“Do by self”

The favorite saying for my nephews and niece that are in the 2 1/2 to 3 years age range is, “do by self.”  Wether it is taking the cap off of bubbles or turning on the water for a bath, everything must be done by themselves!  Well since DIY is just that: do it YOURSELF, I decided it was high time, I didn’t squirmishly ask my husband to come in and save the day on a particular DIY project.

This DIY project was an Ikea desk.

To be fair, most DIYs, I do by myself, although some with about the skill of a newly independent two year old. However, when it comes to Ikea – I always turn to Graham.  I think he likes to flex his home improvement muscle every once in a blue moon.  And I have always enjoyed it when someone else will put out the sweat and tears, while I simply toss over a screwdriver every now and again.  But this is an all together different Ikea story…

Screwdrivers from Alice Supply Co

Yesterday, I took the thrilling drive over the bay bridge to Ikea, wandered the confusing maze of a store, picked out the perfect piece, searched rows of boxes for the correct box, haphazardly put the box containing my desk in one million pieces onto a rickety cart, stood in a line for days, paid an obscenly large bill for Ikea, brought my engorged car over to the loading zone, helped a man put a 150 pound box into the trunk, which he dropped on the tips of my fingers, and drove back home in traffic: all by myself.

Now folks, a solo trip to Ikea is hardly a topic to write about.  However, putting a desk together unassisted, now that deserves some writing (that and I can’t think of any other topics today).  It took me 5 hours, four swear word sessions, three “oh that’s what I did wrong” revelations, two bruised fingernails, one callous and zero helpers, to put the desk together.

Here is the Besta Burs desk in gray, which I’m using as a console for our dining room.  I didn’t use the chrome hardware because I thought it looked too industrial for the room.  The foo dogs will reside on top (with new lamp shades), our fancy wedding silver in the drawers and a painting will be hung above.

(Image taken with I Phone at night – please excuse the poor quality)

What I learned…Ikea didn’t just happen to mess up and put the holes in the wrong place – I was simply not doing it correctly.  If something was particularly difficult to screw in – I was in the wrong.  However, my biggest lesson learned is that it’s a serious pain to assemble Ikea furniture; so find someone else to do it and kindly offer to hand them the screwdriver when needed.  “Do by self” – ha – that’s something I got over at about 3 and a half.

Have you ever built Ikea furniture?