You are funny. But seriously, I don't need any more Allen wrenches.
We really owe the whole thing to the generous members and the active participants -- no doubt. I am only a small part of what this site has become...it is what it is because of people (like you) posting, sharing, questioning, answering, planning, designing, modifying, assembling, installing and sending in their pictures. (I promise, those of you whom I've promised I'd get your pictures up, I will...I promise!)
And the moderators! I'm indebted to them. I don't know how we got so lucky to have Eva, whose love of designing makes her an integral part of the Kitchen Planning forum, and Laurie who took an active interest this summer and really blossomed -- they're both fantastic (and not just at design) and give freely of their time, not to mention the favors they've done for people. Brings tears to my eyes. Torrus, with his inside information and consummate knowledge of the IKEA products and ready information on dimensions, article numbers and potential modifications --he's practically encyclopaedic! Not to mention all my secret pals who send me stuff ahead of the general public -- heck, ahead of IKEAns, sometimes! And Kathy (kmcg), with her perpetual remodeling -- she's got knowledge of most everything, and despite her busy schedule, is usually on 4 or 5 days a week -- the dedication! StacyLu, who simply is an all-around good person, a fine remodeler and never seems to get down. She's a force of goodness, I tell ya! Martine, ourmoneypit, is a doll! And quite knowledgable on all things construction and just really...level-headed, but not at the expense of wit and fun!
Just a great group of people. Oh, did I forget to mention Tigger? I can't tell you how many times he's dropped what he's doing to answer questions of the engineering, assembly, installation, modification type and even technical questions regarding computers, access and so forth. Never mind all the help he gives me behind the scenes with the things I don't understand. Probably in a couple of years, our son will be able to handle that aspect -- maybe then, I'll get my kitchen?
As for the how did we get started thing...
Well, it started rather small, actually. I was an active participant, although relatively new, to the IKEA threads over on THS. There were a dozen or so people (a very tight, fun group) working on kitchens and graduates who were generous with their time (not to mention patient!) who were discussing the ins and outs of planning, ordering, assembling and so forth. It was fun and informative, but no FAQ existed, nor were there any archives on THS. There still aren't, but at least now the threads stay on for a few months -- at the time, there were only 10 pages, and threads would drop off into oblivion in about a week. 100 posts were the max on a thread, and inevitably, the questions, concerns and curiosities were repeated. A number of people had saved old threads, and I volunteered to collect them and email them to anyone interested in the collection. This was sometime in March 2005, I believe.
After a while, we began to think it was a good idea to archive the information not only the IKEA threads, but some other good threads that had been posted that had pictures and other details so that other people could benefit. The IKEA Kitchens Fansite was born! At first, it was just a small site hosted on free space that my ISP provides, but we quickly outgrew that and meanwhile people were emailing me, asking questions that I couldn't answer. There were a number of people who didn't feel comfortable with butting into what was a very closeknit group (although it wouldn't have BEEN butting in, I can understand the hesitancy...it was one long ongoing discussion and if you hadn't read the last 2 or 300 posts, at least, you were lost as to what the talk was even about) or having their questions lost in a sea of posts -- and said as much.
We tried a guestbook approach, whereby people could post their questions and get answers but it wasn't working well. Tigger and I discussed it and decided that we'd suck up the cost for a few months and see if we could make a go of a site devoted to IKEA - we talked to a fellow IKEAfan who happened to be an Intellectual Property Rights Attorney who steered us toward the name (given to my own devices, I probably would have chosen something a little less...um, sycophantish), and gave us some (free!) advice and the legal disclaimers and such for the site. That's when this site came to be -- June 18, 2005 -- the old site was put out of its misery, finally, in December 2005. We offered the downloads of the original THS threads, stock photos of the IKEA cabinets and sundries, and I started asking (and getting!) permission to post people's pictures in the Galleries on the Fansite side. The forums started small, with only 2 members plus me for most of the month of June :?.
With Tigger's help, we built the site...little by little, adding FAQ's and photos as time went on. I contacted people who'd previously done IKEA kitchens and then people started finding us through Google. Happy Day! Although we never intended for it to become a business, the costs were becoming real and serious with bandwidth increasing exponentially...in October, we added Google AdSense to the Fansite pages. It wasn't until May of this year that we added the ads on the left side of the pages, which seems to have boosted the earnings a bit. After discussion with forum members, we added the Amazon and Paypal donation boxes -- to allow those who wanted to contribute to do so, and then the Advertising forum for those who were contacting me about advertising. The donations help to cover the costs of mailing out catalogs (we send them out for free - I only ask that people "pay it forward", passing the favor along to someone else when the opportunity arises), the costs of hosting the Fansite and the Forums, leasing the forum software, technical support when necessary, and new software to assist in further development. We still are in the red every month for the most part, but it's worth it!
We both work from home, and my job keeps me online most of the day anyway...this is just more fun than my job! I've considered it a hobby, and have only just recently started to see a little bit of income, over and above costs. I guess after a year and a few months, I should start seeing it as a job, but I still just really enjoy it. I've had the pleasure of meeting several members at different times (other than Tigger, who I just have the pleasure of...
), and hope to meet more members in the future. IKEAFANS party anyone??
Wow, I'm rambling now, aren't I? Beer anyone?
Susan
