Hack a quick getaway

Going to Ikea can be an adventure in itself. But what if you just need a bag of 100 tealights? How do you do a quick zip in and out? Jenny has it all figured out. Check out her Quikea tips and you may just be able to fit in a trip to Ikea this weekend.

What about you? Do you have any tips for a quick trip to Ikea? Comment away.

ikeasylvania

there are some who believe that evil lurks in ikea, pounces on you and sucks you dry. it could be the count himself.

jeremiah of central west park studios sent me a video he shot at ikea, elizabeth, new jersey - the cry of dracula.

click to view the cry of dracula.

ikea catalogue 2008 is out!

every new ikea catalogue is a bit of an event for me. i can't wait to get my hands on it, leaf through it - first a quick overview, then a slow study of new items, new ideas and creative uses. also, very importantly, to see if they've dropped the prices of old items further, which is always a good thing.

well, it is the time of the year again and i've just spent the last 2 hours flipping through the online catalogue. i'm still not done with the 370 pages!

at first glance, some of the the stuff looks seriously good. i'm eyeing the besta tv units and i am in love with the red linnarp glass cabinets you see on the cover.

i hope they look as good in person. guess i'll be checking them out at ikea this weekend.

ikea website gets a new look

logged onto ikea's us site today and hey, it's brand spanking new! at a glance it looks way better than before. the site seem easier to navigate - with product tabs at the top, replacing the old side bar.

a lot more vibrant with 8 small boxes of news below the main feature. also expanded online shopping pages.

but i've never had a problem with how the old site looked. i only hated its search function to death. so i was keen to find out if they fixed it. whaddaya know? the search function is totally removed from the site.

what is available now is a search for items by name. click on the alphabet and a long, long list of product names appear. scroll through it and click on the item you want. perhaps it does diminish the frustration of having an 'item not found' message but it takes way too much time scanning tiny type. especially since i have to look up product names and links frequently. so this is a downgrade for me. the old search function suddenly seems good. as bad as it was it still gave me results 7 out of 10 tries.

go to ikea's new website and give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

ikea summer lovin'

suddenly it's summer. especially on ikea's website. ikea's summer furniture and decor range is looking hot. and fun.

it's not an entirely new range but does have some interesting patio furniture like the deck chairs below. also, it won't be complete without ikea's staple of bright, bold beach and picnic accessories.

see more of ikea's summer furniture range.

news: ikea business launched

ikea has just launched a new online network, ikea business, offering workplace design solutions to small business owners. it's a pretty cool site where you can peek into some businesses, share your workplace, get design tips, tools and all that.

to mark the launch of the site, there are running a national contest, "Small Businesses, Big Dreams: Furnished by IKEA", which will award ikea makeovers to an entire community of businesses.

it's a video contest where small business owners will post their video entries on the website showing why their main street businesses deserve a makeover. in addition, there is an interactive component where people can log on to the site and vote for their favorite video.

entries will be judged on creativity and the community vision of the participating businesses. the grand prize includes design expertise and furnishings, from ikea, of course, to help the winning businesses create spaces that will maximize functionality with stylistic customer appeal.

so get busy and win a makeover for your business.

i-kia

kath tipped me on this piece from korean carmakers, Kia, in the spirit of april 1st.

"Kia today pulled the covers off a completely new motoring solution, the Concept i.

With the Concept i, Kia will be the first manufacturer to offer a modular car to UK customers enabling them to choose almost every aspect of their car from a simple 'menu'. The 'i' is part of Kia's initiative to provide design led vehicles which target European customers. With the help of their local Kia dealer, customers can choose the engine, transmission and trim specification of their vehicle before opting for the rear module - saloon, hatch, estate or pick-up formats are all available. ..."

and this is my favourite part of the "news release".

"It was discovered in a recent survey that over 50 per cent of adults have built some sort of flat-pack furniture in the last few years. "It's obviously a favourite pastime of people in the UK," added Concept i Self-Build Programme Manager, Ms Janet Ester. "The hard part is getting the instruction manual right and all the right parts in the boxes and that's where we have spent our time. We have trialled the idea with desks in the Korean design centre and we know it can be done. You don't even need a comprehensive tool kit - there's a simple Allen key included in the kit. Although you do need a wheel brace, which is available as an option."

and i would have to start ikiahacker. ;P
read article.

do you have problems ordering ikea online?

"i want to know if anyone else has had difficulty ordering ikea merchandise through their online or phone services? i have had about five orders "mysteriously" disappear from their system. i have the email inquiries i've sent and i've documented the frustration on my blog in this post.

i originally ordered the vika amon/vika artur desk on september 8 and have yet to see it. it seems the trestles are always out of stock, even when i call first to see if they have any then immediately place the order. i still get the "out of stock" email. i even had one phone rep give me a delivery date, which came and went. i know someone else would have given up a while ago, but there is no other desk that i want. in addition, the nearest ikea never has this part in stock either.

so i would like to know if anyone has had this problem or if anyone has recently received this table through phone or online ordering. also any suggestions that someone can give me would be greatly appreciated. thanks." - lisa m. williams

lisa,
sorry to hear of your frustration. anybody has advice for lisa?

click to view all hacker help questions.