Blogger versus IKEA cabinet: DAYS 2 and 3

Day 2:

Step 1 of the KULLEN has you assembling the middle, top and bottom boards into an I shape. The diagram is drawn at an angle, so it looks like the vertical board is halfway between what will become the two cupboards. In actuality, one side is narrower than the other. There was also a slight difference in the two boards (the top had two holes, the bottom had four), and it took some lining up and figuring out which OTHER holes were meant for the clothing bar... but in the end, I had an I lying on the floor.

The area in which it will end up is at the bottom of the basement stairs, so that is where it is being assembled. Of course, it turns out that was barely going to be 5 inches of working room around the edges. This meant *thunder crashes* I couldn't use the cordless drill *ominous chord*

Looking back, the first thing that went wrong was that I noticed two of the holes on the middle board weren't drilled all the way through. This happened while assembling the TROFAST toy shelves, so I was able to use the cordless drill to punch all the way through.

The second thing that went wrong was that I attached the shelves according to the diagram, then realized I was assembling the pieces so that the back of the cabinet was against the floor. This would not do, as I would need to nail on the back of the cupboard. So, with great effort, I managed to flip the whole unit over. Now the shelves were on the wrong sides according to the diagram. So that hole I drilled all the way through? Didn't need that. In fact, I had the shelves in the wrong place, and now there will be patching to do when we're through.

At the end of the evening I had assembled the nine pieces of wood into a sturdy frame. Huzzah! All set for the nailing of the back boards, to be done at a later date...

Day 3:

Fuckmonkeys.

So. The next step showed the biggest back board fitting exactly on the back above where the drawers would be. This back board was as wide as the narrower half of the closet. During the flipping and switching of boards, I'd lost track of the top (two holes) and bottom (four holes) boards in step 1. Plus it seemed that the shelves has been in the right place, the top and bottom just needed to be flipped 180 degrees. Maybe if I unscrew just the parts I need to switch around and...

Well. There we go, 9 boards and 20 screws now lay, separately, on the floor. At least the reconstruction only took a quarter of the time as it did last night, but at the end of the night, I nailed on the big back board and realized if I nailed the other back pieces on as well I would suddenly be without space to walk. Day 4 will involve some careful balancing.