Prefab Home is Like Living in IKEA Showroom
Let’s face it, it’s hard to get away from IKEA. The big blue store is by far the world’s largest furniture retailer and there are few homes that escape its cleanly-design, wallet-friendly wares.
Since the contents of our homes are so defined by IKEA, Oregon-based company Ideabox asks why not the house itself? To answer that question, they have created the Aktiv, a compact, prefabricated home designed around IKEA product systems and ethos of clean, affordable design. $86,500 buys the house, delivery, installation and IKEA spec’d bathroom, kitchen and flooring. I suspect most buyers would finish the place with IKEA fürniture.
This idea is not new. IKEA has been making their BoKlock housing in Europe since 1996. According to its site, BoKlock provides “space-saving, functional and high quality housing at a price that enables as many people as possible to afford a stylish and comfortable home.”
Sounds good to us.
A home made completely around a corporation–particularly a giant like IKEA–might strike some as being impersonal. But consider that many of us end up with homes designed by IKEA by default, because the stuff looks nice and is affordable. Also consider that our homes are often assemblages of handed down furniture or whatever we can afford at the time, neither of which necessarily reflect personal style and taste.
Then there are the many advantages of prefabricated home design and construction, whose processes have a huge edge over one-offs. For instance, the BoKlock is made completely in a large warehouse, making its construction schedule independent from weather.
From a practical standpoint, don’t most of us just want a home that is affordable, comfortable and easy to deal with? Homes like the Aktiv and BoKlock deliver that, sans some personality.
What do you think? Would you live in what amounts to as your own IKEA showroom? What would be the advantages/disadvantages? We’d love to hear what you think?