A Wall Street
Journal article this week questioned, “Can Your Relationship Handle IKEA?” IKEA, a popular, Swedish furniture retailer,
has stores across the United States and three in the Metropolitan D.C. area. For those who have not shopped at IKEA, furniture
purchased at the store typically comes in flat boxes and requires assembly. IKEA typically packs its boxes with a small Allen
wrench which someone in Sweden apparently believes is the one tool you need to
build its furniture, no matter what you are building, or how large it is. The
company also includes instructions with its furniture that, supposedly, anyone
worldwide can understand. (I, personally,
have never been able to comprehend IKEA’s instructions, even with 19 years of
education. It’s all Swedish to me.) Although people love the look and design of
the furniture, It turns out that shopping at IKEA and building its furniture
does not, however, lead to marital bliss.
The Journal
reported a study where 46 percent of couples responded that they found the
experience of remodeling their home “frustrating” and an incredible 12 percent of
those surveyed admitted that they considered separation or divorce during the renovation
and remodeling process. While those
surveyed don’t only shop at IKEA, a major stressor among couples is building
furniture, a common requirement for IKEA shoppers. The Journal also noted that seventeen percent
of people surveyed reported that they always got into arguments when assembling
furniture. Thus, nearly one in five
couples who buys furniture at IKEA that requires assembly is likely to get into
an argument while they are building their new wall unit or bookcase with the
little Allen wrench provided by IKEA.
And, apparently a good number of those people are going to think about
separating or divorce during that argument.
Perhaps a key word in my Google advertising should be “IKEA”. If you don’t need my services before you go
furniture shopping, there’s a twenty percent chance either you or your spouse
is going to want to talk to me after that experience.
What does
this mean for you? Understand that
renovation and remodeling projects and building furniture are a source of
stress and conflict for couples and communicate with your spouse to avoid
conflict during these projects. You may
even want to consider having one spouse build the furniture while the other is
out. Or, better yet, as I have come to
do, hire someone to build the furniture that you buy. It will spare you a lot of frustration and
marital strain. Or, if you are a
frustrated IKEA shopper now looking for a divorce attorney: 301-444-4660.
