There's A Logical System Behind IKEA's Strange Product Names The other day I went to IKEA and bought four Pax, a Malm, a PS Gullholmen, an Ofelia, a Blanda Matt, a Mysa Ronn, and a few other essentials. that list may be incomprehensible, yet there are enough customers around the world who swear by IKEA's cheap and stylish, albeit flimsy, products that surely some readers will understand. Where do these crazy names come from? It turns out they are part of a system created by dyslexic founder Ingvar Kamprad, who wanted to avoid relying on numbers. Upholstered furniture, coffee tables, rattan furniture, bookshelves, media storage, doorknobs: Swedish Beds, wardrobes, hall furniture: Norwegian place Dining tables and chairs: Finnish place names Bathroom articles: Scandinavian lakes, rivers and Kitchens: grammatical terms, sometimes also other Chairs, desks: men's names Fabrics, curtains: women's names
Garden furniture: Swedish islands Carpets: Danish place names Lighting: terms from music, chemistry, meteorology, measures, weights, seasons, months, days, boats, nautical terms Bedlinen, bed covers, pillows/cushions: flowers, plants, Children's items: mammals, birds, adjectives Curtain accessories: mathematical and geometrical terms Kitchen utensils: foreign words, spices, herbs, fish, mushrooms, fruits or berries, functional descriptions Boxes, wall decoration, pictures and frames, clocks: colloquial expressions, also Swedish place namesUnfortunately, this system is so complex and has so many exceptions that even Swedes may be mystified — though they will find it easier to understand the humor in many A more efficient tool for decoding names is the unofficial IKEA Dictionary, though even author Lars Petrus admits it is imprecise. Returning to my recent purchases, Malm, named for a village in
Norway, is a bed frame; PS Gullholmen, named after a Swedish island, is a wicker chair; Ofelia, a Swedish girl's name, is athe Blanda series, named after the Swedish for "to mix," are bowls; the Mysa series, named for the Swedish "to be cozy," are comforters; and I still don't know where they got the word "Pax" for closets. The company name is also an inside joke, standing for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd (where the founder grew up) Agunnaryd (a village near his Get the Slide Deck from Henry Blodget's IGNITION Presentation on the Future of Digital Read Business Insider On The Go Available on iOS or Android See All Jobs » Thanks to our partners Published on September 7th, 2011 | Boring Birch Ikea Chest of Drawers Makeover: From Drab to Fab Materials: Aneboda chest, Screw Driver, Spray Paint, Fine Sanding Blocks or Sand Paper 1. Remove/unscrew original block handles. 2. Since the dressers are laminate {like all things Ikea}, I had to hand-sand them to add a bit of texture so my paint would adhere.
3. Using a gloss white spray paint {because that was all I had at the moment though interior paint would work as well} …and I painted right over the plastic fronts. 4. After they dried, I took the same sanders I used prior to texture them, now, to scruff up the paint giving it a vintage/shabby chic look. 5. Found these hilariously awesome little lion’s head pulls for about $1.75 each and purchased 20 of them {the original handles had 2 screws each}. See more of the home office dresser makeover. Also check out the fabulous Ikea curtain dress up. ~ …love Maegan {Maegan Tintari}, Los Angeles More hacks on IKEAHackers.net COPYRIGHT @ 2017 - 2018 IKEAHACKERS.NET | IKEA is a registered trademark of Inter-IKEA Systems B.V. | or the IKEA Group. are presented for reader convenience only and do not imply IKEA's approval of this website and/or the modification of its products. IKEA and IKEAhackers.net are not liable for any product failure, injury or damage resulting from the application of hacks featured on this site.