Your Ikea Desk Will Betray You (And That's Okay)

It's not just been in recent years, but has been ongoing over the past decade or more. There is a lessening amount of sentiment of wanting to create your own items that you can use personally or even within your home. There's the quick dopamine hit of going out and getting that item from a store.

We've become quite accustomed to finding, ordering it online, and getting said item within a day or two. This isn't to say that all of that is bad, more in that we've gotten too used to that quick hit of instant gratification. This could also be said for other aspects of our lives really.

Luxury Particle Board

There's a place for those pieces of furniture you can buy from Ikea or even from Walmart, from college students to those who are moving into their first apartments. The particle board furniture takes its rightful place as a low cost piece that serves a function of being there for you until you move it more than twice. At that time the screws would rip out from their homes and the entire piece comes crumbling down. Which leads you to heading back to the store to purchase another one.

I did have one desk that you would've seen in almost every house, that corner desk with the CD holder rack built into the hutch system. This desk was built out of some mutant particle board as it stood the test of being moved many times. This thing was built like a glass cannon, you could see how it could be destroyed in one wrong move, but it withstood much of what was thrown at it.

Looking at the more what many would refer to as higher end furniture stores like Ashley Furniture, they too have a build quality that is more of a facade. Often times much of the high wear areas of the furniture will become worn enough to reveal that the wood is not actual pieces of wood, but are more of a veneer. Leading you to realize that you spent hundreds more on pieces of furniture that would've cost at least half of its perceived value.

Handcrafted Love

Now, of course for the pieces of furniture that are hand built can bring a higher price tag but, the quality is much higher than those of mass produced furniture. Mainly in that each one has many hours spent on its creation. The materials used are also actual pieces of wood which in turn increase the overall weight of the piece as well. This in of itself doesn't mean that if the weight of the piece is heavier, that it must cost more or it must be better. You could build a couch that is made entirely out of construction lumber and it'll not be the most beautiful thing anyone has seen. Especially if you just slapped it all together with no thought.

Finding these woodworkers are going to be a bit more difficult than the big box stores. Many operate out of their own workshops. Tending to rely on general word of mouth from current and previous clients. Tending to spend more time on working on their craft than spending a large sum of money on advertising.

What you'll find is that for many taking client work, you'll be added onto a waiting list that could extend several weeks or even a few months. This isn't because they don't want the work, it's more likely that they don't want to become overbooked and have clients angry as to why their orders are being pushed back. Worse case scenario is they received their furniture that is not the quality that they were led to believe would be made.

This is where many potential customers see that the length of time and cost are not going to be in their budget. They'll go for the cheaper, quicker option as they would like to have something now. You'll end up spending more in the long run as your furniture breaks and having to pay for replacements, than if you spent a bit more and received a better quality piece that would potentially last years longer.

Money is the Great Equalizer

Ultimately the choice many people would go with is the amount of money they can afford to part with for their needs. Would it be great to live in a world in which you could take the time and create your own furniture, sure, and having that time to do it would be even better.

There's no shame in picking up that particle board bookshelf when you need something functional right now. We've all been there, assembling furniture at midnight because we needed a place to put our stuff tomorrow. Those mass-produced pieces serve their purpose, and for many of us, they're what makes sense at different points in our lives.

But I've found myself looking more at the handcrafted route these days. Not for everything, mind you, but for the pieces that matter. The dining table where my family gathers. The desk where I spend hours working. Those investments have paid off, not just in durability, but in the satisfaction of owning something that was made with care. Something that won't end up in a landfill after the third move.

At the end of the day, it's about knowing what matters to you and making choices that fit where you're at in life. Sometimes that's the quick fix. Sometimes it's the long game. Both have their place in our homes and our lives.