I’ve just installed some shelves that I actually painted and decorated all by myself. Once done, I sit back and contemplate the finished work and I started to think “Well, my shelves may be a little crooked but they're as nice as ones I could buy one ready-made in a store – I built them myself, after all!”.

I don’t mind that it took me a week or a month to build them. Whatever the hours of preparation and the time I spent to paint and decorate them, I just enjoy the finished product and I feel even more satisfied for that.

This is basically what the IKEA effect is. The term has been popularised thanks to a behavioural economic professor and author: Dan Ariely. The effect refers to the value people are willing to put on things they are actually creating or making themselves. The effect is named after the famous Swedish home furnishing store IKEA that sells flat-packed tables, drawers and beds that shoppers assemble themselves at home.

Ariely was indeed wondering why people seem to end up in love with products that require assembly or make themselves? Through a video (see below), he explains that whatever the difficulties you encountered in the fabrication of your object, there is a tendency to love more the finished product because of the role and the energy you had to put in building it. This feeling can come for a room you’ve painted yourself, a garden you’ve weeded and planted by hand, etc.

A study published in 2011 also showed that people don’t only enjoy what they’ve made themselves but expect family and friends to treasure the products as well. So, from now on, don’t be surprised if your Facebook stream starts to become full of DIY (Do It Yourself) projects.

It is also important to keep in mind that not everyone sees the same value in our creations as we do ourselves, and it is even more relevant when you try to sell. For example, buyers could see your shelves in a wonky way rather than a beautiful asset that is worth paying extra for.

The IKEA effect may also have costs associated with it; the effect tends to be lower when it comes to expensive goods and complicated tasks such as home improvements. Researchers wonder if “people may see the improvements they have made to their homes such as the brick walkways they have laid by hand – as increasing value of the house far more than buyers, who see only a shoddily-built walkway".

From now you’ll understand why you’re such in love with your crooked shelves and your wonky Ikea table.