Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. The company that brought umlauts to America and made an L-shaped piece of metal replace an entire toolbox has released its annual catalogue. We got ours at Union Station, where a team of yellow polo–clad Poäng elves was handing out catalogues to commuters. While we saw prices rise last year, things are cheaper in 2011—so as far as we’re concerned, the recession is over, according to IKEA. Billy bookcases for everyone!
A comparison of the 2011 catalogue to the 2010 edition, after the jump.
| 2010 | 2011 | |
|---|---|---|
| Pages | 376 | 376 |
| Cheapest 10′ kitchen | $1,367 | $1,277 |
| Price of a Poäng chair | $99.99 (p.49) | $99 (p.60) |
| Price of a Lack coffee table | $14.99 | $7.99 |
| Price of a basic Billy bookcase | $69.99 (p.77) | $69 (p.76) |
| Excruciatingly Scandinavian item | Gullholmen rocking chair (p.17). Fashion over function, vaguely resembles a sex toy, stackable | Chosigt funnel (p.84). Bright colour, vaguely resembles a sex toy, made of plastic |
| Most useless item | Lycka boot hanger, $4.99. Who hangs boots? (p.289) | Byholma wicker baskets, three for $12.99. For some reason, all furniture and decor stores think the world needs more wicker baskets that are too small to hold anything. (p.256-257) |
| No one lives like this | An entirely white room (white walls, white floors, white furniture) filled with kids running around with paint. (p.10-11) | A wardrobe consisting of only white clothing. Only serial killers and Club Monaco employees do this. (p.172-173) |
| Impending lawsuit item | Not for sale, but there is a floating toilet in one of the bathrooms. (p.202) | The chalkboard door. We see little Annie drawing stick figures on one side while mom, holding two bags of groceries, is about to kick open the door on the other. (p.88). |
| Cheap duvet cover b/c it’s ugly | Myskmalva twin duvet cover and pillowcase, $9.99. Dude, my blanket has scabies. (p.210) | Renate twin duvet cover and pillowcase, $12.99. (p.304). Bonus:Matching curtains! |
| Couch Pattern on Acid award | Klippan sofa, $329.99. It’s like sitting on a pile of hobos. (p.20) | Old, dependable Klippan pulls through for the third year in a row with a half-assed embroidered number (p.56). Either leave it white or go all out in folksy birds and flowers; there’s no middle ground. |
| Back of book food promo | Salmon w/veggies, $6.99 | Chicken w/pasta and cream-vegetable sauce, $6.99 |
| Imminent feature on Catalogue Living | Take a seat and have a jar of cereal. (p.98) | Depressed dad contemplating where it all went wrong while holding his kid. (p.149). |
I use the boot hanger – I think it’s really useful and everything looks more organized.
August 13, 2010 at 5:46 pm | by CynthiaCynthia…You really scare me.
August 15, 2010 at 12:14 pm | by JoshI’ve been stealing boot hangers from Winners for years. Maybe I’ll legitimately buy one from Ikea now!
August 15, 2010 at 7:58 pm | by WhitneyThis was too funny cracked me up xD
August 19, 2010 at 1:04 pm | by stellaTL should do more of this sort of thing my question is where is my catalogue?