Ikea 'BED'ing troubles

Last week me and my better half trekked through the IKEA store, checking for a new bed. My wife has been a strong IKEA hatter and to see her push me into an IKEA store was something of a surprise.

Anyways here we were, with our 1 yr old going through the mesh! that's what i call IKEA's twisting alleys.. finally we arrived at the Bedroom section, there were many options (5 actually) and quite confusing to tell you the truth. Finally after a lot of consultations we agreed on one that suited our budget and more importantly went with the other furniture in the bedroom. Why don't all wood furniture have the same color, it would be so easy to buy!

I have been buying articles from IKEA for sometime, and knew something about the assembling bit, but assembling a bed seemed a bit over exerting. Anyways in Dubai ( where I used to stay before) IKEA used to arrange free delivery and assembly if the purchase was above a certain limit, and definitely our bed was above the limit.

Smiling and feeling proud on our instant decision making ability we walked past the checking counter and then to my horror i read a board indicating the rates of delivery and assembly !! it was almost 20% of the cost of the bed.

Luckily I was driving a SUV and instantly told the guy I will carry my stuff, and saved KD 10 (US $36), the polite guy smiled and offered me help in loading the thing, but then told me that the assembly will not take place before the weekend, which was a bit late as guests were arriving before that, further that would be costing me another KD15 (US $55).

Leaving the counter I thought I would give assembling a chance and incase I fail the guy is already coming, and incase I make it, all I need to do is call up and cancel the appointment, that would reimburse my money. How difficult will it be? I thought.

I was right, the initial part in assembly was not that difficult, the pictorial guide coupled with a few basic carpentry skills did make it look easy, though as a piece of advise DON'T USE THE SCREWDRIVER IKEA provides as it is difficult and leaves your hand bruised and hurting.

I used the conventional tools and had no problems up till the stage when all the side boards were up, its only then that the tough part started- the central beam! the pictorial manual was not much help in understanding how this is put together, i noticed that the manual was for two kinds of beds and had two different styles of putting the bed together..in short, i struggled.. but finally was able to put in order to be able to sleep on it.

There is nothing more fitting then being able to reap the fruits of your own labor! but on the flip side I noticed that one of the side planks needs to be re-fitted !! guess I found some work for the next weekend aswell..