The REVOLUTION was quiet.

Prelude

Before you proceed any further, I would like for you to understand dear reader that I always conclude 'each broad statement' I make with 'I believe'. It would get repetitive after awhile and take away from what I believe entertaining read. 

All ideas presented in this read have been successfully realized and implemented, their importance however, may only be relevant to a small circle of individuals. Please don't let this fact - small audience - ever deter you from pursuing your individual passions. You have two things working for you:

A] we now have Internet and nothing on the Internet dies - you will leave a legacy; one day some1 will look at it and cast a judgment; your idea may be revolutionary

B] the randomness of our life is being actively reduced - don't worry or self-doubt and let AI make that tough decision who will get to see your ideas, it's your most powerful ally.

This was my reply to tweet** coming from Canada's biggest and most important bank, the Royal Bank of Canada, asking the public to weigh in how they see the future - Net-Zero 2050 -

Remember, there is money to be made, be prepared*.

Chapter 1 - It only took a decade. 

I am on the mailing list for Ikea Hackers. I click and I peruse to learn what's best of hacks out there that people submit. It never disappoints - a very well presenting IKEA hack, a built-in BILLY bookcase - a WILLIAM. Just look how beautiful it looks and fits - that's the secret sauce behind this one.

Look - 

By the way, if you got this in your inbox, and are thirsty to learn how to go about building something like this then join me for my show in January next year. It's called Swedish Socialism 2:GO West [once the listing goes up I will make this a clickable link; come back soon!]. The IKEA Hackers post is complemented with a complete DIY information, so it is easy to make a decision at glance. Each custom element added is handily illustrated - this is the dream for any serious hobbyist wanting to save thousands in whatever currency you are working in [maybe even millions..? - unexpected yet related.]. 

The post also  comes almost a year after I launched my on-line school 'Handy Design - Modern Ideas'. Why is this important?

Well, IKEA Hackers is an entity approved by the IKEA mother-corp and occupies an important niche in the 'Ikea Global ecosystem'. Biggie, because IKEA is the world's largest furniture manufactures - Swedish Socialism is about leveraging the economies of scale in production of domestic household furnishings, that then can be improved upon via simple, accessible and time-honoured woodworking traditions, knowledge of which is slowly disappearing... all on the most important level, most granular, the individual. 

---> Ikea Hackers is a perfect social counter-balance to the official mother-corp IKEA. 

Jules confessed publicly that IKEA does have a say in what approx. 100k subscribers get in their mailbox. Put that together with a fact that Ikea Hackers as a global movement is very militant - the original battle between IKEA and Jules was nasty, lawyering all around [yup wrote about that, click here; that's why my TV show was cancelled, the TV producers got scared, even tho the concept of IKEA Hacking was hott at that time and selling well].

So much Positive Social capital was expanded on that battle that IKEA made a smart decision to settle and control - good will trumps violence; I guess there were lawyers who also reasoned like me, every1 is your friend until they are your enemy [in the business sense, this is my driving principle; unemotional capitalism as you must be successful first before you can help others]. 

This means that this DIY built-in instructional for a WILLIAM was approved by IKEA - IKEA has accepted this as an unavoidable future of their product. They are giving it their legal blessing and I don't have to be concerned about any other attempts at de-platforming me. My ideas stand.

'My ideas stand.' - Karol Kosnik

 

But hey! HOLD ON! What is a WILLIAM bookcase?? 

Well according to me, Karol Kosnik, when you take a BILLY bookcase, and you hack it - you elevate it - it becomes a WILLIAM bookcase. I had a design launch for the WILLIAM bookcase concept at a MAKER faire in Toronto in 2018.  This is from my Insta, look - 

picture shows first ever concept for the WILLIAM bookcase as presented to the audience at the Toronto Maker Faire in 2018, laying on its back on a cart. Stacked on top is a box of an unopened BILLY bookcase. 

picture shows a name tag badge from the launch of the WILLIAM bookcase at the Maker Faire festival in Toronto; it was a success!

I think the show was in the summer - July. The following year - I think it was February 2019; I don't have the screenshot anymore - a small legal notice appeared on the IKEA Canada website stating to the effect that 'BILLY bookcases either have been renamed WILLIAM, or were co-named BILLY-WILLIAM. Look, this is the Canadian IKEA app experience - 

By the way, this had to be coded intentionally to exclude suggestions from the 'behaviour learning algorithm', and because it is sandboxed in the app environment I have no way to influence it [although I did try with a unique method].

Read back on my blog to see how I reacted - I was furious and used strong language. Intellectual Property ownership, management and theft will all become extremely important going into the splintered and fractured future - on a geopolitical stage, I know that culturally the West will always exist and IKEA will always be a part of it. 

With the collapse of the virtual cryptocurrencies and the Ponzi-scheme type fraud perpetrated by Sam Bankman-Fried,

picture shows a Google search engine result for 'SBF', a headshot of  Sam Bankman-Fried along with his profession as understood by search engine Google. At the time of writing of this post he was still listed as 'an American entrepreneur'. 

and coupled with the FTX crypto platform trading scandal the belief and hope in 'Ideas Based Economy' will be shaken, but ultimately will propel genuine and valuable concepts forward. Investors will demand real returns. 

ASIDE: are you gonna tell me that we burned up all that dino-juice so we could generate electricity for mining physically non-existent goods, for which there will be no demand for when men with guns will go marching thru our communities and wanting ransom..? They won't be taking virtual Gucci loafers worth real $17 American dollars?  Hmmm....

Chapter 2 - The Digital Dollar 

Biggest challenge, biggest obstacle will come from the Digital Dollar that the government will introduce to regain control over the markets and increase its ability to manipulate and weaponize its currency across the globe. History is written by winners, look -

Obviously this is a joke from a skit by an Australian comedy group, but the message is poignant, I mean we just had a world piece and now we don't. East - Far East - West conflict seems to be revving up - why can't we just get along?

Digital Dollar will be inflexible and the underground construction economy [economic activity linked to improving spaces that individuals experience] will collapse - we are no longer a 'barter economy, although keep on reading how I believe we can re-introduce Barter Economy. Economists estimate that before the COVID pandemic the value of the underground economy was around 45 billion Canadian dollars and kept rather steady [why? why would it keep steady and not grow if it offers such an incredible value? Enforcement of rules is very lax and what are rules if they are not enforced? I know the answer to that question, but won't share here because those ideas are my asset class that I will use to take some small % of that 45 billion dollars home].

The Digital Dollar will also be a boost to the Gig Economy and it will be important to properly understand how to take advantage of those opportunities. 

Chapter 3 - 'Work sets you free' 

What if there was a cross-over between Orwell's '1984', Fisher's 'Capitalist Realism' and Holiday's 'Discipline is Destiny'? What is the purpose of crossing over a piece of literary fiction, a noveletta of a read on nature of Capitalism, and stoic philosophy book? Here - 

Individuals have two commodities that hold value to Society:

A] our free time

B] our attention

Now entertain yourself and think for a moment how highly regulated our free time is - some choose to work and 'maintain a lifestyle'. We are told who we can work with; we are told what we can do for work; we are told where we can conduct our work; we are told how we can perform the work; and finally we are told when we can work [literally - 'who, what, where, how and when'; good editors are worth their weight in gold, unexpected yet related]. These various rules and regulations came to be over centuries and were simple to implement by virtue of 'physicality of labour'.

Our second most valuable commodity that we have as individuals is - our free attention and how we focus it. Powerful interests both good and evil are spending enormous amounts of money to learn and influence our decisions for their benefit - historically this has always been done, this attempts at influencing, but the efficiency of it has increased exponentially. I will updated this post with a link to a fascinating research paper by Bank of Canada - they undertook a study 'of productivity of human attention' - this is the best example that clearly illustrates the powerful interests involved in shaping of humanity. 

But 'bANk oF cAnAda iS nOT tHaT pOWerFuL !!1!' - how much debt are you holding? 

From the smallest and most mundane to most important and life-altering, our decisions are captured, recorded, retained. Harnessing modern science [often leading with questionable ethics] coupled with the computing power of latest super processors, 'machine learning' is used to create a 'mirror data image' of ourselves and we begin to occupy virtual space.  Some specific purpose values are assigned and play important roles in 'what we see and what we are witness to in this world' - remember, I wrote this above 'the randomness of our life is being actively reduced'; this is part of the Personal Equation. Remember friends, it is very important to start building a Heap of Positive Ideas around your Digital Mirror Image.

Now I don't know exactly what values are assigned or what form they take - this is actually irrelevant - I suspect that true AI will create data structures that we may not have capacity to fully comprehend the meaning of [they will be created for the purpose of AI, by AI; I mean just look at the complexity our own brains and the stuff we put into existence + we don't even understand out motivation half the time.. geez]. 

How do I defined 'True AI', that is, AI that mimics the workings of a human mind? It's very simple, here it is - I use a simple and intuitive phrase, in fact the simpler the better - Unexpected, yet Related. This is the ultimate problem, and my intuition is telling me that when we solve it then we won AI -

'Unexpected, yet Related,' - Karol Kosnik

Chapter 3 - How to manipulate AI or 'High school AI'

This took me over a decade to develop - in the end it feels intuitive, natural and organic because it is in alignment with Good. Yes, it is a simplistic term but easy to understand - most important. I have to comment that when I am in the presence of highly educated individuals I will often inquire about a specific word they use - I don't understand the meaning of it and how it applies - is it something 'for Good' or is it something 'for Evil'? If you think I am being silly than consider that at one point in human history Google had motto 'Don't be evil' which they took down. Why? Exactly, so I don't feel any silliness and never blush when I say that 'I work for Good'. Nope, never ashamed of that. 

When I say 'manipulate AI', I am referring to influencing the learning patterns of algorithms. Algorithms are dumb if they first don't go to school - simple language again - the more they learn the more accurate results they produce, this is what you want to amplify, the learning behaviour phase. Look - 

OR

Aren't all these companies hiring THE BEST DATA SCIENTISTS? So why are the failures? Here, I will give you my favourite example and consider carefully the bias of AI as it is learning.

So various scientists have been sitting on crap-tons of data they have collected overwhelmed by the volume of it. Here comes a 'AI for rent' available at a nearby campus university project. The caveat is that you first need to teach the AI about whatever you need help with, and in this instance it is searching our for whale songs**** amongst the countless of hours of purposely recorded and retained ocean noise - only the most beautiful, splendour and grandeur will do - and who is not better to identify those type of whale songs if not a perfectly tuned human ear, huh? So scientists listen to 100 hours of tapes themselves and carefully pencil in - 'oh this is a good whale song...this one is awesome... this one kinda sucks but it's got some edge to it, I think'. Anyhow, 100 hours goes by quickly and the learning set is prepared and then fed to the computer. And magic happens - what has not been accomplished since humans started listening to whale songs now has been done. Look - 

We now have beautiful whale songs in our human consciousness. 

Ok, this is whales, what about humans? Do we have any1 pointing out 'this is good behaviour? this is not good behaviour' etc. Fact is we don't. What we currently have in existence is a regime of conflicting ideologies that are pulling in different directions, and it is a struggle - examples could include the current 'dance and song about visibility of Canadian Content to Canadians.' Look - 

Given the current deficit in quality input and the race to harvest the data by different competitors [Google, Meta and Microsoft are good examples; what's unique about them is the fact that they all cater to different sub-audiences of the same 'Big Audience' via different means of information delivery, but essentially all 3 are important] we are living de-facto Wild West of information harvest. You might have heard how Facebook conducted an experiment in manipulating its user emotions; or how LinkedIN conducted an 'opportunity experiment', essentially testing its own algorithm in a very unethical way in an attempt to better understand 'how things work'?

--> Look, no1 is holding these companies accountable, so why should I care what I manipulate, other than category 'for Good'?

So what do we harvest? How do we make our algorithms learn? The only way currently feasible - by spying on people [surveillance capitalism], and taking note of some pre-specified metrics likely laid out by some handsomely paid scientists, 'best in show' - 'this is important, pay attention algorithm.' 

Again, I am greatly simplifying, but think back to your high school experience - how was it? Was it the 'time of your life? Yea...? No...? Yea, these are the same people that 'the AI' is learning on, and will mimic behaviours of. I am a bit of AI sceptic I guess, maybe it's that we are expecting too much. 

Yea, it's a 'Giant AI Highschool out there,' and for fuck sakes we are doomed if this will continue. LOL.***

Here is the 'biological portion' of the equation, look -

This is at the highest level, meaning it will overcome ethnic and cultural barriers. As much as we are led to believe that our behaviours and desires are unique, that is not the case at all, and at the highest level we are all the same. This is why we were successful to begin with, and this is why we will be successful again - with the coming challenges of Climate. 

*'Be prepared' is an old Scouting Motto - World Scouting movement is the world's largest youth organization. Very influential, read about it here - my own experience. 

**Virtually all my Twitter timeline stands - I don't take down any tweets and 'try to predict the future'; it's like a little game I play, essentially with 'the world keeping me accountable'; IKEA Canada follows me on Twitter. I have only deleted a handful of tweets and virtually only for embarrassing spelling mistakes. So if you ever read my Twitter feed and you find a spelling mistake, then know that it is fully intentional and it has a purpose. Screenshot of some of my more interesting followers: IKEA Canada; Semihandmade which is an American company that makes really nice doors for the SEKTION box, I personally know the owner John, awesome guy; and IKEA Twitter Hater account - lots of things have been going wrong with the 'Original Swedish Socialism'...

**Sorry I had to put that in. Humour helps me deal with personally difficult subjects.

**** this is a true story, scientists did hire a 'AI 4 rent' at some American university to help them fish out the whale songs, if I can say it like that, for scientific purposes and not necessarily to create a musical album to be used on set of the movie 'The Big Lebowski'.

The SCHOOL is the future.

 Chapter 1 The School is the FUTURE

Some people will never be able to find employment, because we are experiencing an economic contraction on 'evolutionary level of capitalism'. Capitalism is remaking itself as you are consuming this content.

picture shows a book laying on a desktop titled Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher;

On the other hand if your skill is in demand, then you will remain in demand and be able to command good wages, as supplying the wealthy with objects they are told they desire  is a never ending process - it's called marketing. 

picture shows a large very high-end 'whiter white oak' side panel in a professional finishing booth; it has an arrow drawn on it pointing to the solid wood edging at the bottom - this solid piece prevents water penetration and prevents the panel from swelling up and disintegrating prematurely.

We are running out of babies and they are becoming a precious commodity - both their labour and attention.  Labour and Attention -  two most precious commodities individuals have and investors are noticing. 

picture shows a young man's new apartment with pieces of furniture being assembled, strewn all over the freshly done Luxury Vinyl Plank, covered with an area rug, floor.

Everywhere I go, I improve things and then leave and they miss me. It feels really rewarding after all these years of diligent labour. My resume below,

~ciao

Death, Taxes and BODBYN - Exit Review

 

picture shows a discontinued green BODBYN doors, along side a gray LIDI drawer front [also gone]

• IKEA discontinues their most powerful SEKTION door.
• It is becoming hard to predict which SEKTION door will get cancelled next; the 2022 Kitchen Catalogue is already incorrect and makes things hard to plan
• Swedish Socialism is the only Design Philosophy that overcomes the unpredictability of planning a SEKTION event;

Where will you buy your furniture - Swedish Socialism 2 OR IKEA discontinues White Oak BILLY bookcase

[prelude]

[picture shows a screen capture from IKEA's official website, informing us of the planned changes to the fabrication methods]

Chapter 1 - IKEA discontinues White Oak BILLY bookcase.

As inflation starts biting more and more it will become more important to understand if you are getting good value for your hard earned money.

It will be necessarry to skip the glossy advertising and reach to the source - r/SwedishSocialism [get the Reddit app!] - for reputable, consistent and relevant information on meta-IKEA products, their improvements and essentially 'things that make sense for life'.

Money can be made on 'chachkas, dudas and flim-flam' OR it can be made on products manufactured with longevity and comfort in mind. 'Yes! IKEA makes that kind of furniture - white oak BILLY bookcase was that kind of piece of furniture.

Part of Caring for Environement means reducing your footprint on the planet and r/SwedishSocialism solves that. You get dependable, community centred and shared information and ideas, that ARE helping - first and foremost ~you~; remember, you have to be successful first before you can help others to be successful.

Furniture destined for the Western Market is rarely made in the Western Market, that's not simply how our economy works. I personally experienced the birth of globalization - I'm stuck in the 90's; that's 'my decade' - and it was always sold to me as delivering democracy via economic means. Various metrics point to the success of that era - untold numbers of individuals were 'lifted out of poverty'. 

If you were a giant behemoth - like IKEA; it's mainly the purchasing power - but also you were forward thinking because you lacked the traditional 'institutional inertia' of other companies, meant that you could experiment with new ways of reducing your labour requirements to produce what I consider 'a very useful and practical human designs.' 

IKEA created a new vision for furniture. When a table design that included 'an elegant end-vise' won an award from IKEA for 'forward thinking functionality' - not yet defined! - it gives you a glimpse, a preview of what humanity is about. 

Humanity is about creativity and improvement. I'm on REDDIT - it's considered 'social media' but I don't view it quite like that - and read a common observation that 'carpenter's job does not scale up' like, for example, tech worker's jobs scale up. This is the reason cited for a lower pay range of 'carpenters vs. tech workers'. That gave me quite a pause, and I thought about that statement extensively. I replied too. 

The value of tech-worker and carpenter is identical and if properly grown and 'harvested for ideas' both are excellent life style choices. Greatest value in trade work, in my opinion, lies in the fact that a 'trade's person' has a skillset that allows them to easily manipulate their surroundings. When you pair that up with human-centred design on the most granular level - individual; iDesign - you solve the greatest challenge posed to Interior Design in Human History - yours. 

See?! 

See?!

Solving for that solution and finding it successfully has immeasurable positive outcomes. You start living - I am serious. Simple, small elevations that move 'away from the standard' and into your own 'personal comfort zone' [I call that luxury] is all that is required for an 'elevated life'.  

Chapter 2 - The Cheapening and its victims

I learned of the plan to discontinue the white oak Billy bookcase on the subreddit r/IKEA.

[edit: Reddit is very fussy about linking; if you right click and copy the link it will let you open a new window; good read, I promise]

It was actually posted by Jules from Ikea Hackers with the tone and the message of 're-birth of BILLY'. I carefully read the press release and dug deeper into the links to better understand what is happening and why it is happening. 

So what is exactly happening? 

IKEA is getting rid of a specific step in case goods production of BILLY - the edgeing step. 'Edgeing' is a general woodworking practice of applyig a protective layer on the most vulnerable of parts of any box - the edges. The cover for the edges typically matches the finish of the surface - so white panel ends up edged with white edging; white oak surface is covered with thin layer of white oak solid or wooden veneer tape. 

I consider edging to be the most important part of any case goods - its strength - because it protects the part that is most exposed to damage thru daily living. 

source: private personal interior designer to 4 babies + dog; 19+ years and counting

I am not the only one that thinks this. Look - 

[picture shows a large white oak panel in a professional finishing booth, glossy from being freshly sprayed with latest super matte acrylic finish, with an arrow pointing to the solid wood edging at the bottom of the panel]

My hobby bossman [we build for the 1%] always edges all his panels this way - adds cost, but renders the panel esssentially timeless. And to be honest, I like the term 'timeless', because I believe that we sincerely lack that quality in our life and we dearly desire it as it gives meaning to our existence by extending it; extending it either for us personally or for others.

Or I could say that I am simply appealing to the most powerful of human emotions - greed. Our relationship to our money is very intimate and personal. It represents our past and our success and we want to exhange it in best possible way - by obtaining a quality proportionate to our past efforts [this is only true, however, for the largest of IKEA's consumers; there exist other classes and other motivators].

Edgeing is quality and IKEA is getting rid of it. 

Chapter 3 - Emotions are fluffy tho..

They are and they are not - but here is something that caught my attention. This is from IKEA's official literature.

This section in particular caught my eye, look -->

'Lifespan and emotional connection are no longer design principles, rather will be defined during the circular business opportunity and circular loops work.' - I gasped. I gasped because IKEA artificially stripped themselves of the two most powerful qualitites of their products that were effortless to them - it cost them absolutely nothing, if we were to define in it terms of Rules of Capitalism.

Longevity and Emotional Attachment are one of the most important considerations under Swedish Socialism because they represent tremendous value and opportunity that is uncaptured by anyone else - this is where the Psychology of Design comes in. 

Chapter 4 - Sift the Drivel from Value

White Oak BILLY bookcase was my choice of case goods for my current and future library - proven durability furnished with items on display that bring meaning to my life aka. Emotional Attachment. I was so upset that I even posted Reddit IKEA community. You can read there my 'immediate designer outrage' - I'm over it now. When time will come to build the future library I will simply custom build it out of white oak sheet veneer goods - basically the same way that white oak  BILLY was designed and build. 

Where will you buy your furniture now, eh?

Swedish Socialism 2

 prelude

I spend 25 hours a week thinking. 

When Handy Design - Modern Ideas school was conceived it was founded on the backbone of stable and constant demand for reliable and creative information. 

The COVID induced shortages coupled with the war in Ukraine completely unwound the traditional business model of Ikea Hacking and pushed more emphasis on Peak Furnishings - the development of ideas. 

Inflation is stoked my the traditional model of Capitalism - shortages cause prices to spike. Labour pool has shrank dramatically - we have reached a historic stage in human evolution where it's the 'availability of human hand' that is the only restriction on profits. This is why it is critical that companies secure a dependable labour pool now.

Two tweets by Bank of Canada caught my attention. One was the announcement of withdrawal of sale of Canadian bonds that would mature in 2063; the other one about the Bank of Canada undertaking a study of 'human attention and its productivity'. 

Ha! the last bastion of personal space - our attention - about to be regulated. Regulated, but how? How do you regulate the second most valuable commodity that each of us, as individuals, have - first one being what we do with our free time; some choose to work. 

Last year IKEA rsvp'ed to my show. Since that time I have been thinking about how to move forward on this. IKEA represents a major cog within Swedish Socialism - remember we leverage what is best of Capitalism on the most granular level possible, the individual [vs. Capitalism bringing prosperity to the masses]. 

Swedish Socialism is a step above Capitalism, we turn it around and as individuals become the greatest benefactors. Our individuality, our diversity is our Greatest Common Good.

What if countries will start actively preventing emmigration? Our traditional model of 'human movement is antiquated.'

[To be continued]

White oak YELLOWS - Ikea's VEDHAMN door review + HOW 2 handle that;

 [prelude] 

[picture shows a screenshot of VEDHAMN door listing on the Canadian IKEA app]

VEDHAMN is IKEA's new door for their SEKTION boxes - a solid white oak frame with a veneered plywood panel trapped in the centre. It is a plain frame featuring a small round as the solid transitions from the frame to the inside panel. It is sprayed with a clear acrylic finish - a lot clearer than the 'traditional cellulose look' of white oak. The selection of the solid appears good with minimal grain run out; the centre panel veneers feature nice long open grain. 

This is what you want in your door, really - if it is the AI robotic arm and eye that selects the veneers and assembles the doors it is doing a great job. Look - 

Chapter 1 - I love White Oak

White oak is one of the nicest hardwoods that we have growing here in North America. It is used to the climate, it always grew here and thus is well suited for any purpose that requires hardness, durability and good looks. 

White oak is also one of the hottest designer woods right now, and due to the inflation and demand it is commanding astronomical prices with decreased selection. It is not uncommon to purchase entire lifts of quartered white oak solid not just to secure a good price but also to secure the quality that you want - every board is looked over and its placement carefully considered within the larger scope. 

Historically this has not been the case at all. White oak was always looked down as the secondary cousin to red oak. If you did not have money for nice red oak hardwood floors, you could always compromise and get white oak instead. Savigs were around $1 a sq.f in material costs back in my flooring days; and if the flooring was stained than it was even harder to tell and the savings were good. 

Today red oak has fallen so much out of favour that beautiful red oak veneers - one of the nicests sequenital flitch layups I have seen in my life! - are used as backers on 'more precious layups'. Look - 

[picture shows beautiful and precious 'tiger stripe' figure red oak veneers used for backers on more in demand white oak veneers;]

Eventually even IKEA could not resist to jump on the white oak bandwagon - remember, it's always about the sales; 'people's wants, needs and desires' I wrote once, to describe IKEA's business model. Yes, design is cyclical and tastes need to be made [media / magazines] but white oak could not be pulled off successfully with thermofoil, I think, because white oak is quite culturally too familiar to us, and by 'us' I mean the Western Sphere of influence. White oak doors had to be solid. 

Enamoured? I've always been, and have some white oak doors currently in my personal life. They are aging gracefully and feature the 'traditional cellulose look' - never underestimate the power of visual association! They are yellowing nicely but because of the purposeful, 'white oak centered design', that shift is completely out of focus and not a visual priority. What is a visual priority is the wood itself - the hand selected out of a lumber pile; emotional attachment the it was carried thru design woodworking school waiting patiently for its inteded purpose not known until the ver last moment; and FINALLY it rests as a beautiful, handcrafted, highly detailed solid wood door with the centre panel being glass from a damaged BILLY bookcase door. 

Hahahaha! Yes! My very own 'super precious 2 me' white oak door has a 'cheap IKEA glass in it' - it's an IKEA Hack. I really like the clarity of glass doors for BILLY bookcases - it's almost like Starphire glass; clarity is really amazing. But the best part about it is the safety - it smashes to small, harmless smitherines. Where I come from to have a piece of glass like that is expensive - the AS-IS section from IKEA is fertile gorund for all sorts of amazing glass; seize on the opportunities! 

But if you want to go Large White Oak then you have to hire a knowledgable designer, that is the only way I would advise to do white oak large scale. Essentially it needs to be handled by professionals, otherwise the yellow will soon become overwhelming and not in a good way. 

[picture shows a custom laid up side panel in 'whiter white oak'; 'whiter white oak' is a unique finishing process that prevents white oak from aging in 'yellow']

So how do you balance your desire to bring a beautiful wood into your space with its natural aging characteristics? By the way any natural wood will exhibit a colour change over its lifespan. 

Chapter 2  - How 2 handle 'The Yellowing' of white oak

Firstly, embrace it - that's how it was meant to be so don't obsess too much about it. 

Second - use as accent doors to bring the sophistication of white oak into your own space.

I would choose to install them as uppers, or if you are Design Hacking, 'at eye level' - however you understand that term; sometimes it is important to trust your own instincts, your own gut feeling vs. 'what others are doing'. 

I would focus on creating a balanced grouping of doors, likely no more than 5-6, that will focus attention on a specific area where you feel 'your kitchen will be strong' - eyes will naturally run for that visual element. White oak is a wood that looks great with virtually any solid colour so VEDHAMN doors can be surrounded with any slab doors, including IKEA's VEDDINGE doors. And, if you do choose VEDDINGE as a complement to VEDHAMN, than you can gain additional savings by going with IKEA's skinny stock panels. 

Chapter 3 - Is there anything else about VEDHAMN?

I am currently running some experiments on the VEDHAMN finish.  Look -

[picture shows a VEDHAMN door with a series of narrow masking tape strips stuck on the solid of the frame, as well as the centre panel]

Will be updating this post as the testing progresses. Stay tuned!

TBC...

Advice 4 tough times - remain Creative OR Give People hope

 

picture shows a young man's room, moved out for college. Assembling his first ALEX - a turquoise small filing cabinet. This is how it starts, and this is how it must be - the Youth must be given opportunity to be YOUNG, regardless of the costs to the investors. 

Swedish Socialism is the way forward, I promise - Stability and Ingenuity is the 1 step. 

Prelude. 

*This is the space* that I had a vested personal interest that it be done properly -  my son's 1st place. Check out my YouTube, Insta and Reddit for valuable information - we did a lot in this space. From un-warrantable sub-floors and how to deal with them, all the way to 'hey, going with a budget Luxury Vinyl Plank, what is a good one, do you know..?'. 

What is REDDIT...? It's the best place - if you are looking for useful information on a particular subject, it could even be a very niche information, then you are likely to find it on REDDIT, get the app. Seniority on REDDIT matters and there are mechanisms in place to deal with influx of manipulation or disinformation - Subject Matter Experts in whatever, answer and contribute to discussions, it's a fun place to be and your influence can be great. 

'Look me up, u/JacekStonoga, I'm on REDDIT' - Karol Kosnik

Housing Crisis is real and Swedish Socialism is the best cure for it - no way around it. Do you want to pay higher prices..? Do you want to introduce instability to your necessary renovation..? Do you want to rely on uncreative, unreliable, and inexperienced labour for success of your project..? 

No?

Then I say go to Swedish Socialism dot com, and join. I promise you that you will find a community of individuals who are just like you, looking for fun times. Let's dream together.

~ciao~

[picture shows a quick mock up of non-traditional design element - a crown moulding for a bed. It is a fancy, solid wood moulding that is installed against the ceiling in one corner of the room over the bed, lining up with the ends.]

Chapter 1 - Budgets TOUGH - how to get thru this Tough Time

Many of us will find our budgets tightened over the next 12-16 months. It may be challenging emotionally as we delay our projects yet again, or wait for 'better opportunity'. These things happen, it's part of life and you will pull through. 

My advice is this: REMAIN Creative - use cheap accessible methods to quickly contextualize your ideas in your own space. One of the best pieces of feedback I received from a client [sadly an unrealized project] - was this 'We even like the fake books you put it.'  -----> I will find the picture and upload it! I ~always~ add those 'imaginary details'; I let your mind fill in the blanks.  By the way, I know exactly why I 'put those books' there -  it was to create the size of the book so I could properly gauge the rhythm of the space. Clearly the client had a great response to it - it was totally Stealth Design; I am consciously testing my ideas on the client, 'Do they like it? Do they not like it..?'.

 ----> 'Let me tell you, people know exactly what they don't 

like because they refuse to pay, hahahaha! 

So make sure you LIKE, ok..??' - 

Karol Kosnik

 

Alright, back to Design!

See that picture of the bed above...? Here is a close-up of what that blue thing at the top is.

Pictures shows a small crown-mould sample picked up for free and made into a return corner for a full size mock up. 

You can get small samples for free - virtually all reputable places will give them away if you pick up or pay for shipping. It's just cost of doing business. I just used masking tape it out,  and 'visually extended' to the size of the bed. 

This is a small and accessible project - but it is a movement forward. You can now give yourself at least 2 weeks to 'live full size with this'. Perhaps you want to start saving money over those 2 weeks - make some financial decisions if it is a worthy investment. See how you feel about it..? You will know exactly when to make the move - remember, it's the wand that chooses the wizard, hahaha!

Enjoy the process!

Chapter 2 - Why do this..? Boost you mental health. 

My advice is to scale down your project by slowing down - not stopping. You are not giving up on yourself, just rebalancing. You will get there I promise. 

Remain on the path to success by completing small challenges like this - its a great mental health boost. Remember, we are hackers and we hack our way to many benefits - let's make improving our space part of the challenge to boost your mental health. It works, I promise you that. Go to Swedish Socialism dot com and join for free. Stuff like this being done right now. Boost UP!

Chapter 2 - ANOTHER great source of FREE furniture: 

'Facebook Marketplace'

        LOOK  ---- >  1 TRICK: important to be be selective!

It's sad but there is a whole generation that is facing a sunset - that includes that furniture as well. Facebook Market place is chock full of great many finds - a result of a titillating image hit! I promise you that there are some AMAZING finds to be had and bargains. 

FREE is BEST

I scavenge for design elements alone, as they retain value and are made in traditional historic ways. Doors are always doors. 

Friends, remain hopeful and remain optimistic - treat this as an opportunity to explore in an affordable fashion, look for bargains and live your best Hacker Life..!

~ciao~