#23. The Desk That Ate My Drill Bit
(or, “Creating the Perfect IKEA work area”)
Time: About 4 Hours
Drill Bits Lost: 1
Pain Today: Immeasurable
I started the desk construction by running to IKEA (surprisingly few people, since it was during the UCLA and USC games) and picking up the $9 tabletop I had seen in their catalog. I resisted the temptation to eat the meatball plate at the café, and instead opted for the 75 cent hot dog downstairs. Mmm, cheap desks and cheap food.
Back at home, I yanked the old tabletop out from under my bed and proceeded to unscrew the old table leg attachments… until I realized the rechargeable drill was out of power. (Lesson learned: Charge power tools the night before a home improvement project!)
So, I charged the drill and moved the bookcases around. Once everything was settled, I put the TV in the big bookcase and realized that it didn’t fit with the back of the bookcase attached. I had to pry the back off with a screwdriver - no small feat, since I’m really good at putting together IKEA furniture - before setting up the AV equipment.
I was able to remove the screws and table leg attachments from the old tabletop, but the drill died shortly thereafter. So, I waited. And organized some stuff. And waited…
When I had some more drill power, I realized that IKEA now pre-drills the holes, but for a different-sized attachment!
So, I ended up drilling the holes myself, breaking a drill bit in the process, and driving the screws by hand (my drill had run out of power, and the screws were already stripped from the last tabletop). In the end, I’m pretty happy with the result:
But now I’ve got a bunch of stuff that needs a new home!
4 Comments so far
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It looks great!
By Jill on 12.04.05 8:12 pm
Wow, you have much more stick-to-it-iveness than I have. I think I would have given up along the way.
I put together a simple bookshelf yesterday, but the back came in this weird accordian pleated single piece and I nearly went mad trying to stretch it to fit the side pieces while trying to fit the screws into holes that weren’t large enough. I used much less finesse than you (even though my boyfriend told me via long distance where to find the drill bits)…I just hammered the hell out of it until it fit. 
By Marilyn on 12.04.05 10:42 pm
What a nice set-up!
I wish my room was a little neater… I just have a whole lot of stuff and nowhere to put it.
By suki on 12.05.05 9:57 am
You’ve already done #54–you ate rambutan for table topics
By Amy on 12.05.05 3:05 pm
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