There’s a particular kind of Sunday afternoon that starts with an Allen key and ends with a wardrobe door that won’t shut and nobody speaking to each other.
Flat-pack is genuinely fine most of the time. But some builds are far harder than the box suggests, and it helps to know which is which before you start.
The ones that are usually fine
Most people can manage these with a bit of patience:
- Bedside tables, small drawer units, coffee tables
- Bookcases and shelving units
- Basic desks and small storage
- Dining chairs
- Anything with fewer than about twenty pieces
Give yourself more time than the instructions suggest, and you’ll be fine.
The ones that catch people out
These are where the Sunday afternoons go wrong:
Wardrobes, especially sliding-door and corner ones. They’re big, heavy, and they must be square or the doors never run properly. Almost always a two-person job.
Beds, particularly ottoman and storage beds with gas-lift mechanisms. Heavy, awkward, and easy to get subtly wrong.
Anything that has to be fixed to a wall — tall units, bookcases, TV stands. The build is the easy half; the fixings are what matter.
Kitchen and utility units, where everything has to line up with everything else.
Very large items in small rooms. Sometimes the build is simple and the space just isn’t.
The mistakes almost everyone makes
- Not laying the parts out first. Ten minutes sorting pieces and counting fittings saves an hour of hunting.
- Tightening everything as you go. Leave screws slightly loose until the whole frame is together, then tighten. Otherwise nothing lines up.
- Building it in the wrong room. Check it’ll fit through the door before you build it. This one hurts.
- Building on a hard floor. Lay out a blanket or the cardboard from the box, or you’ll scratch both the furniture and the floor.
- Skipping the wall fixing. More on that below, because it genuinely matters.
- Losing a fitting. Keep everything in a bowl, not loose on the carpet.
The bit that’s actually important: anti-tip fixings
Tall furniture — wardrobes, chests of drawers, bookcases — comes with a bracket to fix it to the wall. It’s easy to skip, because the unit seems perfectly stable standing there.
Fit it anyway. Furniture tipping over is a real and well-documented danger, particularly where there are children in the house. A drawer pulled out, or a child climbing, changes the balance completely.
It takes five minutes. It’s the single most important step of any tall flat-pack build.
Worth knowing: the fixing depends on the wall. Solid masonry needs a plug and screw; plasterboard needs the right hollow-wall fixing, and finding a stud is better still. Fixing a heavy unit into plasterboard with the wrong fittings is barely better than not fixing it at all.
When it’s worth getting help
Get someone in if:
- It’s a wardrobe, an ottoman bed, or a large multi-part unit
- You’re on your own and it’s a two-person build
- It needs fixing to a wall and you’re not sure what your walls are made of
- You’ve got several items to build — a whole bedroom set, or a house full after a move
- You’d simply rather have your weekend back
A pro assembles in a fraction of the time, and does the wall fixings properly. For a full bedroom set, it’s often the difference between a lost weekend and an hour.
FAQ
Should I fix flat-pack wardrobes to the wall? Yes, always. Tall furniture can tip, especially with children in the house. Use the supplied bracket and the correct fixing for your wall type.
How long does flat-pack assembly take? A small unit might take under an hour. A wardrobe or ottoman bed can take several, particularly alone. Allow more time than the instructions suggest.
Can someone build flat-pack furniture for me? Yes — assembly is one of the most commonly booked handyman jobs, especially after a move when there are several items at once.