For a lot of people, the first thing that pops into their heads when they hear “Sweden” is IKEA. And who can blame them? The blue and yellow everything. The Swedish product names (check out below for the method behind the madness to their naming system borrowed shamelessly from the IKEA Wikipedia page). The Swedish food. It’s glorious. At least for those of who love IKEA. And I love IKEA. A lot. More than I probably should. I furnished my entire life in Sweden with the help of IKEA (and the recycling room in my building. People throw away really nice things…).

When I moved back from Sweden to the US, I was lucky enough to have an IKEA within driving distances. And by driving distance I mean about 100 miles away. But close enough. So, once again, I furnished my life with IKEA and several of my favorite piece of IKEA furniture – Expedit, a lovely bookshelf. This time I furnished minus the recycling room though. Which was too bad, because several of my recycling room finds in Sweden were discarded pieces of IKEA furniture. And I suppose that’s one of those cultural things that differ between the two countries. Despite sharing the same products, the attitude towards IKEA seems to differ depending on which side of the Atlantic you find yourself on. IKEA, in Sweden, is meant to be bought, used, and discarded after a couple of years. Maybe even just a year.

While there are more expensive options available at IKEA that are of a higher quality, one of Ingvar Kamprad’s greatest ideas was to provide people with a super cheap, relatively well-designed furniture option. (On a side note, IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd, his childhood farm, and Agunnaryd, his hometown. Now you know). There’s a reason nearly everything comes in flat packaging. It’s easier to ship. Cheaper. There’s a reason you get that one fancy little tool that can build anything. It’s easier to make you build it. Cheaper. There’s a reason you’ll find particle board under the nice exterior if you ever break a piece of furniture. Cheaper. Swedes take this to heart and discard their IKEA furniture on a semi-regular basis. It’s a beautiful thing for poor college students. Plus, it allows people to redecorate their home. And IKEA gets to sell more furniture. Thus, the circle of IKEA capitalism lives on.

Let me point out, once again, that IKEA has some sturdy products, even some that happen to be cheap ones. My parents still have a couple of bookshelves in their basement that made the move from Sweden over 20 years ago. They have served their purpose and then some. But from my own personal experience, that seems to be the exception to the rule. But here, in the United States, I’ve noticed the exact opposite. People hold on to their IKEA furniture. For a long time. They fight the urge to redecorate entire rooms in their home with IKEA furniture. It’s just as inexpensive here as it is there. Yet years go by, and the same couch IKEA couch holds on. But what do you think? Am I crazy and just imagining things? How do you view IKEA furniture?

IKEA Product Names:

• Upholstered furniture, coffee tables, rattan furniture, bookshelves, media storage, doorknobs: Swedish place names (for example: Klippan)
• Beds, wardrobes, hall furniture: Norwegian place names
• Dining tables and chairs: Finnish place names
• Bookcase ranges: Occupations
• Bathroom articles: Scandinavian lakes, rivers and bays
• Kitchens: grammatical terms, sometimes also other names
• Chairs, desks: men’s names
• Materials, curtains: women’s names
• Garden furniture: Swedish islands
• Carpets: Danish place names
• Lighting: terms from music, chemistry, meteorology, measures, weights, seasons, months, days, boats, nautical terms
• Bed linen, bed covers, pillows/cushions: flowers, plants, precious stones; words related to sleep, comfort, and cuddling
• Children’s items: mammals, birds, adjectives
• Curtain accessories: mathematical and geometrical terms
• Kitchen utensils: foreign words, spices, herbs, fish, mushrooms, fruits or berries, functional descriptions
• Boxes, wall decoration, pictures and frames, clocks: colloquial expressions, also Swedish place names