictures that I had were from Fall of 1995 to Summer of 2006, as after 2006, I used a digital camera, and never when back to film.

    And as I shared these pictures of my early and late 20’s life with my daughter, she had a perplexed look on her face. I remember feeling confused when my parents would show me pictures of their life at Southern Illinois University, or back in their high school days in Kankakee. Little six-year-old me was confused because it was hard for me to fathom my parents had a life before me and my brothers. My parents were fun, but serious, responsible people who ate their vegetables, paid their bills, and went to bed on time. Who were these people with beers in their hands, smoking, captured mid-laugh in photographs? Who were these people?

    The kid looked at the photos of me, with long hair, circle glasses, beer in hand, smoking, and wondered what I wondered when I was her age; who is this guy? Who are these people with Dad? What are they doing? Why is that guy hugging a tree?

  • Algot Saga; Conclusion

    Our struggles with our living room wall, and the Algot modular storage system came to a conclusion this Sunday. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it was a resounding success, but we got the shelves up on the wall.

    As some of you may know, IKEA discontinued the Algot line of products, just at the moment that the wife and I needed it most. Also, for those of you in the Tri-State area, we are the people that bought up all the remaining Algot products from the Paramus, Elizabeth, Brooklyn, Long Island and New Haven Ikeas. (Are we committed and loyal to this product? Yes. Does it border on the illogical and obsessive? Also, yes.) With the supplies assembled, we were ready to finish out project.

    It was not anything special, but we took our hodge-podge of rails, brackets and shelves, and screwed them into the wall, and hung up all the Algots. Some the anchors didn’t sink into the drywall correctly, and I swear there is no rhyme or reason on the placement of studs in the wall, which just reminded us that the “renovated apartment” we moved into was constructed by incompetent workers. It took three and a half months, but we can cross this one off the list.

    In the end, I still don’t understand why Ikea canceled the Algot system. Nor do I understand why they didn’t make an Algot compatible with some new system. Either way, I do have to say Ikea needs to do a better job of at least putting the information out there when a product line is discontented.

  • The Algot Saga Continues

    To recap what is going on in my life; our daughter will be doing remote learning, and as such, we have made a corner in the living room to be her “school” area. We were planning on using the Algot series of shelves to complete this area, as that was what we had been using in our living room.

    But no, Ikea thought it best to stop making these shelves and not tell anyone.

    In the NYC area, we bought up what we could and have been trying to make something usable out of it. What we are left with is a mix match/mish-mash of braces, brackets and shelves that just can’t work together to give us a desk for the kid, storage for school supplies, and a place for books. We have been trying for months now, and nothing works.

    We gave up, and bought a wood wall mounted flip down desk, which looks awesome and the kid loves. We are hanging art in the corner, with the hopes that one day we will come up with something to do there.

    But we have all of this Algot stuff. There is nothing wrong with it, and could work in another space, if we ever get another space. It’s just here, mocking us in our futility to add pieces to make something else.

    Modular solution, my ass.

  • More Ikea Shopping

    We are gearing up for the school year, which for us means that our daughter will be learning from home, and using virtual lessons. We are trying to make the most of it, and the kid seems to be excited about going “back to school.” One of the things we need to do is to create for her a dedicated school/learning space.

    That means IKEA!

    We do have a bit of an Ikea obsession in our house. As some of you know from a previous post, Ikea stopped making Algot, which has still left a bad taste in our mouth when it comes to the company.

    But not so bad that we have given up on Ikea.

    As I flip through the catalogue, and scroll through their website, I remember that line from Fight Club, which asks us “What kind of dining set defines me as a person?” I don’t believe that I have become a creature of consumerism, as I think that part of the book/movie was making the point that if we feel a void of purpose or meaning, that our society tells us to fill it with shopping to create the appearance of completeness; of stability. I just want to be able to have a desk for my kid that can contain all of her school stuff, and fold up.

    Can I have that without selling my soul?

  • They Stopped Making Algot

    Another strange coronavirus effect affected us this weekend, and I am quite surprised by it.

    You see, as we have moved to working at home all the time now, and being that our incomes have been cut in half by me being laid off, we have undertaken a project of updating our living room, to make a learning space for our daughter, and updating the home office. To complete this project, we were using items from the Algot system from Ikea. We had used Algot years ago for our living room to create book shelves, and a standing desk. Now, we wanted to repurpose those shelves, while leaving the original brackets in the wall. We had been planning this transition for two months, ordered the supplies from Ikea, and were ready to execute this weekend.

    On Saturday, when we went to switch out the shelves in the living room, to install them in the office, the brackets in the living room gave way, and became loose from the wall, to the point that we no longer felt safe that the shelves could hold any weight. With a quick look online, we found what could solve this problem which was a support rail, but oddly there were only three rails left in all of the Tri-State area. We quickly got in the car and raced to the local Ikea to get the rails, only to learn two details; one, they were sold out, and two is that Ikea had discontinued the Algot system.

    I cannot put into words how absolutely disappointed we felt. Our entire plan had gone to shit, and if we wanted to continue, we would have to use a new shelving system because nothing at Ikea was compatible with Algot. It was like every setback we had ever experienced in our entire life was wrapped up in this one situation, and we just felt like giving up on life. Sunday was a full-on mope festival of just not caring about anything.

    And at the same time, I can fully admit that out reaction to this is, also, fully stupid.

    The wife and I have had real tragedy and real setbacks in our life together. We know what honest disappointment is, and logically, this isn’t one of them.

    But why were we feeling this way?

    It was because we wanted to have control of just one little thing in our life, right now. Just one tiny thing, like, putting shelves together, and making a learning station for the kid, and making the office functional. To conceive a plan, execute it, and check it off the list, all the while, enjoying that feeling of accomplishment by completing a task.

    Because in the coronavirus world, we have nothing; no control, no ability to change out comes, no way to steer the ship in a direction we want. It’s not irrational to have the reaction that we did. I know full well that in the next day, we will come up with some idea that will accomplish the goals we want for the apartment. But, I was just so taken aback by the feeling of disappointment, in losing the last shred of control in my life that I thought I had.

    (Say, don’t forget to like this post, or share it, or leave a comment. I got bills to pay, you know.)