Assembly required

Jake suggested we needed a proper coffee table for the living room. ‘How hard can it be?’ he said, scrolling through IKEA’s website. Famous last words.

Three hours later, we’re surrounded by what appears to be enough wooden pieces to build a small cabin, and Jake is reading the instruction manual like it’s written in ancient hieroglyphics.

Assembly required

I’ve learned that my boyfriend has very strong opinions about which screws go where, and that Swedish furniture designers have a twisted sense of humor.

Teamwork makes the dream work. Eventually.

The good news is we’re making progress. The bad news is we discovered I’m terrible at holding things steady while Jake tries to screw them together. Also, why do they give you exactly the right number of screws with zero extras? What if you drop one behind the couch?

Update: The coffee table stands! It only wobbles a little, and we’re choosing to call that ‘character.’ Next time we’re definitely paying for assembly.