IKEA is one of my favorite stores, I love it each and every time I go there.\u00a0 With each visit comes infinite ideas.\u00a0 Sometimes it’s just about using their products in my home, but often they are about how one could change or improve upon their products to make them more fun, higher quality, or just something completely different.\u00a0 I’ve done a lot with their stuff over the years, this is the latest project.<\/p>\n
I came into possession of some IKEA Frosta<\/a> stools that had been used in a contract (work) situation and saved from the garbage heap.\u00a0 All of these stools had been destroyed in one way or another – usually one of the legs broke, or the screws got stripped out of their holes, making them useless.\u00a0 They were also totally scratched up, dirty, and had other damage.\u00a0 It was a perfect opportunity to fix them up, refinish, and overall refurbish them – and maybe make them better than they were before.<\/p>\n Now, the Frosta stool is not a totally original design.\u00a0 It is a knock-off of Alvar Aalto’s E60 stool, which is still in production by Artek<\/a>.\u00a0 I don’t begrudge IKEA for knocking off this stool, they are not only ones to do so.\u00a0 They are, however, the only ones to do so for the ridiculously low price of $12.99.\u00a0 In order to do this, they have had to make some serious compromises in construction compared to the original.\u00a0 While nice stools, they are not made to hold up to the abuses of a workplace. First of all, the tops are much thinner, made of un-edged, and un-laminated plywood.\u00a0 This makes it harder to screw in the legs and the top much more susceptible to damage than the originals.\u00a0 The legs on the IKEA piece are bent plywood, only about 3\/4″ inches thick.\u00a0 The Aalto legs are thicker and wider, and they feature a very unique leg construction developed by Aalto in the 30s.\u00a0 They are made out of of solid wood, which is sawed open at the end to create grooves.\u00a0 Thin pieces of birch veneer are put in the grooves with glue, enabling the wood to bend, forming a full thickness, 90-degree angle with the help of steam and heat.\u00a0 Also, since the legs are wider, there is room for three screws for each leg, as opposed to IKEA’s two screws.<\/p>\n\n\t\t