Just how hard is it to put together Ikea furniture?

[bcv513]

I moved into H's house when we got married, and I'm trying to make it feel less like his bachelor pad and more like our home. We are looking to buy a new bed, night stands, coffee table, end tables, and couch. I like a lot of the Ikea stuff and the price is great. Are we going to be able to put it together? Neither one of us is very mechanically inclined, and I don't have much patience. What do you think?

[Deleted]

Pretty easy.

[candreco]

It's not that hard. The most difficult thing is drawers, and even then just double check that the piece you have matches the diagram exactly.

[wambam]

I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent person. I have an engineering degree. I've managed to keep myself alive and functional for 25 years. But damnit, directions from ikea leave me completely incoherent.

Fortunately, I married a mechanical engineer

Sorry, that's probably not what you wanted to hear lol.

[angelaa73]

let me tell you about ikea. It's only cheap furniture if you yourself don't make a lot of money. For the bougey set, that shit is expensive and a pain in the ass
,

[TrudyCampbell]

It's time consuming but not that hard.

[Deleted]

Not hard at all. I built a table, chairs, and many bookcases one night. After a few beers, I'd go around saying, "Listen up Obama: I built that!" I know Pres. O appreciates the humor.

[Deleted]

Depends on the piece. It took us 10 hours to put together our entertainment center. It was a nightmare, and I'm usually very good at putting stuff together. Smaller things aren't bad at all. Only took me 30 minutes to do both of our nightstands.  The big issue is that their instructions are horrible.

[speckledfrog]

Not very, IME.

[toepick]

I put together a dresser by myself and I am not mechanically inclined! It took me a lot of time, mostly because I had to triple check things so I wouldn't screw up, but I felt like a badass when I was done.

[sparkythelawyer]

In theory it is supposed to be easy. In reality I have found one needs a master's degree in mechanical engineering to build that stuff.

[papie]

Jul 9, 2013 12:51:30 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

In theory it is supposed to be easy. In reality I have found one needs a master's degree in mechanical engineering to build that stuff.

H? Is that you?


;-)

I find it very easy and I actually enjoy the process.  It is like a puzzle with specific instructions, very calming, lol.  My H on the other hand HATES it and finds it very confusing.  I try to always do it on my own when he is not home, because he drives me crazy.  

[WOT?*]

If I can do a Sauder entertainment center and a Sauder desk, you can do Ikea, dammit.

[Deleted]

Jul 9, 2013 12:57:18 GMT -5 papie said:

Jul 9, 2013 12:51:30 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

In theory it is supposed to be easy. In reality I have found one needs a master's degree in mechanical engineering to build that stuff.

H? Is that you?


;-)

I find it very easy and I actually enjoy the process.  It is like a puzzle with specific instructions, very calming, lol.  My H on the other hand HATES it and finds it very confusing.  I try to always do it on my own when he is not home, because he drives me crazy.  

This is me.

When I was a kid, I liked following the instructions in lego kits. Ikea furniture is like a grown up version with a purpose.

[sparkythelawyer]

Jul 9, 2013 12:57:18 GMT -5 papie said:

Jul 9, 2013 12:51:30 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

In theory it is supposed to be easy. In reality I have found one needs a master's degree in mechanical engineering to build that stuff.

H? Is that you?


;-)

I find it very easy and I actually enjoy the process.  It is like a puzzle with specific instructions, very calming, lol.  My H on the other hand HATES it and finds it very confusing.  I try to always do it on my own when he is not home, because he drives me crazy.  

Lol!

Every.  Freakin'. Time. I have tried to put together Ikea furniture, it comes out looking like arts and crafts for the motor-skills challenged.  Every time.  I tried to build a TV Cabinet once while the husband was out of town.  He came home, patted my pooky little head and said, "Aw, honey, you tried!" in that voice that says, "You could not build your way out of a box of legos."  I don't even bother anymore :-)

[noodleskooze]

Just don't nail the back of the dresser to the front like my H because he refused my input...we now have nail holes and hammer scuffs all the way around the frame of our son's dresser.

[mrsjuleshs]

I (with a friend putting the bed together) constructed a whole bedroom set for dd a few months ago. Bed with 4 drawers to go under it, 2 nightstands, a dresser, and a desk in under 2 days. Get out the power tools to help screw things in and it's easy. I will admit the majority of our furniture including all of my bedroom furniture minus the bed and our couches are all Ikea. Entry table, my office desk file cabinet and bookshelves, coffee and side tables all came from there and have held up great.

[Deleted]

People who are saying its extremely easy are liars. It isn't too hard, but it can be time consuming.

[polka]

It's not hard.

My daughter has the Hemnes furniture from Ikea in her room, and while the assembly of the daybed took a lot longer than the dressers, it was still pretty easy.

[MrsAxilla]

Jul 10, 2013 0:05:24 GMT -5 @otterama said:

People who are saying its extremely easy are liars. It isn't too hard, but it can be time consuming.

It's time consuming, but it IS easy!  Those little cartoon guys show you exactly what to do.  

[Deleted]

definitely time consuming, and some (like the expedit) really require two people. also definitely recommend getting a real alan wrench vs the one they provide.

[bonquiqui]

I've had an ikea dresser in my car for almost 2 months that needs to be carried up and put together, but I am not handy whatsoever.  Going to pay someone to mess with that when i get around to it.  lol  It's a make up dresser lol

[melindafelinda]

Jul 10, 2013 2:53:47 GMT -5 bonquiqui said:

I've had an ikea dresser in my car for almost 2 months that needs to be carried up and put together, but I am not handy whatsoever.  Going to pay someone to mess with that when i get around to it.  lol  It's a make up dresser lol

I think my dream job might be getting paid to put Ikea furniture together. I think it's fun.

[VeryViolet]

Jul 10, 2013 0:11:54 GMT -5 @cse1960 said:

I don't know! I'm dying to find out. I can't wait till my new couch gets here!

You started with the right piece. I think all of the couches you just have to screw the legs into and they are good to go.

Putting together ikea furniture isn't hard but it is annoying and time consuming. I will say that if you get a bunch of furniture from there you kind of get into a rhythm of how to do it and it gets a little easier. I will never again get a wardrobe or dresser from ikea those two things nearly caused divorce in my house. Lol

[rex]

Ikea directions are like a picture book. It's easy, so my H says.

He was getting pissed the other day putting together the crib because the directions did not show what any step was supposed to look like.

[daisybuchannan]

Depends on what you get.

Dressers come in approximately one million pieces, so not that easy. Well, maybe more time consuming. I've also had issues where the screws wouldn't fit right and things looked off.

[redheadk]

We put a fair amount of IKEA furniture together over the years. The trick, for me, is to lay the screws out on something (I typically use the box) with their part # next to them, use a cordless screwdriver and real Allen wrenches, and look at the directions VERY carefully. The pictures are accurate but many of the pieces are similar. So long as you are very careful and double check that what you are doing looks just like what's shown in the picture, particularly with regard to the pre-drilled holes, it's pretty easy.

[nomad100]

Pretty easy if I do assembly myself. Really hard if I have to put it together with DH. He refuses to read directions, or listen to me try to explain the directions and we end up yelling at each other.

Soooo, if it isn't a piece that requires 2 people, put it together yourself.

[jigsy]

I think it's really easy. The times that I fuck it up is when I just cruise along, doing my own thing, not paying attention, then realize I was supposed to use a flat top screw on a spot instead of the bubble top screw.