Flatpack furniture

Faith

I'm moving into a new apartment and need to buy nearly everything for thw two bedrooms, besides the bed. I'm thinking of getting flatpack, from Argos or Ikea. Is it really hard to put together? I have NO experience with any kind of DIY! I'll be buying:

4 bedside lockers
2 wardrobes
A desk
2 chests of drawers.

DadaKopf

Rent a van, go to Ikea and your wallet will be happy.

I assembled a whole APARTMENT'S worth of Ikea furniture, we're talkin' beds, lockers, tables, bookshelves, dining tables, chairs, kitchen and bathroom fixtures, armchairs, sofas, the lot.

Ikea is pish easy to assemble. Just always have a Philips-head screwdriver and a hammer handy. You shouldn't need anything else. Just one thing: read the instructions before you start assembling. Make sure you have an idea where each component goes. The drawings are very accurate, so use them (nearly) as gospel truth.

I wouldn't bother with Argos. Ugly, expensive. Not worth it. And, hey, you get a cheap trip to England.

Faith

The apartment's in Edinburgh, so the distance won't be a problem!

I had a look at the Ikea website and it didn't seem like there was that much of a range. Do they generally have matching units? I'd prefer everything to be from the same line, i.e. all beech or pine or whatever.

delly

Haven't been to Ikea before but Argos's range are usually matching so I would think the same for Ikea. I wouldn't rule Argos out totally and at least if you buy something and aren't happy with the quality of the wood, you can bring it back before assembly.

DadaKopf covered most of what you need to know to assemble and the instructions are usually pretty straight forward, so if you have a good head for logic you'll be laughing.

Faith

I just found the online Ikea catalogue. I'll be here for hours!

I nearly died with excitement when I saw they do rocking chairs (It's my dream to have one). Ikea it is! And my friend claims she's an expert at assembling it, so she'll help. Thanks lads!

ircoha

if u are doing a lot of assembly buy a cheap cordless s/driver and a set of bits: allan key, philips and pozi screw driver bit etc.

it will maker the job much easier, just dont force anything, so dont have the torque set to max!!

hunnymonster

I'm off to the UK to do some IKEA retail therapy next week. If anyone has found things in the online catalogue and would like an opinion on what they look like in "real life" let me know and I'll report back to you.

hargo

Does anyone have much experience of Ikea furniture quality wise, and in particular their beds and wardrobes?

hunnymonster

yeah, I lived on mainland europe for years and had a lot of their stuff. Most of it is very good for the price you pay. some is really excellent but for some you've just got to realise that you're never going to be able to compare a 5000 euro wardrobe with a 500 euro one!

Sonnenblumen

IKEA furn is for trading up students, looks are good, but structurally average. Argos FP furn on the otherhand is cheap and nasty and bottom of any list, mostly cheap fibre board cores plastic finishes and crap fittings.

If the choice is IKEA/Argos, go IKEA, but a much better option is Hulsta from Germany, which was available in Belfast but also from Inside in Dublin.

Great designs, well manufactured but you pay a little more but you get so much for your money.

aka_Ciaran

I've bought various bits and pieces this past while. My experience on wardrobes: bought 6ft cheapo job fro B&Q (around €120 if I remember correctly) - doors fell off it after a few weeks. Went back to them they said I had to dismantle and bring the whole thing back to them before they would do anything (ie I might still not get a refund).

Also bought a larger fitted wardrobe from MFI in Newry. It was over 7ft tall so it looked better straight away. It has a double and single doors with 3 drawers. Was easy enough to build and I have to say it's very solid..no wobbles no loose doors or anything like that. It cost 200 sterling about €300. Well worth spending the extra few bob and still not expensive compared to other built in wardrobes. Only thing is they only deliver and it can take a couple of weeks, plus there is a delivery charge to the south (I think it's free to NI)

So that's my tuppence worth

GG66

Sonnenblumen wrote:

a much better option is Hulsta from Germany, which was available in Belfast but also from Inside in Dublin.

Great designs, well manufactured but you pay a little more but you get so much for your money.

Any contact details for these?

Lex Luthor

Flat pack furniture is almost all the same design....best advice would be to do them one at a time...when you finish one, do an identical one straight after as its fresh in your mind. For wardrobes, best to have 2 people. One to make the decisions, one to do the donkey work

Sonnenblumen

GG66 wrote:

Any contact details for these?

Inside are located in Sandyford Industrial Estate and Hulsta uk: http://www.hulstastudio.co.uk/default.asp

Not all flat pack furniture is the same, and anyone saying so is talking rubbish.