Why does no one talk about how bad IKEA furniture actually is for small spaces

I just spent 6 hours putting together a MALM bed frame for my tiny apartment near downtown Austin and honestly I'm so frustrated. Everyone raves about them being space savers but the drawers only open halfway before hitting the wall. After 3 trips to the hardware store for different screws I gave up and used zip ties to secure the side panels. Has anyone else found a better solution for storage beds under $400?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamiew5328d ago

Yeah, I ran into the same drawer issue with my MALM. Easiest fix is to mount the frame a few inches further from the wall, even if it makes the room look a little tighter. Otherwise you're better off looking at a platform bed with built in drawers on one side only, those usually clear the wall better.

carter.laura28d ago

For real small spaces, the real trick is a Murphy bed or a lofted bed if you have the ceiling height, but nobody wants to drill into walls that might not hold the weight. I saw @logan236 mention the fabric cube bins, and honestly that's the smartest low-cost fix since you're basically using the frame as a platform and storing stuff underneath without fighting the hardware. At that point though, you could've just bought a cheap metal frame and thrown some risers on it for half the price and twice the storage.

logan23628d ago

The thing you said about drawers only opening halfway, thats the exact problem I had. But heres something nobody brings up. IKEA furniture is designed for a certain type of apartment, the kind with enough floor space to let those drawers swing open. In a true small space you need to think about sliding doors or a trundle drawer that pulls out from the foot of the bed instead of the side. I had a friend with a similar setup and he just took the drawers out completely and used those fabric cube bins that slide right in, it saved about 8 inches of clearance and he could stack two high without the wall issue. Its a hack but it works better than fighting with the frame.