Comparing my grandma's hand-me-down furniture to cheap IKEA stuff after my divorce

When I split from my ex two years ago, I had to start over with basically nothing in my apartment in St. Paul. I bought a $60 dresser from IKEA that fell apart after 6 months - the drawer bottoms just gave out. My grandma offered me her old solid oak dresser from the 1950s, and I was hesitant at first because it looked dated. But that thing is a tank - it's survived two moves and still looks great with some new knobs I put on. The difference is night and day, I spent $15 on hardware versus $60 on junk that couldn't last a year. Has anyone else found that going with older, solid furniture helped them feel more stable after a big life change?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wesley11d ago

Notice you're comparing a $60 IKEA dresser to a solid oak heirloom. That's not exactly a fair fight - IKEA is made to be cheap and temporary, not last 70 years.

wilson.olivia11d ago

Honestly, the trick is knowing which IKEA stuff is worth upgrading. Their solid birch pieces or the metal framed stuff can actually last if you reinforce the joinery with some wood glue and maybe better hardware. A $60 dresser is never going to be heirloom quality, but you can squeeze a good decade or two out of it if you're willing to spend 30 minutes beefing it up out of the box.