Ikea

Hollywood Assistants like Ikea. Household furniture is way expensive. Even supposed discount furniture is costly. A friend of mine once went into Design Within Reach on Beverly because hello, it’s called Design Within Reach. However, the store name is actually just trying to be ironic or flat out mean, I’m not sure. The furniture there is most definitely not within reach for a Hollywood Assistant. But you know where furniture is within reach for us? Ikea.

Ikea is cheap. Where else can you get a sofa for less than $400? Or a bed for less than $150? And the stuff is actually cute. Sure, it might be hard to put together and if you do a bad job assembling it all your furniture might not have a very long life. But who cares? The place is a Mecca for us Hollywood Assistants in search of cheap and easy furniture to decorate our rentals in the Fairfax district, which let's face it aren't that nice to begin with.
Putting Ikea stuff together is a bitch. One minor slip in the directions and you’re screwed. I once watched an episode of the Amazing Race where the detour was either count over 700 tiny stuffed animals or put together an Ikea dresser. For me, counting over 700 tiny stuffed animals would definitely lead me to a million dollars quicker. But that’s not to say putting Ikea stuff together is impossible. What you need is a lot of space to lay everything out, a positive attitude and maybe a Xanax. Assembling the parts of a piece of Ikea furniture is like a mind game. Sometimes it will get the best of you and you’ll decide it’s easier to just throw the whole thing away (which I’ve definitely been guilty of). Though once you do put it all together you’ll not only have won the game but you’ll also have a totally cute coffee table to put tons of scripts, magazines, junk mail, Lean Cuisines and your feet on.

Sure, all of us Hollywood Assistants might have the exact same media cabinets in our living rooms or our book stands are wobbly or our dresser drawers only open half way, but who really cares? That’s what this time in our life is all about: cheap furniture, Toyota Corollas and frozen yogurt for dinner. One day we’ll move on up and be able to afford the good stuff. But for now, we’ll spend our money on the important things: alcohol.

WHERE: 600 N. San Fernando Blvd., Burbank CA 91502 or http://www.ikea.com
COST: Cheap as hell