Back in college and the post-college days, K and I both had an assortment of IKEA furniture. This included dressers, bed frames, coffee tables, nightstands, etc.
When I moved to DC, the easiest thing for me to do was pick some up from the IKEA in Maryland and lay it all flat in the back of our car (followed by 11 hours of putting it together). Then when I made the move back to Chicago, I sold all but one piece of it to the next person moving in.
That one unsold TV stand is now the only piece of IKEA furniture we have left in our apartment after selling a number of other IKEA pieces (aka K’s super wobbly dresser as seen below) shortly after we moved in.
If you so much as poked this dresser with your pinky finger, it would wobble all over the place
Legitimately every other piece of furniture we currently own was previously owned by someone else.
For instance…
Couch sourced from my aunt
Coffee table sourced from Craigslist
End table sourced from Craigslist
Kitchen chairs sourced from the IU Surplus Store & attempted to be refinished by me, but failed, so my dad helped
Dresser sourced from Craigslist
5 piece bedroom set sourced from my Grandmother (50+ years old)
Metal cabinet sourced from a family friend and refinished by me
Not pictured are our kitchen table and mattress and that is mostly because I did not feel like clearing off the table to take a decent picture of it. The kitchen table came from a garage sale and was refinished by me, while the mattress was from a friend of K’s.
So now we are on a mission to replace the lone piece of IKEA particle board with something of a bit more quality, maybe something that won’t get instantly dinged up. Don’t worry, the TV stand will move on to another good home. My brother has his eye on it.
Lone piece of IKEA furniture left in our apartment, in what used to be a sea of MALM
The best part is that I love hunting for that perfect replacement piece. We are thinking of a midcentury modern lowboy dresser to provide us with some extra storage. Now it is down to finding the right one, at the right size, and the right price.
Sure, I could go online and order a TV stand that is made of particle board and will fall apart in 3 years, but I would so much rather have a real piece of furniture.
One that someone else loved.
I will be scouring craigslist, garage sales, and thrift stores until I find the perfect one. That will provide me with so much more satisfaction than just clicking “Place Your Order.”
waste not want not 
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