Among Ikea‘s constantly updating home furnishings offerings, are a handful of constants that represent perfect, enduring, truly practical design at a really good price, and that don’t scream Ikea. My favorite is the Frosta stool***, a $12.99 birch veneer version of Alvar Aalto’s classic mid-century stool.  I have four in my office and they are so useful, I’ve contemplated getting a few for my apartment. Stacked and stored in a corner, they take up almost no space, to be used as:

-seating, when a crowd descends

-tables (two or three pinch hit as a coffee table; place alongside a sofa or bed and you’ve got an end table)

-stands (for anything, books, plants, tv, small appliances… I cut the legs down with a hand saw on one to make a low stand for my printer.)

via Emma’s blog

You can customize them at will, painting or staining them.

via Life is Carbon

This stripey upholstered version was spotted at Marimekko Concept Store in New York City.

***Since we wrote this article, Ikea inexplicably discontinued the Frosta in the US. (You can buy it in Europe). But we did find a decent knockoff of the knockoff Frosta here.

via Door Sixteen