Wednesday, August 15, 2012

IKEA Furniture for Playscale Collectors

IKEA furniture and doll/action figure collectors seem almost like peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and chocolate, oh and peanut butter and bananas. A given, right? I have a Detolf glass cabinet and 2 Billy bookcases. The Detolf cabinet displays scenes at times or boxed favorites at other times. The IKEA products are cheap - relative to what a wood and glass display cabinet would cost - and easy to find or order. So it is not surprising that we collectors - preferring to spend our spare funds on dolls, action figures, and their props - seek IKEA furniture

Alison in CA from The Fashion Doll Review suggests the Billy bookcases.

Another collector uses Bonde bookcases.

Rebecca from Inside the Fashion Doll Studio shares her doll room plan that includes IKEA glass cabinets and book shelves.

How many of you use IKEA furniture to house or to display your playscale collectibles? Which pieces would you recommend? Which pieces need additional support and/or alteration?

Are there other mass produced furniture or storage units that you use? I have three black-gray Sterilite plastic storage units that have held part of my boxed and deboxed collection for years. They are not pretty, but they are efficient. My only caveat is that the upper shelves on the wider unit seem to tilt forward.

8 comments:

Georgia Girl said...

Hi D7ana. I have three of the Ikea glass cases and book cases as well. I have not placed any dolls in the glasses yet. I do have plans to put my favorite dolls in their.

Muff said...

Ikea isn't availabe in my area and I don't like ordering furniture online. I don't have display furniture per se, but I do use my utilitarian black bookshelves from office depot to display some dollies. They work just fine considering they have to house many other things.

D7ana said...

Hi Georgia Girl and Muff! Thanks for your comments. I look forward to seeing your photos, Georgia Girl, after you decide which dolls will be housed in the IKEA cases ;-D

Muff, your black shelves sound like my gray-black storage units - only of course, the shelves are more elegant. The storage units look as though they should be in someone's garage. But they house my dolls and action figures well all the same ;-)

Carrickters said...

I haven't used Ikea furniture for displaying dolls but I have used it for storing fabric - and have had to have all the shelves reinforced to hold the weight. (I hadn't realised the shelves were holding the fabric but the fabric below was supporting the fabric above. Removed one piece and it all came crashing down. Who would have thought fabric could do so much damage?) So I would say if you are using it for heavy dolls or possibly a diorama that was heavy, put extra support beams under the shelves and not just rely on the little pegs.

Alrunia said...

I own a Detolf cabinet for displaying my dolls too, although it's disassembled and sitting in the attic for the moment. I do display my dolls on modular wall shelves from Ikea, not sure if those have individual names- it's just a slat of wood and a metal wall-mounting piece :) all my furniture except my bed is from Ikea, haha. Not because I'm a die hard fan or anything, mostly because it's affordable for a poor uni student. ;)

D7ana said...

Hi Carrickters and Alrunia! Thanks for stopping by and for your comments. I've had the lower shelves of my Billy bookcase crash down. So they are not a perfect solution.

Yes, IKEA's price is great help for students and other budget minded folks ;-D

Vanessa said...

I have the Detolf glass cabinet which houses my Byron Lars dolls, a few Madame Alexander dolls, my boxed cheerleader college dolls, and my three Oscar de la Renta dolls. I love IKEA and was ecstatic when they added one here in ATL a few years ago. I don't buy a lot of big things, but I love all the little organizing things. I have two of the large black storage boxes that houses about 200 of the deboxed dolls I don't use often. Nice post!

D7ana said...

Hi Vanessa! Cool. I have got to return to your tour of your doll room. (That was a fun post ;-D)

I like IKEA - there is something bright and cheery about their furnishings and accessories and displays. (Only caveat is that the bookcases fall short for heavy or many books. Mea culpa perhaps because I had some heavy books in them. Shrug.)

Oh the little organizing things, I just LOVE. But you've probably guessed as much from previous posts, lol.

Thanks for complimenting this post. I enjoyed writing it so it is an added dollop that you enjoyed reading it ;-D