Got the Entertainment Center last night UHHHHHHHHHHH

[mikehbkwm]

Oh my gosh my wife and I bought our first entertainment center last night, now keep in mind this aint no $3,000 top of the line setup but its cool for us right now and is functional for what we got. It cost us only $488 at a Factory Direct outlet store. And the reason it was so cheap was because we had to put it together ourselves. Let me tell you this IT SUCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, we will never again put together one of these things again. Now dont get me wrong its looks cool and great but it just took so much time last night 7hrs total and we still have a little do on it before we are done, but we're almost there. Next time we get one we will really spend the money and get one for like $1,500 or more and have it pre-assembled but this was a cool learning experience and will definitely put a finishing touch on all my stuff. Now I just need a receiver with Surround Sound. It aint nothing impressive but ill try to get a pic up on the Designer Den on the bottom of the home page here soon.

[57U]

Some people hate it, but I always enjoy putting the stuff together myself - I view it as educational and fun instead of work. Gives me a feeling of accomplishment and saves money...

Some people are better at it than others and the others should buy "prebuilt" as you said.

[mikehbkwm]

Yeah i agree it was kinda cool putting it together its just that Im not a wood working kinda guy. More of a auto mechanical kinda guy, hope that makes sense. But I did learn from it thats for sure just that next time Id rather get somethin already pre-built cause that way I know that HEY I didnt screw it up if somethings wrong.:p

[lonestar]

I'm with 57U on that one. I love the smell of new furniture when it comes out of the box in pieces. The way you talk about it, it sounds like you guys had to cut wood or something. Surely it was just a matter of putting screws in, wasn't it? Like IKEA style?

[mikehbkwm]

Well it was mostly like that but some of the holes were not screwed through all the way so had to take some time to deepen the holes also to be honest Ive never done this before so it was completely new to me. Also as with anything some of the screws stripped and had to make sure that everything was re-inforced so just a couple things that just took a little longer than what I thought......................

[cpaesq]

I'm good at it now.. I know how the peices should inter lock etc.. so i don't spend that long reading over the instructions (I've put together about 10 of those u-build furniture in my life)

My first one was a book case / wall unit. It only had 3 shelves and 1 door ( I figured "well 4 walls, 3 shelves and 1 door..... hmmm about 1 1/2 hrs") :D

Yeah!!! more like 5-6 hrs... man that took 4-ever.

but once you do it and a good cordless drill with diff torc settings you can put them together in a couple of hours, save $, and get that pride associated with building something.

Note : I put together a TV stand with glass shelves etc. over the weekend and it was not too bad :)

Post pics once you are done

[Tom]

Mike:
Two of my favorite sayings (based on experiences just like this one) are:

1. Nothing is ever as easy as it looks.
2. It always takes longer than you think.

Which is why now my MOST favorite saying is:

"If you can't afford to pay to have it done - don't do it!"


bah! screw that sense of accomplishment stuff! :D :D :D

[kojak light]

I used to be intimidated by that stuff too. Wood was my mortal enemy. But having been married and a homeowner for almost 4 years now, well- my wife says my middle name should be "IKEA".

I built her a studio using 2/3rds of our 2 car garage and it turned out pretty good. IKEA stuff is so well engineered. It took me the better part of a weekend and here is how it turned out:

Picture 1 (http://groups.msn.com/marlinites/kojaksfotoz.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=419)

Picture 2 (http://groups.msn.com/marlinites/kojaksfotoz.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=420)

[cpaesq]

Kojak:

That came out nice! :)

[spaceman_spiff]

I am with 57 on that one. I love to put together and take apart things. And furniture is the easiest for me. And handy cordless drill makes it even more enjoyable.
Some people just dont like to go through all that. So there pre-assembled furniture for them.

[Qwackertoo]

My husband LOVES putting stuff together whether it be wood, toys, games, electronics, whatever you name it. I am actually pretty good myself, I actually take the time to read the instructions which he does NOT. I would never take the thrill of putting a new purchase together from him so I let him put everything together, but IF need be I could do it myself

;)

Deana

[leadvocal]

I feel your pain Mike 'ol buddy. We just had our ent. center delivered two days ago in 3 big boxes. After spending 3 hours putting 1 of the 2 side cabinets together, I realized that I had put the first shelf on upside down. This was like the third of 28 steps. So after carefully dis-assembling just enough of it to flip the top shelf over I thought it was completed. That is until my wife looked at it and told me I had tacked the back on backwards :(

Now I'm not as incompetent as you may think. I am afterall a field service engineer for an x-ray company and deal with high tech equiptment mechanically and electronically. I guess "furniture building" just isn't my forte :rolleyes:

I hope to finish the other side cabinet and top today.

[jp_texas]

If the manufacturers really wanted you to read the directions they would put them in the bottom of the box, not on top of the good stuff... lol