>IKEA had done more to evolve the public taste than any other manufacturer.

I have lived and worked around a fair chunk of the western world, establishing my local headquarters each time, building myself a home.

Long, long ago, I gave up on IKEA for everything except cookware and meatballs.

The reason?

I grew rapidly tired with seeing my living room everywhere. Move across the US, get invited over for dinner with new colleagues: oh, that's my old couch. Cross Germany for personal reasons, stay at a friends place - yeah, that's the kitchen I had in LA. Couch-surfing for a few months in Tokyo? Right, you get the point, same coffee table.

It just became, impersonal. I get it, mass furniture, for the masses, has its time and place and economies.

But as I got older and traveled a lot more out of my own box, I saw the repetition.

These days I go to what remains of those ghastly furniture shops, or the second hand markets, or the good flea markets (which don't accept IKEA stuff) .. and do my best to assemble my living devices from older, antique things.

Its not so easy.

But, it does accomplish one thing: it's mine. I won't see this setup anywhere else in the world, again.

>For those of you who look down on IKEA furniture, I'd like to hear about what alternatives you think need mentioning.

One should not overlook the value in spending the IKEA budget on tools and instead rolling ones' own ...