IKEA is famous for many things. Its maze of a showroom, the seemingly gibberish product names, and let's not forget its Swedish meatballs.
All of that is what gives IKEA its character and makes it the furniture superstore we know and love. However, there is one quality of IKEA's that it has become more notorious for: the difficulty of building its furniture.
Yes, we've all been there. You bring home your Svelvik and your Besta Burs, and you're filled with so much adrenaline as you pull everything out of the box and get cracking on building your dream home. You think to yourself, "I've got everything I need, and the instructions look so easy with their cute, little drawings. What could possibly go wrong?" Oh, so much.
Seven hours later, sweat is pouring off of your face as you jam two pieces together, desperately trying to make them fit. You'd ask your roommate for help, but he already moved out after you argued while trying to figure out how to put the TV stand together. And there was so much promise, so much hope in the beginning, too.
But now roommates of the world can rejoice because IKEA's new furniture line is a game changer. The REGISSÖR line's bookshelves, cabinets and coffee tables are supposed to take you less than five minutes to assemble. There's also no tools required to build the furniture. Hallelujah.
This seems almost unbelievable, but it's made possible by wedge-shaped boards that lean in to one another at 45-degree angles rather than 90-degree angles, which makes the piece more self-supportive with its pre-installed wooden dowels, according to Co.Design. The boards are also lighter with a mostly crisscrossed wooden body with solid wood in some parts.
The REGISSÖR line will be available later this month, and if it proves to be a hit with customers, IKEA could expand it. However, as Gizmodo points out, it's probably unlikely that the line will include any furniture that can actually support a human's weight.
Fredrik Andersson, IKEA of Sweden's material and technique developer builds a bookshelf in about three-and-a-half minutes in a promotional video for the new line. "It feels quicker because it's so fun," he said in the video.
While I don't know if building this IKEA furniture will be any more fun, it certainly looks like it will be easier, and what a relief that is.
