Assemble it yourself furniture

[Gary Herrmann]

My neighbor bought a loft bed/desk combo for his daughter. For the bribery of dinner and beer, we picked it up and I spent 3 hours over there helping him put it together. I noticed a a few things.

The hex bolts were either too short or the holes drilled in the bed posts weren't drilled deeply enough. We couldn't get the bolts to engage the barrel nuts. I solved that one with a 1/2" forstner bit.

One of the barbed connecters was loose and stripped out when he tried to get a bolt into it. I went home and grabbed an appropriately sized bolt, washer and lock washer and got around that problem.

All in all, it looks pretty good, but with the "alterations" I had to do, $1000 seems pretty steep for something that seems to be mostly veneered and painted MDF. It would not have gone together, if I hadn't altered it with the forstner bit. I do think the knock down connectors were kinda cool tho.

I also added 8 of those "L" table top connectors from LV to prevent the matching chest of drawers from racking all over the place.

My 5 year old was a little leary of climbing up there, so I guess I have 2 or 3 years before I have to design and build something like that...

[Tyler Howell]

I went to a very popular Borg that starts with and "I" looking for ideas.
I was appalled at the trash they were selling and people were buying:eek: .
No thanks. Not in my house.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I went to a very popular Borg that starts with and "I" looking for ideas.
I was appallled at the trash they were selling and people were buying:eek: .
No thanks. Not in my house.

Two questions:
1.) What large chain big box store begins with "I" ??
2.) why not say the Name? It's not unlawful and not tortious.

Just askin.

[Ken Pywell]

I have no "ikea" what you are talking about.

[Ellen Benkin]

Sorry to disagree, but I've helped several friends assemble Ikea stuff and it all went together very well and fitted securely. I was impressed with the designs and the "joinery". I might not want it in my house, but I wouldn't discourage anyone else from getting it.

[Lee DeRaud]

Sorry to disagree, but I've helped several friends assemble Ikea stuff and it all went together very well and fitted securely. I was impressed with the designs and the "joinery". I might not want it in my house, but I wouldn't discourage anyone else from getting it.Second that. Early on, most of what they sold was pure junk, but the last couple of years, the quality has gone way up. No, it's not fine furniture, but it's certainly worth what they're charging for it, in many cases way better than some of the stuff I've seen in "real" furniture stores lately.

[fRED mCnEILL]

About 25 years ago I bought a bunk bed form my son from Ikea. It was the most sturdy bunk bed I ever saw. I'm always intrigued by their fastener systems.

Before I became a woodworker I bought some Ikea things. Some of it is good and some is junk.

Fred Mc.

[Tom Sontag]

For someone willing to move beyond Ikea but not wanting to build a shop, buying antique furntiure reproduction kits are an excellent choice. Bartley's and Shaker Workshops offer excellent designs with quality material and joinery. Assemble, glue and finish (okay, it takes more than 3 hours) and they will own furniture better than you can buy and better than most of us design (since they copy classic designs). It is how I got started in this WWg thing and I still like each piece.

[Jim Becker]

Sorry to disagree, but I've helped several friends assemble Ikea stuff and it all went together very well and fitted securely. I was impressed with the designs and the "joinery".

I agree...I have a lot of Ikea furniture in the house and a lot that lives elsewhere now, both with my ex and via private sale over the years. (One piece is even standing up to retail use nicely) I only ever had a problem with one piece during assembly and that was merely the issue of two right sides. (They cheerfully rectified the problem for me) Yes, it's not "fine furniture" in the sense of the stuff we all build, but it fills a need. And the company really does have the knock-down thing down very well. I'd buy their stuff before I'd drop dollars on a lot of the furniture in most retail outlets...
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Gary, it's disappointing that you had to modify things to get the furniture together. One has to wonder about the QC involved, either in packaging or on the line when the original hole was drilled! I wonder if every piece off the line had the problem or it was just a fluke. (short bolt in the bin, as it were...)

[Frank Chaffee]

Gary,
I’m happy to hear you had skills and resources available to fix the problems encountered in the assembly of the loft/combo unit for your friend’s daughter.


Sorry to disagree, but I've helped several friends assemble Ikea stuff and it all went together very well and fitted securely. I was impressed with the designs and the "joinery". I might not want it in my house, but I wouldn't discourage anyone else from getting it.
I too have assembled furniture from big box places, and have also been impressed with the fixturing and hardware that went into the construction of the parts which fit together so well. A 90° desktop half that had been damaged in shipment was replaced with one that fit perfectly.

Now that I’m a wannabe woodworker, I guess that I cannot in good conscience avail myself of the deals out there for the “four hour to desk” people. Shucks!

Frank

[Tyler Howell]

Everything in a box, some assembly required seams to be the way of the world. Swedish Design has some beautiful products that are engineering marvels. They may all come from the same factory for all I know.
Ikea fills a niche and must be doing something right to foster such a large complex in prime real estate.
As I said I was looking for ideas and ready to buy if they could offer better, but I walked away empty handed and very disappointed.