ikea flatpack furniture that looks great in shop but building it own your own when you get home...

Best advice is to bring somebody else into the equation since if you're already losing parts you may be in deep trouble. One other set of hands and eyes can go a long way.

All depends on the store, I guess -- when I ordered my bed, they brought it right to the door (thankfully). Had to pay extra, but like when they delivered and installed my new fridge, it was very much all worth it.

the only snag is his van outside, with "FLATPACK ASSEMBLY" all over it. it may as well say: "THE BLOKE WHO LIVES AT THIS HOUSE IS EMASCULATED AND CAN'T EVEN PUT UP HIS OWN SHELVES, THE BIG MOOK."

still.

has anyone ever managed to take *down* a piece of ikea furniture? mrs F and i tried it with a wardrobe last week. it didn't go well at all. bye-bye, wardrobe. that'll need replaced at some point ... rats' cocks. might have a go at putting that one up ourselves, though. hmm.

This is dead right - even if their job is just to dole out the dowels and the screws and hand over the Allen wrench, having someone to stocktake is invaluable. Anything sizeable generally requires two pairs of hands at some point to line up half a dozen screws to their holes.

Our new house is embarrassingly Ikea-heavy at the moment, but for affordable storage solutions when your antique-y furniture doesn't fit or work in your new space, I can't think of anyone else. There seem to be quite a few record-collector-oriented storage outlets in the US (reasonably priced and who'll deliver for nothing) but nothing like that in the UK. If you want to house a coupla thousand CDs, hire a carpenter or go to the Swedes.

Traby, Fjallanas, Hemnes, Leksvik, Markor - our house is like the IFK Göteborg subs bench.

mind, it didn't help that i forgot to give him all the door hinges. which i then couldn't find anywhere. eventually they turned up under everything else we own, piled up in the spare room.

anyway: i've had a productive morning reading ILX sorting a few work-related issues out from the comfort of my living room, so hurrah.

x-post: no, he was too busy looking for your balls.

£250! I quit my shitty job, I'm doing that.

putting ikea furniture together is totally part of the experience/fun. the little bubble man!

Currently saving our lives: Patrull plug-guards, keeping inquisitive fingers away from the 240V.

aldo, DIY and I do not mix. i put up a curtain rail once; six months later it fell down on my head. putting up a wardrobe tested my relationship with mrs F to its limits. my dad nearly disowned me after i managed to fuck up painting his garage door. etc.

who says saturday night round grimly's gaff doesn't FUCKING ROCK, eh?

knobs.

we also went to B&Q today. that place is like a vision of hell.

1. Keep track of parts

2. Follow directions very closely

i probably shouldn't have climbed in it and done a little dance halfway through; that seemed to structurally weaken the base and necessitate some urgent re-fixing. but on the whole the fucker looks ace. and i feel marginally more masculine than i did before.

which, admittedly, isn't saying a great deal. but hey.

still: i've overcome my fear of the flatpack, and would happily do this shit again. i think where we went wrong the last time we tried this, three or four years ago, was buying a ridiculously tall and skinny wardrobe, which presented us with an idiotically flimsy frame that was almost impossible to erect unbroken. it was a painful experience and the mental scarring was vast.

anyway. four chairs and a wardrobe. and mrs fiendish has done some clever shit with curtains in the bedroom. get the FUCK in. i'm off to crack open a bottle of red wine.

(He'll be back when he discovers that the wardrobe door opens inwards)

dude, srsly: we got three quotes. 100 quid was, i thought, more than reasonable. the other bloke i spoke to wanted 150 ("but it might be more when i see it"). the people who advertise in ikea itself wanted a staggering 250, although i suppose they need to recoup the cost of the glossy advertising.

And for what it's worth grim, I always thought you were a chick!

i was, until i learned to assemble wardrobe. now i am a MAN.

became, even. i keep forgetting i've had a flatpack epiphany.

The first time I read this I thought I misread something to do with cracking one off. I thought that was a bit excited to get about assembling some flatpack furniture but, hey, each to his own.

I live about five minutes away from IKEA and I've been in it twice. It terrifies me. But if people would pay me to do it, then, hell yeah, bring it ON.

ikea, though ... i dunno. i quite like it. i think. what's happening to me?

What are ikea's worktops like? The ones i've seen before haven't been much cop.

Best bit of advice possible = buy one electric screwdriver plus spare battery that can be charged while you are using the other.

I wish I could quit my job and set up putting together Ikea furniture.... of course I'd have to hire a driver.....

Leigh - most of the worktops are bog-standard, but they do do a looooovely wood one made of blocks, but it's k-expensive