AIBU to think Ikea was created by the Devil to test relationships?

[BowieFan]

Me and DP both had a rare day off together today. We decided (foolishly) that we would finally and go and pick out a new bed for our bedroom which we've just finished redecorating.

4 hours and some meatballs later and we finally left Ikea with the bed (not the one we wanted but I refused to leave empty handed).

DP has just finished putting it together. There's 4 screws left over, a bolt of some kind and several plastic things. I am terrified to sit on the bed in case it collapses under the slightest weight.

AIBU to think Ikea is actually hell and was created to see how strong a relationship is? It isn't even DP's fault and I wanted to murder him before we left.

No op am def not married (but have been in long term relationship so know the score) maybe one of the dealbreakers with me is a man telling me he can fix a car/do diy when they clearly can't 😊, I feel for you I really do, by the way, in the 70's,when I first learned building skills, families used to either make everything from scratch, or buy it ready made, flat pack furniture was seen as being a bit of a cheat and being designed for kids to make, due to being precut and prescrewed. I helped my dad make our dinning table from scratch, alot of precision measuring involved, wood turning, sanding etc. that's why I see flatpack is a breeze, which is prob why I feel cheated when a man exagerates their diy skills and why it drives me mental as I know I can do a better job. I will go as far as saying I would prefer a gambler, cheater, feeder or an alcoholic than someone who lies about their building skills 😊

Roussette Why no vegetable soup? I had it today and it seemed OK...
Then I bought some frozen cinnamon buns (with 25% off), a bottle of akvavit and a bag of salty liquorice.... (You know, the Ikea essentials)

Now I want meatballs Luckily I live 5 minutes away from one

I live 20 mins from the Croydon one. I've been four times in the last 10 days

I'm 9 minutes from ours if I drive, and twenty if I get the bus which gies from outside our front door to outside their front door :-)

Lol gerdaloveslil, I had a friend who had door to door bus service, your posts reminds me of when we brought two billy bookcases on the bus, it was a long bus ride, but not busy and saved her a fortune in delivery

I once sat on a pile of bath mats in IKEA pregnant and crying about curtains and was joined by a man almost in tears about kitchen handles. I ate two slices of Daim cake that day.

Gerda I just love soup massively. Vegetable soup especially. This was unseasoned, lumps of what seemed like frozen veg in a really gloopy sticky sauce... at one point my spoon didn't drip when it overflowed, it just hung there .... why am I reminding myself of this!

Ooh this thread is making me feel all hot and clammy. I always get very claustrophobic in Ikea. And DP and I have NEVER been to Ikea together. It's probably one of the reasons we are still together after 16 long years .

I once saw a women getting kicked out for pillow fighting (she wasn't she just tosed a cushion in the bargain bucket bin and got accused of being uruly by another customer) the Ikea worker marched her out while she and and other customers protested her innocence, it was really bizarre

OH and I love a trip to IKEA together.

We sometimes sneak out on a Sunday morning for breakfast while the kids are still asleep. We love the meatballs, the coffee, the hot chocolate, and a browse. Never had an argument there.
I get big things delivered an we have a local handyman/DIY man in the town who will assemble IKEA furniture, he charged my £10 to assemble a double bed.

Has anyone posted a link to this fantastic Mitch Benn song?

The bed is up and seems capable of holding DP, so we should be fine. I'd just like to add that BIL turned up but even with his help they couldn't do it. We had to get our neighbour to help. So in short, it took 6 men to put together a bed and three women (me, MIL and SIL) to criticise them and drink wine.

All this for a bloody bed. It's not even the bed I wanted.

user1474781546

That sounds like hell! Sunday... in IKEA?!

Ikea on a Sunday is 2nd only to the Trafford Centre on a Saturay afternoon. I had to do both in one weekend once and nearly topped myself.

I have no sympathy for people who decide not to follow instructions.

Rolling on the floor with laughter at some of these. The trick to a successful ikea trip is to devise and conquer.

1. look online and agree to exactly what you are getting. Write down the locations.
2. Pick an off peak time to visit. We are lucky our local ikea is not too bad for crowd crush and you practically have the store to yourself, first thing.
3. The organised one swoops in on the shopping. The less organised one (or if you have kids) goes to the cafe/creche/check out and ensures the beverage of choice for partner.
4. DH loves the diy challenge of ikea furniture using power tools. He usually decides the instructions are too conservative too. However, I have been reliably informed that you can arrange delivery complete with your own ikea minion to assemble the goods. If I ever hanker after the swedish ideal, I may just do that....

Ah well done Bowie's DP, DS's, FIL, BIL and Old Uncle Tom Cobbly and all!

This reminds me of when it took DP and BIL a whole day to hang ONE DOOR! Jesus, the standing around huffing, puffing and procrastination drove me nuts!

Donatellalymanmoss

You have met men before, haven't you?

They nearly all think they know better than "experts" including the people who designed the bloody thing they're trying to build. My DP could get into a car with Lewis Hamilton and think he knows more about driving!

I just sat on it and it creaked slightly.

Ldnmum2015 I have got some very improbable things back on the bus from Ikea :-)

Rousette I'm sorry I've brought back such terribly soupy memories. I think you must have had a bad batch!

Chunkymum1 here you go!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=aNcaaehKaC8

Just because it's a man doesn't make them less of a twat for not reading the instructions, so it won't change my level of sympathy just because it's a man

The secret to my flat pack furniture success. I read the instructions

We seem to do alright in IKEA. Even buying some roller shutter kitchen cabinet and queueing for bloody ages to return it hen we couldn't get it in the car didn't break us! They have Daim cake and when DS was small we used to leave him in the crèche which was nice :) I don't get involved in assembling flat pack furniture and leave it all to DH who is very calm and competent about it. I just ply him with drinks and praise! We planned and bought 2 kitchens from there and quite a bit of furniture over the years. Just avoid bank holidays though, they are like hell on earth!

Bowie We drove 25 miles in the dark down the back streets with a mattress lashed to the top of the car roof and bits of flatpack poking out of the boot. We looked like The Clampits travelling to Los Angeles! Scariest journey of my life, there were bits of leaves and twig and shrubbery stuck in the blue string where we'd skimmed trees. All because he didn't believe me when I said "we'll never get that in there dh!" Never again!

No worries Gerda!

It was a fruitful trip despite the soup