Refinished floors and new millwork means re-thinking office space decoration. We went to Ikea looking for something that would fit the playroom and another item for Shelly’s office.
I can understand some of the criticisms of Ikea furniture, but it is attractive to me and functional. I also love putting these things together. They are like life-sized puzzles, cleverly designed and, in my experience, all the parts fit together nearly flawlessly.
We found these storage cubes called Kallax. They have bins that fit in the little cubbies, and for a few dollars more, you can add drawers and cupboards. We think it works well for both the office application and the playroom.
The one thing that is kind of a pain about Ikea assembly is that the allen wrench bolts that are used are kind of time-consuming to screw in using the provided tools.
Enter the Power-Allen 5000. My daughter and I have joked that all the some-assembly-required items we have ever built, come with the same size allen wrench bolts and wrenches. “Why do they even sell other sizes?” Also, why are they all hand-tighten bits?
They certainly do sell them to fit in your electric drill, but they also give away the hand wrenches! Long story short, why not use a dremel tool to cut the bend off of one of these guys and put it right in the drill chuck?
Voilá! A free, serviceable tool that can be used for virtually any do-it-yourself furniture assembly.