Putting Together IKEA Furniture is Not for the Faint of Heart
So, I have a bone to pick with IKEA.
I've been wanting the Alex Drawers from IKEA for a while; if you watch makeup YouTubers, you probably know that the Alex Drawers are really popular for storing makeup. I have a lot of makeup to organize (surprise, surprise), so I decided to buy these drawers, naively assuming that I would have the wearwithal to assemble them when they arrived.
I mean, IKEA markets their stuff as simple. Straight forward. Easy to put together. When you go into an IKEA store, everything is clean and white and shiny, and you think to yourself, "yes, if I cough up a few hundred (or a few thousand depending on how much furniture you're buying) dollars, my home can also be clean and white and shiny." What they don't tell you is that, in reality, you'll be sitting in your living room, surrounded by random pieces of wood and screws and tiny little dowel rods, saying "huh?"
Like, okay, I'll admit that I don't really have the technical skills to do complicated things with tools, but I know how hammers and nails and screwdrivers work, and IKEA has a reputation for making things that are easy to put together.
These drawers were not easy to put together.
I'm guessing that assembling these drawers took me somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 hours over two days, and that's with the help of another person. Somewhere around hour 3, I had to pause and be "why is this still happening to me? I've been working on this for hours, why am I not done with this?" Somewhere around hour 5, I was like "there is literally nothing I want to do less than continue assembling this piece of furniture" (well, except for play volleyball in 10th grade gym class again; that was pretty bad).
By the time I was done, my fingers and hands were in pretty significant pain from screwing and unscrewing so many screws and trying to get the drawers into the metal runners. Part of that was my fault because I was using a screwdriver that was about four inches long with a metal, incised handle, which started to become pretty uncomfortable after 8 hours.
But, the problem with IKEA is they don't really provide written instructions. 99% of the instructions are drawings, and that doesn't really work with me. I feel like I'm playing charades with the little person in the pictures trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do.
The other problem with the drawings is that sometimes it's hard to tell which piece their referring to. Like, my drawers came with a lot of flat, square rectangles of wood that are more or less the same size. Sometimes it's hard to tell which one is which. I have the same problem with all the little screws and nails. Like, you can't tell me that they don't look the same in drawings because they absolutely do. I'm guessing that they don't include words in the instructions so that they can use the same instructions in every country they sell in, but, seriously, how complicated would it be to just put several languages in one set of instructions. It would make my life a lot easier.
Anyway, I came, I saw, and I conquered because, after doing battle with screwdrivers for 10 hours, my drawers are now assembled and full of makeup. So, I vanquished the drawers. However, if you're interested in getting IKEA furniture, don't be fooled by the shiny, glossy show rooms. Their stuff is actually really difficult to put together.
Putting together IKEA furniture is not for the faint of heart.
Just sayin'
I've been wanting the Alex Drawers from IKEA for a while; if you watch makeup YouTubers, you probably know that the Alex Drawers are really popular for storing makeup. I have a lot of makeup to organize (surprise, surprise), so I decided to buy these drawers, naively assuming that I would have the wearwithal to assemble them when they arrived.
I mean, IKEA markets their stuff as simple. Straight forward. Easy to put together. When you go into an IKEA store, everything is clean and white and shiny, and you think to yourself, "yes, if I cough up a few hundred (or a few thousand depending on how much furniture you're buying) dollars, my home can also be clean and white and shiny." What they don't tell you is that, in reality, you'll be sitting in your living room, surrounded by random pieces of wood and screws and tiny little dowel rods, saying "huh?"
Like, okay, I'll admit that I don't really have the technical skills to do complicated things with tools, but I know how hammers and nails and screwdrivers work, and IKEA has a reputation for making things that are easy to put together.
These drawers were not easy to put together.
I'm guessing that assembling these drawers took me somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 hours over two days, and that's with the help of another person. Somewhere around hour 3, I had to pause and be "why is this still happening to me? I've been working on this for hours, why am I not done with this?" Somewhere around hour 5, I was like "there is literally nothing I want to do less than continue assembling this piece of furniture" (well, except for play volleyball in 10th grade gym class again; that was pretty bad).
By the time I was done, my fingers and hands were in pretty significant pain from screwing and unscrewing so many screws and trying to get the drawers into the metal runners. Part of that was my fault because I was using a screwdriver that was about four inches long with a metal, incised handle, which started to become pretty uncomfortable after 8 hours.
But, the problem with IKEA is they don't really provide written instructions. 99% of the instructions are drawings, and that doesn't really work with me. I feel like I'm playing charades with the little person in the pictures trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do.
The other problem with the drawings is that sometimes it's hard to tell which piece their referring to. Like, my drawers came with a lot of flat, square rectangles of wood that are more or less the same size. Sometimes it's hard to tell which one is which. I have the same problem with all the little screws and nails. Like, you can't tell me that they don't look the same in drawings because they absolutely do. I'm guessing that they don't include words in the instructions so that they can use the same instructions in every country they sell in, but, seriously, how complicated would it be to just put several languages in one set of instructions. It would make my life a lot easier.
Anyway, I came, I saw, and I conquered because, after doing battle with screwdrivers for 10 hours, my drawers are now assembled and full of makeup. So, I vanquished the drawers. However, if you're interested in getting IKEA furniture, don't be fooled by the shiny, glossy show rooms. Their stuff is actually really difficult to put together.
Putting together IKEA furniture is not for the faint of heart.
Just sayin'
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