So, it may be widely known by salespeople and friends, that I have trouble making decisions. I struggled with decisions on an apartment, on a dog, or on which kind of APA book should I get (spiral, hardcover, or paperback — I chose paperback). It took me like 2 weeks to pick a planner (pictures to come soon), and even longer to decide on my Expedit bookcase. Which brings me to my topic of the hour: my stuff — specifically — my new ikea stuff.
So, here it is:
Before –
Expedit desk (before)
After a LOT of saving, and a trip to IKEA…
I added the 2 doors and set of drawers
I love this desk and shelves. The unit is in the living room of my one-bedroom apartment. It’s pretty functional and the desk is big enough for me to fit my laptop, a textbook, binder, and something to eat while I’m doing my homework (which was a huge problem with the last desk I had). This desk also has lots of storage – the 25 1.5 x 1.5-inch cubes are great but I got the drawers and the door to create a cleaner look. When I get more money, I’ll add more drawers, doors, and maybe even some magazine boxes.
Here’s my second Ikea thing: the Benno TV stand
It looks a little strange behind the Expedit bookcase, but I didn’t want to run cable cords across the floor. This seems like the most practical solution to house my DVDs and DVD player, plus it matches my desk.
My next steps will probably be some magazine boxes and more storage for my Expedit desk, but I may get some of the LACK shelves to match (for candles, pictures, etc.)
More later.
I love your ikea toys. I want some!
I LOVE YOUR APARTMENT! SO CUTE!
Thanks Nichole! I’m working on it…slowly.
In reference to your Ikea TV stand by Benno. After some research online I found your pic of the Benno tv stand. This is the very stand I plan on buying at the closest Ikea to me (in Burlington, Ontario, Canada) next weekend. I have some questions about it. I see you didn’t mount your screen on the large back panel. Instead you choose to sit it on top of the shelf. I was wondering how strong that panel would be as I wanted to mount a 40 inch Lcd to it. Do you think it can actually hold the weight? And what’s your over-all impression of the fit and finish of that stand?
Sincerely Dave in Buffalo, NY
Hi Dave!
Thanks for checking out my blog. I like my Benno tv stand, but it wasn’t really what I expected from the IKEA product. The stand was fairly easy to put together, but the panels on mine didn’t fit as snugly as the store display did, so that make me a bit weary about mounting my tv to it. Also, the Benno stand didn’t come with any mounting equipment. Basically, there are three panels that make up the back, and the middle panel has a hole in it to run wires through. I’m curious to see what a television would look like that was mounted to the stand because it seems like the mounting equipment would take away from the clean look of the stand.
Some other thoughts that I have about the stand are that the drawers are not really conducive to housing a lot of DVDs. There is space for about 2.5 rows of DVD cases, which is frustrating to me because I have a LOT of DVDs. The shelf above the drawers was smaller than expected. You can see that my TV is sitting on top of my DVR. That wasn’t by choice. I would have liked to have it on the shelf, kind of out of sight, but it wouldn’t fit. Eventually, I plan to mount the stand on casters to make it easier to move around, but overall, I’m pretty satisfied with it. I would definitely be careful about mounting your TV though. Ikea said that it could hold the weight, but personally, I don’t trust the stand to hold the tv and the mount.
I hope that helped! Let me know if you have more questions.
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