Thursday, July 24, 2008

I got the Alex flat files built!! Yay!!!


I will admit, it was not pretty.

The first hour and a half went along smoothly. Then, a mini-freak out occured when I accidentally merged the incorrect backing onto one of the drawers, using one of those plastic nails that are almost impossible to reverse! It's an odd thing, when you begin actively, angrily swearing at furniture. A bit weird to think about after the fact (who was that??) but funny. It's ridiculous, but it seems to happen almost every time I build furniture. Strangely, it did not happen last Friday when I built 6 Ikea pieces all by myself! I discovered either A) I grew technical aptitude for building stuff without even trying, OR B) Ikea has really good visual instructions for assembling their furniture AND ships with all the parts. I think it's probably B), but you know that I like to think I got better at something without even trying. :) :)

Anyway, finally Matt was able to pry the two pieces of board apart without damage. I was sure they were going to be ruined due to the prying action since I'd already had a leg up on that before he tried himself. At one point, I imagined that I'd be pathetically lugging a half-made piece of furniture back to Ikea this weekend, in a desperate state and in full-on, teary-eyed, red-faced frustration mode. The unthinkable. Argh, Who wants that. But luckily (luckily!!!) everything came together successfully in the end. Whew!

I also built a 2-drawer file storage piece on Monday. A good solid file storage drawer, but not the most attractive piece - the color is grey and it is pretty basic and not very styley. (Ys, hard to believe but true, Ikea has something kind of not attractive. It's not on the site otherwise I'd show it to you right now. But you will just have to wait. :) ) I may spray paint it a more palatable color. I'm thinking about it.

I also built a piece of furniture that is originally from the kid's department, but it is just what I needed. (Plus, I am a kid so it is fitting.) It's great and fits perfectly behind the door.


I have one piece left to assemble. I am going to wait til the weekend. I have to continue with real work right now.My studio is in decent shape now... well, except for the broken caddy attachment on my drawing table - -happened last night trying to save myself from a fall after tripping in the dark over the last box of unassembled Ikea furniture. Irony!!! And double-irony because I am so darn smitten with that Ikea drawing table with the built-in light table. That I Will. Not. Buy. Sigh.

Check my Flickr for more play-by-play on the studio revisions thus far. :)

5 comments:

Gina Perry said...

ohhhh, do you love it? does it work for larger things like you hoped?

i've found that women put ikea things together better than men sometimes (because they follow directions!)

congrats on getting through most of your assembly! looking good so far!

Bearded Lady said...

I have a new respect for you. I can never put together furniture. What i can do is stand above my husband and tell him everything he is doing wrong as he puts together my furniture.

Do you feel more organized now?

Unknown said...

Yah! Thanks Carlyn! I DO feel more organized. I am just rediscovering my studio. First night "back" last night. Boy do I have a lo tot catch up on. And it's not even finished yet. But I guess I hve to look at it as a work in progress. Otherwise it is just too much. ;)

kathy

Unknown said...

Gina -- it is pretty awesome. It was a great investment. And in all, I am glad I put it together myself -- if I ever buy another it will be a piece of cake to assemble. (And I might!)
I plan on shaving down some of my pieces to fit. The inside drawer size is about 16.5 x 23. Not large enough for 18 x 24 but very very close. I can easily shave the art papers I want to put in there with no problems. (I usually have a lot of border so the art will not be affected).
Thanks on the congrats -- it's been a ton of work ad I feel I am still in the tornado a little bit -- but I am coming back down to earth due to duty calling :) So that is good.

Gina Perry said...

I think I'm picking up one of these for my new office space soon. Good to know the exact inside dimension - it should still handle my 14"x20" wc blocks, phew! Do you still like it? Any complaints?