And Now A Letter To Ikea
Dearest Ikea,
We love you. We really do. But yesterday you exploited that relationship and I just can’t bite my tongue this time. Just because “some assembly required” is one of the terms of our relationship, it does not mean that we want to put together every single thing that we buy from you. This means you Kassett storage box.
Sure, putting together your furniture is often part of the Ikea fun. Not only do we gain an affordable and stylish item for our home, but it comes with a guaranteed sense of accomplishment. But there’s no pride in having to assemble my own cardboard box. None at all. Need I remind you that an item like this comes free (and fully assembled!) with the purchase of simple things like shoes and cereal? So why must each of yours require multi-page instructions, a dozen screws and 15 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a break from all that allen wrench action. But having to punch out 24 holes by hand was a bit ridiculous. You even went as far as to perforate the holes, but stopped short of removing them completely. Really? Or was that a bonus gift. I get a storage box AND complimentary confetti? No thanks.
In summary, it took me nearly an hour (and 48 screws!) to put together the four Kassett boxes that we bought this weekend. That’s more time than it took me to assemble the Expedit bookcase that houses them. They do look pretty darn good in the end. And I can’t complain about the $6/box price tag. But please, charge me the extra buck or two that it takes you to ship a pre-assembled box (I know shipping things flat saves me money, but a flat bookcase or bed is a lot more of a space saver than a 11.5″ box). I’m begging you. Help me help you help me. And I’m sure that loving feeling will come a-floodin’ right back.
Sincerely, John Petersik
PS: Thank goodness the top of the box came pre-assembled. That, my friend, could’ve really been a deal breaker.
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Comments
Great post! You really nailed this one. I have 4 of these boxes myself and could not believe how tedious it was to put them together. I won’t be buying another one again, it’ll be worth it to spend extra money. Personally I think they are kind of flimsy too, even for paper storage which is what i use them for.
amen! AMEN.
i normally don’t mind the assembly, but it can get ridiculous (which is sometimes the bonus of finding a properly put together ikea item on craigslist). when you add that to the shopping experience ( http://tearinguphouses.blogspot.com/2009/11/ikea-post-continues.html ), plus the shaky quality of products, sometimes ikea just isn’t worth it.
then again, i like a lot of their smaller items, and i’m a sucker for their ice cream cones…
kelly
This gave me a really good laugh right here at my desk, my mind instantly went back to stupid little allen wrenches, small bits of cursing, and some blood drawn all in the name of some assembly required. I have to say though, that I am suprised about a box needing to be assembled, this is something I will remember.
I’ve totally been there. I also own four of those boxes, and I believe that it took me two days to get them done (after doing two of them, I gave up for another day).
I wish I would have taken a picture of the blister I got on my index finger from trying to twist those thiny nut/bolt things together. :-)
Congrats on getting it done, though! You deserve some ice cream or something for all that hard work!
This is making me laugh because I actually bought four of these boxes on Monday to put on our new Billy bookshelves, and I said the same things…”Thank goodness the lid is assembled!” and “Seriously?? They go to the trouble of perforating the holes, but not fully punching them out, just so I can have sore fingertips.” No joke, my husband had the two bookshelves assembled in almost the same amount of time it took me to do the boxes.
Um, Heather W, do you have a camera in our kitchen? Because I most certainly treated myself to some ice cream last night after assembling these boxes (and the Anebodas that we’ll show off later today). You know me too well.
-John
Hahaha, you crack me up! Thank you for speaking on behalf of many fellow sore fingered Kassett assemblers. I feel your pain as I just spent the same amount of torturous time piecing together four for my kiddos room. ISH! It was pretty ridiculous…
And they look marvelous! Great Job! Can’t wait to see the finished storage room, because so far so good!
PLEASE don’t ever delete this blog….when I finally buy a house, I plan to buy a semi-fixer-upper and I have full intention of coming here for all of the help and inspiration I most likely will need. I am DYING to paint old cabinets! Just need the old cabinets :)
Amen brotha. My thumbs are screaming at me for subjecting them to so much allen wrenching. Not that I can complain, for my efforts were at least for a couple of nightstands and not some cardboard boxes…
But they do look very very cute all finished like that. Props to you guys for having stylish EVERYTHING.
CANNOT WAIT TO SEE YOUR BASEMENT!!!!!
Oh, and I feel the same way about assembling EVERYTHING from West Elm (as alas, we do not have an IKEA anywhere near Kansas City)- I honestly would be fine with paying a little bit extra to have someone come and assemble it for me. But cardboard box assembly?!?!?! That’s taking it a bit far…..
i just read this out loud to my husband and he echoes every word. he had to put these together for our office and was cursing Ikea all along the way. :)
About a month ago we bought a ton of Kassett boxes for DVD storage on a bookcase, important paper boxes for the closet, etc. Husband was not happy with the 2 hours it took to put them together for a simple box. But, the kitty liked the confetti, and getting in them when they were complete.
I too just bought those boxes (also in white and green) and I couldn’t agree more – popping out all those holes got pretty old after awhile! They look great on your shelf :)
Amen brother! I spent 3 hours one night assembling 8 of these boxes and I would gladly spend that kind of time on furniture. But a box, really?
IKEA ranks pretty high on my list of things I love, and I tend to get overly excited as I browse the store while trying to control my cart on that awful floor of theirs in the marketplace. However, each and everytime I drive back from IKEA with all my goodies in my car I’m reminded of the fact that I will have to put all these “goodies” together myself. That alone coupled with my anti-direction reading personality and lets just say, my house after a day at IKEA is not the most pleasant place to be while I’m putting things together :)
Then again, as much as we all complain we still keep going back for more. IKEA’s got it like that and they know it!
You are so right about those boxes! However, it’s turned out that with enough lego building practice, our kids love putting together Ikea stuff. I just hand them the package with the boxes, and they bring them back assembled! So, take heart…hopefully you’ll have some helpers before too long!! :-)
LOL. You have to ask yourself which is more important, saving money or saving time. I’ll keep “some assembly required” in mind on my next trip to the yellow and blue store. :-)
Love this post – and your pics did a great job of showing how completely overwhelming, annoying and unnecessary all the assembly can be!
Ikea, all we want to do is love you … why can’t you just love us back?!
I bought the DVD boxes, and while I love them, they were SO difficult to put together. I finally figured it out — but I completely understand your frustration (in particular with the confetti).
Oh man, that is BRUTAL! I bought the magazine holder version of those boxes, but all I had to do was some origami-esque folding and they were done. Next time I need a storage box, I’ll suck it up and pay the $$ at Container Store. The amount of screws in your photos is absurd. For all that assembly time, the boxes should be $2, not $6!
I bought 4 of these last month and only put 2 together! I figure I’ll con my husband into doing them, someday… (he can put together a truck from just some nuts and bolts, but show him an IKEA package and suddenly he is clueless)
OK……..great humor, sorry you had to go through all that for some affordable, yet stylish, boxes.
Now onto the real deal………….let’s see the REVEAL!!
Amen to that! I mean, I realized the pkg was a little too flat for a box when I bought it–but I thought that meant just folding a few flaps together. I had no idea until I opened it that actual screws were involved. Craziness.
I feel your pain. My first time around I was stubborn and figured I could put together the small ones without a screwdriver – I ended up with throbbing red thumbs – ow!!!!
I recently put some of those together and felt the same way! I think it took me at least 15 minutes a piece and there were four of them, it seemed so silly for four small boxes. They sure were cute though once I managed to get them put together!
LOL!!!! Too funny! They recently just reduced the price on those bad jacksons by about 40% – maybe that was by shipping flat!!! LOL!
Thank you – well said. I just put those boxes together a couple of months ago and felt the exact same way. I love Ikea but come on!!!
:-)!! I actually have a package of these boxes that I’ve been putting off assembling…I guess I should bite the bullet and just get it done, but yeah, I feel your pain on this one…
They do have “snap” boxes but the snapping mechanism doesn’t stay snapped if you put anything heavy in the box.
There are also “pop” up boxes..
ah boxes..
I’m glad there are others that share my frustration with those things. They are nice, but they really take too long to assemble.
I bought very similar boxes from The Container Store a few months ago and felt the same way when the arrived flat with dozens of tiny screws and bolts… and i had 6 to assemble. The confetti and time were both annoying, but the boxes do look great!
This is hilarious! Oh how I also detest the tedious process of putting things together. My favorite is when you don’t quite get all of the pieces or they don’t fit exactly as they should…I just experienced that with metal shelves from Target that required “no hardware” =)
I purchased several of these boxes a few months ago and my thumb is still recovering from the assembly. Those little screws took all of the skin off my right thumb. As much as I hated putting them together, I’m thinking about getting a few more next time I make an IKEA run. Glutton for punishment.
i can’t believe these boxes didn’t come assembled! good to know if i ever decide to purchase a few – they do look awfully good though :-)
Looking forward to your basement reveal later today.
oh goodness, i have already written this letter to ikea!!! so ridiculous! and i will say after having used them for a year, somehow the screws loosened and i lost a couple bolts (?) so make sure they are on tight!
You are too funny. All you need is an 8 year old girl who RELISHES tiny detailed work, and you’re in business. SweetP is keeping her jammies and unmentionables in two white Kassett boxes for the time being and she assembled them all by herself with delight :)
Oh, and I think she might have been a little faster than you. Sorry, John.
Jacci
OMG John, you’re hillarious. I felt the exact same way putting together my boxes, like seriously Ikea??? I hope you really send the letter!!!
Oh boy… what a pain in the rear. Good thing they look super sharp in the end though! Nice!
Ha ha ha very funny! Been there, done that! I think, no matter where we live we seem to have a thing or two in common…the love for IKEA and the frustrating experience that follows.
from a proud swedish girl ;)
Oh I feel for you. I use those boxes in my office closet and I remember my fingers being sore for days after putting them together. I had to put together 12 of them. UGH! Not fun at all. You should not need a topical anelgesic after assembling boxes!
I know exactly how you feel. I bought 3 of these boxes about a month ago and I think the blister on my finger from hand twisting the nuts/bolts has finally healed. What is that about??
Oh no! I should have warned you!
I own two of the green boxes, and went thru the same thing you did. I love IKEA, but I found this particular project to be somewhat ridiculous. Thanks for sharing the ups AND downs of your home improvement!
Good luck with the basement/crawl space, I can’t wait to see pictures!
Bravo John. Bravo. Thanks for saying what I, and so many others I dare say, also feel. I love Ikea, but sometimes it just hurts to have to put EVERYTHING together. My husband and I have spent much time assembling Billy Bookcases (6 actually in varying sizes) to then have to assemble 8 of those very same boxes. It’s a little heartbreaking, no? However, congrats on finishing them all! Can’t wait to see your and Sherry’s next basement update!
I feeel for you but this is oh so strange as I bought a couple of these a month or so ago and they came ready-made – maybe they think we folk in Scotland don’t know how to put stuff together – Thanks IKEA for that though!!!
Hey Janis,
No fair! They come pre-assembled in Scotland?! Maybe someone over there sent them a note like ours (if only it were that easy…).
xo,
s
I wish that I could feel your pain!
Living in Missouri, we are IKEAless and it hurts….really, really bad! We have the catalogs and online access, but for whatever reason nothing is ever available to ship to our area. I think I have mentioned this to you before. It is soooooo frustrating for those of us needing and wanting to decorate on a budget! Has anyone else had this problem?
I feel your pain. I had the same situation with the CD boxes from IKEA. It was *almost* not worth the assembly time, only almost.
So true! I just bought these same boxes for my daughter’s room and was surprised at how much assembly was required. Of course the first one I put together w/out consulting the pictures and didn’t put the label holder in first. So I had to disassemble and start again!
Hahaha! I felt the same way when I bought my first set of them! I think I’m a glutton for punishment though because of course I went back and bought more.. and I’m pretty sure I see even more somewhere in my future! I just love the way they look with the little silver accents! I tend to treat myself with beer at the end though instead of ice cream! Good luck!
Too true! :) Thanks for sharing – I was seriously questioning my assembly time management skills after I put my six boxes together!
Hilarious!
Though I do like how even the boxes come flat. More fits in my car that way! ^_~
Too funny! So true, though. We all know you guys love DIY, but this is a stretch, I’d say.
I recently purchased the two of green boxes and a half dozen matching magazine holders as well. I had no idea what I was in for. I managed to give myself a nasty paper cut and stabbed myself twice with the metal label holders. My hubby caught me in the midst of a conversation (one-sided of course) with these dear boxes. They do look good on our Markor bookcase and house my otherwise sloppy collection of magazines. If I had to do it all over again, I’d splurge and buy the baskets. Lol.
THIS is why I have the Teen Minions to do my bidding! I have 20 of those boxes, and they assembled themselves when I wasn’t even in the room….
I’ve had 10+ of these boxes in every size through four moves and disassemble and reassemble them every time. It becomes less challenging with each move but the time it takes me to find the little bag of screws and nuts seems to increase in proportion to my improved assembly skills. Don’t ever move!
To Lorrie above: We live in California and have an IKEA distribution center close by, but the nearest IKEA is four hours away. That’s just so wrong.
And John, this was hilarious. Thanks for brightening my day. It doesn’t really make me want to order these boxes for myself, but they sure look great when they are assembled!
I feel your pain. I would gladly pay more for those to already be done also. And, thanks for the teaser photo! I can’t wait to see how this project turned out…
They do look pretty great though.
I love the close up of the screws….really puts the exclamation point on the ridiculousness of the assembly process.
Looking forward to seeing how the basement project turns out!
We just purchased about 8 of those boxes and 4 of the magazine holders. I thought I was being over dramatic when I got exasperated at assembling these. Thank you for assuring me that I am not alone.
I JUST posted about that same idea at Ikea–kind of drives me crazy!!
I have six of them in my office…I’d almost rather put furniture together than do that again! Your post totally made me LOL…been there, done that.
hilarious. i totally agree! please be sure to let us know how long they really last and if they stay together nicely over time. :O)
I’m with you on this one. At least if you had covered a box w/ contact paper you would feel slightly creative.
Wow! I really didn’t feel the pain on these guys. I have those same boxes in green and white and the larger ones in orange … and maybe I’ve just assembled too many cheap cardboard IKEA boxes (anyone remember the red ones? Or the rainbow stripe ones?), but they don’t seem so bad. So, no fear. The more you do, the easier it gets. And you can whip those babies out in 10 minutes (for all four). Although that confetti is kind of annoying …
I agree wholeheartedly! I have four of the red ones and those little screws are extremely easy to drop. Ugh.
I totally did this exact same thing this weekend! I bought a set of these boxes for our girls artwork and I knew I had to put it together, but seriously. Screws? For a box? Oye. Glad we could join together in this nonsense this weekend (but I still love Ikea)!
At least you can purchase things at the stores instead of having to order them!
I ordered maybe 12 items, one of them was backordered so they cancelled my entire order? They don’t give the perk of sending an order confirmation so I had to re-find all the items I had picked out.
I called to state how ridiluous it was to cancel an entire order due to 1 item not being avaiable. The 1st question…”are you on the East Coast or West Coast”. Um neither I’m in Missouri. They then rudely said “That’s East Coast.” Like I’m supposed to know which half of the states they group Missouri in!?
All these small items arrived in HUGE boxes with no protective packaging or filler & everything was damaged. I was too frustrated to deal with trying to return it. Now we spend the extra money to drive to Chicago & visit an actual store! :)
Susan – I’ve had several of these boxes for close to 6 years now; still in great shape. They’re mostly sitting on a shelf, but they do hold a lot of stuff and do just fine when I pull them out.
Hey Laurel,
Thanks for that info for Susan! We love when people pipe up and help each other out- and it’s great to hear that our boxes should last for the long haul. Hopefully long enough to forget the torture required to assemble them…
xo,
s
Hey YHL, so it’s not often that I disagree with things you post and being that I read your blog daily that’s saying a lot. But I have to disagree with you on this.
I recently purchased a few of these boxes myself for the first time and it took me about 20 minutes to put together 4 of them. I did this sitting on my couch watching TV.
I don’t have a problem with the self assemble because when you think of it, if they were to ship them assembled think of how many more shipping boxes they would have to use. While 11.5 inches doesn’t seem like a lot when you are picking up two think of a hundred and how many boxes that would take to ship them.
Also if they were already assembled think of how dirty they would get from everyone touching them in the store and they aren’t made out of the thickest material so they would be pretty easily crushed.
With you guys trying to live your life greener I would think that you would consider the impact on the environment instead of being so quick to shovel out a few extra bucks to waste more trees and energy to make bigger boxes and ship them.
This comment was not meant to sound rude or ignorant. I love you guys and your blog is great! I look forward to reading it everyday. Thanks for doing what you do!
Hey Margaret,
We totally respect your opinion! Thanks for sharing. We’re all about agreeing to disagree (after all, we know not everyone will agree with all of our 1000+ posts). We do many many things to live clean and green (including composting, being a one-car household, using eco-friendly cleaning products, recycling, using a rain barrel, eating organic, supporting local farmers, sleeping on an eco mattress, and writing many other posts about being kind to the planet, etc) but I guess everyone has a few indulgences that that they dream about, and in our case it’s pre-assembled Ikea boxes!
xo,
s
They turned out great! I know how you feel, I have four of them and I thought it was super annoying. I doubt it will change though. In order to keep costs low/reasonable, the shipping of these items is easier and less bulky when flat like they are instead of pre-made, which allows for more to be shipped.
Hey Karla,
Yeah, we know… but we can dream right? And apparently there might just be hope since a reader from Scotland (Janis, waaay above this comment) mentioned that in Scotland they come pre-assembled. Lucky Scots!
xo,
s
Been there, done that. We have the green in our office. I considered purchasing the white for our guest bedroom, but it had not been long enough for the painful memory to go away. (You know like childbirth…)
They do look so nice on shelves, though. Maybe someday…
I bought 4 packages of these boxes and after putting 2 packages (4 boxes) together the other 4 where left until almost 6 months later.
Yeah… couldn’t handle it… my poor fingers! :-(
Another Kansas Citian here who wishes we had an IKEA! I think the closest one is Chicago. You are so lucky!
Hilarious…we had a similar experience with the karlstad sofa this weekend. We took all the pieces out of the boxes only to discover there were no directions. Luckily, my hubby is pretty handy and was able to assemble it rather easily. Then we proceeded to open the packaging for the slipcover and out comes the directions to assemble the couch. Seriously, who opens the fabric package (sold and packaged separately) before assembling the couch?
Not sure how putting the directions for the couch in the separately sold slipcover package saves on costs, but Ikea we love you still!
Darn! I am driving to Ikea in Schaumberg Il on Fri and was going to purchase those boxes for the Expedit bookcase I wanted as well. I didn’t know that you have to put them together and after your comment, I think I will be purchasing baskets now. Thanks for the 411
Be thankful for those perforations! It could be worse… you could have gotten a FIRA mini chest with drawers (http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/80073304). It comes with approximately one million nails and ZERO premade holes. I ended up using wood glue. Give me a Kassett over that any day :D
This post is hilarious!
You are sooooo right. I can’t even deal with buying their little things anymore b/c this sh*t drives me up a wall.
this was hilarious!!! And so true…they have some plastic storage boxes that you should be able to “snap” together quite easily that seem to take and hour to put 4 boxes together….love the letter, and I agree with paying the extra $1!!! putting together my entire dresser by myself was easier than the silly boxes!! haha
Loved the letter! But….I too wish I could feel your pain….we have no IKEA and according to an article in this past sunday’s paper…we will not be getting one probably ever!. There has been rumors that IKEA might come to Syracuse which were squelched (and hard) by IKEA’s PR guy. Not enough people to support a store. bah humbug!
Well done! I feel your pain.
I’ve written my own letter to IKEA, and it didn’t help anything. In my case, I live in Savannah and the nearest IKEA is in Atlanta, which is a 4 hour drive away. BUT… IKEA has a distribution center in Savannah. The stuff literally comes off the boat from Sweden in Savannah, and I still have to go to Atlanta to buy it. If I order if off the internet, it still goes to Atlanta, then gets shipped back to Savannah (for an insane amount). How does that make any sense?
I brought this issue up to IKEA. After several emails in which I conversed with a machine, I finally got a human response. They said that the Savannah distribution center was not set up to handle retail customers. So I asked them if I could at least order things over the phone, and pick it up at the warehouse. Nope. Can’t even do that.
IKEA… if you really wanted to save me money, you would save me the 8 hour round trip and tank of gas it takes me to get to Atlanta when the stuff I buy comes into the US 15 minutes from my house. Seriously.
I too, had an annoying afternoon when I bought these boxes. I only bought 1 set- and will never buy them again because they were so lame! Really Ikea, its a box- you can’t make it a little easier? Maybe the lack of people in the directions was to blame….. oh wait, those little people they have on everything never help things anyway!
I bought four 2-packs of these boxes from my local IKEA (Houston) a few weeks ago for an organization project and it took me forever to get them assembled. So it doesn’t matter if you order it or buy it at the physical store, if it’s from IKEA it always needs assembly.
Oh my gosh, this post made me laugh out loud, literally!! I was thinking how awesome those boxes looked, but really, after reading all this I don’t even want to deal with them!!
How do you say “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha” in Swedish? I think they have some people in product development who think we are all evil geniuses.
I was feeling sorry for myself because the plastic boxes that I put in the Expedit in my laundry room were so hard to click together. The instructions even had a triumphant “Click!” at the end of every stage. Now I realize they were a breeze compared to the other boxes.
Your box assembly comments made me smile…we just took a trip to Ikea this weekend, as well and came back with some Kassett boxes (a big trip for us since we live in Birmingham, AL and the closest one is in Atlanta about 2 1/2 hours away + traffic!)
Did you use a flat-head screwdriver to pop those holes out? Since I had it out from folding down the backs of he “label holders”, I used those and they came out in a cinch. But you’re right–it does take a little while (still haven’t finished all mine)! And the little dots everywhere would have made me nuts if it weren’t for the dust-buster! ;-)
I love these boxes! I can’t tell you how many I have, in multiple sizes. I agree they are a bit of a pain to put together, but having to assemble them yourself insures no damaged corners in shipping or getting them home. I’m sure I will buy more as needs expand and I’ll just deal with the time it takes to put them together.
I sincerely hope that you sent them this letter. I would enjoy reading this if I worked for Ikea! And this made my night! Hahaha.
Funny! My floor looked just like that last picture a few months ago. I own 16 assembled – took about an hour – and 4 more still in the box of these in various sizes and, good lord what a pain. If they would just punch those stupid holes out all the way and if those screws weren’t so hard to turn.
But, I do love the boxes and for the price, I guess the pain is worth it.
See, I don’t mind that these ones come flat packed. It’s a pretty big space saver, when you see how much room they take up, just on that picture. Imagine thousands of them on a ship. Thats a lotta resources (fuel etc) to ship a whole lotta air!
Wow, I JUST put these boxes together for myself last night. It was such a pain that I wish I had just covered a shoe box! I feel your pain!
Totally understand… I’ve owned my home for nearly 5 years and I love IKEA but some things you have to do to enjoy said IKEA purchases and RIDICULOUS!!!
Wow. I have those exact same boxes from Ikea on top of my kitchen cabinets. After begging the boyfriend to go on a trip to Ikea, we came home with those (and a few other purchases).
After investing far too much time into putting them together, he has vowed to never return to that “European garbage store” again!
I still love that sense of accomplishment… but it’s something he is no longer willing to try 100% because of those boxes!
I have those boxes from aeons ago and they did not require this level of assembly. I totally get your frustration but I am tickled with joy that IKEA has not stopped trying to improve on something as simple and as cheap already as the KASSETT boxes. Pass those savings on to me baby! Yes, obviously this good-intentioned attempt did not quite turn out as well and I hope they take heed to the feedback they have probably received by now. “Make it work.”
(I mean, where else can you decorate an entire room for under $300 buckeroos INCLUDING furniture??)
I absolutely understand what you written in that letter! I badly wanted those boxes but my husband said “girl u buy the boxes and i have to assemble them???”no way! buy something else :-) he wanted a floor lamp and i wanted it too…its looks gorgeous in my living room! and oh i love IKEA! wIsh they started in India too!
by the way you have an awesome site here! njoy reading all ur posts!
regards,
Veda
HA! Cracks me up. Oh IKEA, how we all love you so! Today I tackle 2 Billy bookcases! Your furniture pix are oh-so-right in the basement.
Ohhhhhh, the evils of the KASSETT boxes. I put together 12 of those silly things last summer. Punching through the tiny holes (and cleaning up the subsequent MESS) nearly drove me crazy. If they just came with the stupid dots already removed from the middle of the holes…
Same here. Bought some boxes, cursed at the assembly process. Similar complaints about assembling the Fira mini chests. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80073304 PAIN IN THE REAR! Would have gladly paid a bit more to have it pre-assembled. Sigh.
I have sooooo been there. I hated putting those darn boxes together! Never again!!!
WHAT A MESS! I would have thrown that away or returned it pronto. I have no patience for that. You are a better person than I am.
Keighely
I feel your pain – but I love these boxes anyway! They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. At the end of each assembly the tips of my fingers do hurt though…Basement looks great!
I have the older model of those boxes, except the ones that I have fold open instead of having to be assembled. I don’t know why they changed the design, it is just a cardboard box.
So True! My husband I bought those pesky little boxes and were so frustrated about how much energy and time we put in to assemble them! Who would have thought!? We very much agree with and enjoyed your shoutout!
My husband and I bought an Expedit Shelf from IKEA last weekend for our TV. It took us about 15 minutes to put together a stand that holds a 100lb TV… however, the little box insert that goes in the stand took me about 40 minutes to assemble. The TV stand required only wood pegs that slip in to holes… seems sturdy enough (let’s hope!)But for this odd box that goes in the shelf, it actually required 2 different types of screwdrivers, 3 different types of screws and bolts (equaling about 35 different items), and a PHD to understand the instructions!
Avoid this guy at all costs:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90115756
:)
While I cannot argue with the logic of your rant, I do think it is funny cause I actually enjoyed putting these boxes together. After a month of putting together large, unwieldy IKEA furniture, these boxes are like a vacation. I can kick back, watch some TV in an actual chair (instead of on the floor amidst hundreds of pounds of particle board), and drink a beer while I mindlessly put together boxes.
The “confetti” is a hassle though. I am still finding dots three weeks later!
I have to admit, I actually enjoyed assembling these boxes. Yeah, sometimes IKEA is a pain like that, but I put these together while watching a movie and it was actually kind of soothing for me. I also happen to be a big organizational freak, so that probably played a role in my enjoyment.
Here’s a pic of my boxes/bookshelf project: http://twitpic.com/gvs54
A to the men…..
These boxes took forever…but they are stylish and functional.
We recently picked some of those darn boxes up as well… not to mention an in-box system I also had to put together. The flat packing does indeed go a bit far sometimes… but the instructions (with the Ikea man on the help-phone) make me giggle everytime (and tempted me to actually call for assistance with my in-box system! *lol*)
I did put together about 24 of those for my last apartement. Got a bit tiresome after a while. :)
I did the SAME thing. With 24 of them. The big ones were a little easier than the shoebox sized ones. Eeek.
I have four of these boxes, and like you I have two white and two green.
When I got them, it took me ten minutes alone to try and figure out which part was which and then punch out all the holes. I found it more than a little ridiculous.
Self assembly furniture is fair enough. It’s big and bulky, but you get a lot of enjoyment and change for minimal effort.
It’s BOXES. They’re small and can be packaged and carried easily. Although you get use out of them, they’re hardly a new table or dresser.
This is the one thing about my beloved Ikea that annoys me.
I laughed so hard I cried. I was just assembling some of these boxes earlier this afternoon – one is actually still lying on the living room floor unassembled…
I’m so excited to see how the basement looks with ‘stuff’ in it! I’ve been checking the blog practically every half hour since Monday! I decided I’m going to get the Expedit desk as a gift to myself since my birthday is next week!