Right – I am fairly snobish about furniture and refuse to buy cheap nasty DFS sofas or beds from Ikea.

Today I’ve had some new home office furniture delivered from John Lewis. Not only did they turn up on time, they called me Sir, and took their shoes off without being asked before carrying the stuff into my home office.

I love good service.

Yeah, they do that to distract you from the fact that you just bought the same crap they sell at ikea for three times the price 😉

Yeah, they do that to distract you from the fact that you just bought the same crap they sell at ikea for three times the price, Sir.

FTFY.

Nowt wrong with ikea..

Just got myself a lovely Leather chair from there..

took their shoes off without being asked

I’m surprised, most people doign manual handling have to wear steel toecaps and are given medical type elasticated paper overshoes to wear when in peoples houses.

MSP – even if that were true (and it ain’t) I wouldn’t mind as it keeps me away from the foul odoured plebs that hang around Ikea at the weekends buying nasty tat for their nasty houses.

John Lewis is a much nicer shopping experience.

However, the furniture delivered today is made of wood – real wood. Not that crappy cardboardy nonsense that most of Ikeas offerings are made of.

I’m proud that I have no Ikea furniture in my house anywhere. It just looks – well – cheap….

“they called me Sir,”

I’d prefer to save 2/3 the cost and have them call me ‘mate’ seeing as though the product is pretty much the same.

“John Lewis is a much nicer shopping experience”

I disagree I think its full of middle class snobs either going ‘look at me, look at me I’m rich’ or other people having that over whelming sense of now joining the ‘elite club’

I have only bought one bed and that was 13 years ago.

Delivery was awesome; I picked it up from Argos myself

John Lewis stuff is nice though, and if one can afford it. Go nuts.

Elzorillo – whilst I’m sure you are happy with your chair I’m sure a nice JL one would be better.

Ikea stuff doesn’t feel nice, it doesn’t smell nice, it doesn’t have that lovely aesthetic appeal that decent furniture does (but then people that shop in Ikea aren’t generally aesthetically pleasing either).

I think Ikea is Andy Warhol furniture – it’s good, but it soon ages and goes out of style.

Well made furniture can last a lifetime.

Yeah, they do that to distract you from the fact that you just bought the same crap they sell at ikea for three times the price

No, you’re thinking of Habitat (now gone thankfully!)

If you bought cheap furniture you could kick out the lodger. I wouldnt have one of them in my house

it doesn’t smell nice,

Heh.

Delivery was awesome; I picked it up from Argos myself

I didn’t even know Argos sold furniture. I’m shuddering at the thought of what their stuff is like…..

I don’t see my JL stuff as expensive – it’s an investment. I expect the furniture to last a long time and still look good. Ikea and (shudders) Argos I’d expect to be a short term fix – kind of a two year cycle of watching it go tatty and fall apart (which probably ties in with the 2 year, interest free, buy now pay nothing till december offers the rubbish is sold with).

Look – it’s a question of style and taste, and we can’t all have both of those.

Dancake – the lodger has gone. He was only ever a temporary measure.

And I’ve fumigated his room to remove any smell of halitosis.

Good troll this. DrRSwank’s online persona is a bit overdone though: no-one could be such a big tool in real life, surely?

no-one could be such a big tool in real life

someone real chose the username ‘DrRSwank’ 😯

Well made furniture can last a lifetime.

Yes, I agree. My chairs are still looking very nice indeed.

somone’s nicked your skirting board!

DrRSwank’s online persona is a bit overdone though: no-one could be such a big tool in real life, surely?

Typical of an arriviste who has to buy his own furniture.

JL stuff is IMO pretty naff & bland for those without much original taste.

I thought most people on here were chimeras – 40% troll, 40% IT worker, 5% idiot, 5% biker?

🙂

JL stuff is IMO pretty naff & bland for those without much original taste.

Al, don’t confuse bland with timeless.

I appreciate that some of the lower classes prefer statement furniture – so owning a lime green rocking chair with revolving neon lights in the arms may be appealling.

I prefer a more subdued and classic look – and it’s difficult to get such a look from catalogue furniture made from plastic and chrome.

DrRSwank – Member
Al, don’t confuse bland with timeless.

I don’t think I am, but no doubt you’re about to tell me that I am, because you are better than me 🙄

LJ stuff is IMO/E bland, like M&S, lacking in (i) detail and clean lines of design classics (ii) any originality that might make up for (i).

But most of my stuff is Habitat, does that make me lower class?

Wish I could say the same for my JL furniture experience. We spent a fortune (relatively) on a new sofa some years ago with JL vouchers from our wedding and I was looking forward to the big green furniture van pulling up in our road etc but not on your nelly. They sent the thing with some subcontractors (man in crap white van) who were unwilling to carry the thing into the house or help in any way remove legs etc to get it through the door. As I recall me and the neighbour actually carried it from the alley way into the house.
This was about 6 years ago and the sofa has collapsed which actually happened about 3 years ago.

But most of my stuff is Habitat, does that make me lower class?

tbh, anyone who didn’t inherit all their furniture along with a building of sufficient grandeur to house it is lower class.

Clearly this includes the somewhat plebian Drwank who doesn’t even have a man to send out and buy furniture for him.

I think Ikea is Andy Warhol furniture – it’s good, but it soon ages and goes out of style.

In production by Ikea for 35 years, based on a 1938 design……

I detest Ikea, but wife is a big fan, worst shopping experience of my life was being dragged through the Croyden Ikea with a thumping hangover and two screaming kids, there didn’t seem to be any way out other than following the shuffling hoards through it.

JL is like VW, they sell standard crap, but at overinflated prices to social climbers who can’t differentiate between price and quality.

Not a fan of Pikea myself either. The stuff we bought just fell apart after a year or so. Likewise Argos, Homebase, DFS etc. Cardboard tat. We moved over to JL, worth the extra.

PeterPoddy – Member
In production by Ikea for 35 years, based on a 1938 design……

…by someone else?

Haha poddy my parents have those chairs in front of the fire in the dining room

Very un comfortable !

Alan Clark’s view on furniture buying is pure class.

‘While he dismissed Michael Heseltine as the kind of person “who bought his own furniture”. ‘

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/441028.stm

I dont understand why you dont get it made, there are loads of furniture makes out there that will make what you want at the size you want using proper methods (not held with a million staples and some super glue). most high street retailers are importing tonnes of chinese stuff (funny how delivey schedules tie into the shipping time from china to UK!). and in my experience its not very good. I talk to my local guy and i know its construction will last years and if it needs repair/ re-upholstery its do-able (ask JL if they can do this!). still each to there own…

If you dont have bespoke artisan furniture, you dont deserve to exist IMO.*

*Some, or all, of the above statement may be utter rubbish

But most of my stuff is Habitat, does that make me lower class?

Habitat it s difficult one Al. Some of the PROPER Conran designed stuff is very good. I have some habitat furniture for instance.

But for the most it’s just tat resting on Conrans name as a designer. They do (did) at least used to make solid furniture – but for me it was often too far imbalanced on form v function.

As for whether you’re lower class or not – if you have to ask……

In production by Ikea for 35 years, based on a 1938 design……

So not an Ikea design then?

Ikea really is the closest thing to hell we have on Earth at the moment. Hideous places filled with awfully made and awful looking tat that just sells becuase the prollies have been brainwashed into thinking something called Gzyjqdit is fashionable.

I loathe the places. They’re always full of the hopeful poor trundling around in their nasty leisure wear buying huge boxes of flat pack crap that they’ll barely manage to shoehorn into their nasty Rovers.

It really is a truly unpleasant shopping experience.

I have a fair lot of Ikea furniture, mainly because my current wife (and my ex-wife) seem to like the style of it. Yes, it’s cheap (ish) (although we get screwed for pricing in the UK compared to the continent) and it’s moderately well made, but it is just not up to the same sort of standard as some that I have seen in other places, JL included.

That said, JL can be a bit up it’s own arrse.

I dont understand why you dont get it made

I do 🙂

I have some lovely bespoke pieces in the house. It’s just that sometimes there are also lovely things available in shops. It’s nice to use someone elses creative genius to design things occassionally 😉

Posts like this make me thankful that the furniture came with my caravan.