That's A Lot of Parts

After cooking up a breakfast for Tina, Bev and myself (scrambled eggs with cut up bacon and home fries - with Tina's assistance), it was time for Tina, Bev and Corbin to head to Goderich. Bev was going back home.

That left me with an empty house. That meant it was time to assemble the Mail Center Armoire I had purchased a week or so ago.

The box was heavy. There was lots of styrofoam to protect the various pieces of wood. I pulled each part out and checked it against the list - a very long list. All the parts were there. So began the long process of assembly. I wasn't in a hurry so I took my time.

Assembling the unit was similar to assembling IKEA furniture accept that they wanted you to glue the wood dowels. I thought about that and said to myself "well that makes sense - it makes the unit stronger". Did I mention there were over 40 wood dowels. So I inserted the dowels, screws, bolts and whatever else into the various components. I took a break. I assembled some more. Another break.

After an hour or so, I had the various shelves into one of the sideboards. Attaching the opposite sideboard was tricky but I managed to line up everything. I made one mistake inserting a dowel into a hole it did not belong in.

With the unit upright - it is heavy - I attached the hardware and doors. That was an easy task to do with all the pre-drilled pilot holes. The final task was attaching the back boards. This particular product used screws instead of nails to hold the back board. While a tedious job - 40 screws - it does make for a better quality product, especially since the back board was broken up into several pieces, minimizing the possibility of warping. There were holes for wires and such.

I moved the unit into it's resting place and admired it. It sits well with our furniture and matches the fish tank stand we have. I took break, but was on a roll. It was time to demo the shelf by the front door.

A few bangs and a pull here and there and the shelf was detached from the wall. It is amazing how much larger the front area feels. Of course now I have to patch up the floor and paint the wall, but that is a project for next weekend.

Posted by Adam