Tag Archives: Ikea

Score – Ikea: 1, Airstream: 2

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In a previous post I talked about the things I have done to the trailer with some Ikea products.  Here is an update on how they have gone.

The clear winner at this point, and the way that Ikea got its’ point, were the fold up hooks.  These are wonderful and we will be adding more around the trailer for everyday living.

Ikea: 1, Airstream: 0

One issue we had was with the Ikea storage unit (the ‘pantry’) that we put in the wardrobe closet.  Underneath the wardrobe ‘floor’ are many components for the fresh water system including the water pump.  There are also many different wires, etc.  Since there are items that might need access the ‘floor’ is not secured.  I actually had to remove two knobs, that are used to lift it, to allow a flat surface.  Obviously I didn’t think much of it.  Until after we had lunch at Kramer Junction:

KJ01

 

In getting back on highway 58 I took a very bumpy route.  It jarred the truck and trailer quite a bit.  I didn’t realize how much until we stopped again and looked inside.

In our wardrobe the ‘floor’ had come off of one edge of the supports (the one nearest the hall) and had fallen into the are underneath.  This caused the ‘pantry’ to lean forward to the point where it almost was whacking the mirrored wardrobe door.  The preliminary fix was to empty the wardrobe, reseat the ‘floor’ and put everything back.  I knew it would happen again.

It did.  I now needed a fix and before it broke one of our doors.  The solution was in Salome, AZ.

The path I took was kind of remote and the towns were relatively small.  I decided a couple of screws through the ‘floor’ into its’ supports would do the trick.  Alas I brought no screws or phillips bit for my drill.  Family Dollar store #9045 came to our rescue.  I was able to buy a screw set and a multi-tip screwdriver.  I used 3 screws and one of the tips from the screwdriver in my drill.  Nice and solid and no more problems!

Ikea: 1, Airstream: 1

The final Ikea issue was the toilet paper holder.  If you look at the post mentioned above, go ahead I will wait, you will see that we were not happy with Airstreams toilet paper location.  We got a holder from Ikea and I mounted it under the cabinet in the bathroom.  We found two issues with this.  First is that we could not put anything on the counter under or in front of it.  It blocked easy access.  The second item is that it came off during travel.  We were putting the roll back on every time we stopped!  Here is our new location:

TP01

We haven’t road tested it yet but I hope we don’t hit bumps bad enough to pop this off!  We will see soon however as we will be back on the road to Alumafiesta pretty soon.

Final Score:
Ikea: 1, Airstream: 2

 

The Airstream and Ikea

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As an Airstream owner, what is it about an Ikea store that draws me in?

It must have to do with aluminum.  Obviously I have a penchant for it since we have an Airstream but Ikea seems to like it also.  There are many aluminum/silver metal items throughout the store.  Everytime I see such an item in Ikea I think how I can use that in the trailer.  Sometimes things will work but oftentimes they will not.

Here are some of the hits.

One thing that we like in our 31′ Classic floorplan is that there is a huge wardrobe on one side of the trailer.  It has a hanging rod all the way across the top and a flat bottom to it (with various Airstream systems underneath).  This makes it easy to hang clothes and lay things on the bottom but not much in between.  We have been thinking of ways to be able put some stores there, like a pantry.  Here is a shot of the wardrobe doors:

wardrobe

 

 

Ikea makes a mini-pantry for putting on top of their countertops.  We got one and thought we would give it a try.  So behind the left wardrobe door is this:

cabinet2

 

 

Oooohhh!   Look!  Aluminum look!  What you are seeing there is the rollup door.  Here it is with the door open:

cabinet1

 

 

This way you can see the adjustable shelves, and a bit of insight to us.  Toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, blender, laundry soap and a toaster.  We are very pleased with it.  I still have to anchor it to the wall.

 

In our old 25′ trailer we came up with a way to hang our towels for drying.  We used a compression shower curtain rod, put it up high in the hall way between the cabinets in two different locations.  This gave a very convenient location for the towels.  Alas our ‘new’ Airstream was not conducive to a similar setup.  I knew we would need a hook or three.

Ikea came to the rescue:

bjarnum

 

 

A typical Ikea product, unpronounceable.  But they are silver and shiny!!  I really like how they fold up and down.  Here they are on the wall:

hooks

 

 

Airstream prides themselves on using ‘every available inch’ in an efficient manner.  I can see where that is very true in the most part but they will, as my wife puts it, ‘stub their toe’ sometimes.  One big stub was the toilet paper holder:

tp1

 

 

They mounted it inside the cabinet door but then you cannot have anything on that shelf.  Annoying, and you have to open the door to get to it.  Not convenient.   Once again Ikea comes to the rescue:

tpnew1

 

 

This is a bit more pronounceable at least but it is SILVER!  I decided, with spousal approval, to mount it in a different location:

tpnew2

 

 

All in all pleased with this location.  Easy to get to, don’t have to open a cabinet, not ON the counter, out of the way.  Might hurt the aesthetic a bit by being visible but it is OK with us.

 

Those are the 3 hits for us at this point.  It is good that the closest Ikea is at least 3 hours away or we might have a LOT more.  I will keep you posted as there is more.