Ikea-Meccano

I am a sucker for Ikea build-it-yourself furniture. My favorite toy as a child was a Meccano set and Ikea is Meccano for adults. I doubt I would be so tempted by Ikea furniture if I didn't have to screw it together and, like Meccano, know that the bits fit together faultlessly.

After building kitchen cupboards a couple of years ago there has been a hiatus but last week I gave away the small bar table to a student who needs to stand at her computer instead of sitting all day.  As a replacement I bought an island bench.

Ikea staff had to help me load the three heavy boxes into the car and I drove home carefully, aware that they could become lethal missiles in an accident.  By the time I had them in the kitchen at home I was too tired to think, but still I couldn't resist opening the boxes and reading the assembly instructions before I went to bed.

Kitchen 2016

The island bench is easy to construct but you end with it upside down. It was far to heavy for me to turn over, even with ingenuity, but my friendly neighbour and her son came to my rescue. Once it was the right way up we stood admiring it and asking ourselves why the kitchen looks much bigger with this big bench than it did with the small bar table. It has made a remarkable difference.

Kitchen 2013

Meccano for adults

You'd never guess so many nuts and bolts
are needed to make a table!

What is it about making Ikea furniture that is so appealing? I get a buzz from pushing in the bolts and screwing in the screws. They always fit and the pieces are drilled in a way that makes it hard to make a mistake. (When my kitchen installer was flummoxed by a cupboard attachment last year and suggested drilling extra holes, I insisted instead that we demount it and try again from the beginning. It turned out that one of the pieces was upside down and that if extra holes had been drilled the cupboard swing door would not have worked at all.)

This weekend I made a little table and felt again the thrill I felt as a child with my meccano set. Meccano and Ikea furniture have a lot in common, which is probably why I keep going back for more.

Table and chair