Dear Hive Friends!
Liebe Hive-Freunde!
It has always been a challenge for me to take on a project, no matter how simple or complicated it may be. From a young age and even up to now, I have always been fascinated by how things are made and how they come together.
I think I inherited that curiosity from my dad. He was a construction project supervisor, and by simply observing him at work, I learned a great deal—from woodworking and masonry to various construction techniques. Watching him transform materials into something useful sparked my own interest in building and working on small projects.
That curiosity eventually led me to this little project: assembling a couch table from IKEA. Just to be clear, this is not an endorsement of the product. I wanted to share the experience and challenge myself with something practical.
I had been thinking about replacing my old coffee table, which had traveled with me when I relocated to my new apartment. Although I liked the table, its marble top was extremely heavy, and its overall size took up more space than I could afford in my relatively small apartment. I decided it was time for something lighter, simpler, and more suitable for my space.
During one of my window-shopping trips, I came across a table that immediately caught my attention. It had the style and proportions I was looking for, so I decided to give it a try. I bought it as a flat pack, brought it home, and got ready to assemble it.
I gathered my tools, cleared some space, and opened the box. In no time, I was ready to begin. What seemed like a simple project was about to become another opportunity to learn, experiment, and, of course, enjoy the satisfaction of putting something together with my own hands.
Tackling this project was difficult because I was working alone. There was nobody to hold the parts in place, so I had to improvise ways to support the other end of the legs while putting everything together. However, a disaster happened when I accidentally interchanged some of the parts. As a result, the legs collapsed, causing some of the parts to break.
Fortunately, I was able to glue the broken parts back together and left them for a couple of days to allow the glue to fully harden. I still need to cover the broken areas with wood filler and paint them white to finish and improve their appearance.
And so, below is my finished DIY couch table. I am proud of the result, especially because I was able to complete the project on my own. Although I faced some difficulties and even had a few setbacks along the way, I learned from my mistakes and found ways to solve the problems.
Mein DIY-Projekt: Ein neuer Couchtisch
In diesem Blog möchte ich über mein kleines DIY-Projekt erzählen: den Aufbau eines neuen Couchtisches von IKEA. Nur um das klarzustellen: Das ist keine Werbung für das Produkt. Ich wollte lediglich meine Erfahrungen teilen und mich selbst mit etwas Praktischem herausfordern.
Schon als Kind habe ich mich dafür interessiert, wie Dinge gemacht und zusammengebaut werden. Diese Neugier habe ich wahrscheinlich von meinem Vater. Er war Bauleiter, und ich habe ihm bei der Arbeit oft zugesehen. Dabei habe ich viel über Holz, Mauern und verschiedene Arbeiten beim Bauen gelernt.
Mein alter Couchtisch war zwar schön, aber für meine neue Wohnung zu groß und zu schwer. Deshalb wollte ich einen kleineren und leichteren Tisch kaufen. Bei einem Einkaufsbummel habe ich einen Tisch gefunden, der mir sehr gut gefallen hat. Ich habe ihn gekauft und als Paket mit nach Hause genommen.
Zu Hause habe ich meine Werkzeuge vorbereitet und mit dem Aufbau begonnen. Die Arbeit war nicht ganz einfach, weil ich den Tisch alleine zusammenbauen musste. Niemand konnte die Teile für mich festhalten. Außerdem habe ich aus Versehen einige Teile vertauscht. Dadurch sind die Beine des Tisches umgefallen und einige Teile sind kaputtgegangen.
Zum Glück konnte ich die kaputten Teile wieder zusammenkleben. Ich habe sie ein paar Tage liegen lassen, damit der Kleber richtig trocknen konnte. Später möchte ich die beschädigten Stellen noch mit Holzspachtel reparieren und weiß streichen.
Trotz dieser Probleme bin ich mit dem Ergebnis sehr zufrieden. Ich bin besonders stolz darauf, dass ich das Projekt alleine geschafft habe. Ich habe aus meinen Fehlern gelernt und Lösungen für die Probleme gefunden.
Am Ende hat sich die ganze Arbeit gelohnt, und es ist ein schönes Gefühl zu sagen: Ich habe diesen Tisch selbst gemacht!
Many thanks for visiting! Vielen Dank für deinen Besuch!
Best regards/ Beste Grüße,
Mers
The idea of making your own couch table is already cool, but the finished piece actually looks really practical too. It has that simple, homemade feel without looking rough. Nice work.
selected by @stevenson7
Thank you.. I actually opted to go thrifting, find something I can work on to give a table a second life..but I didn't find one to my liking..and then I saw this table on display and I love the style...
Sieht gar nicht nach IKEA aus 😄
Als ich das Muster sah, habe ich mir zunächst überlegt, ob ich das hinbekommen würde … aber die Lust am Selbermachen war zu groß, also habe ich es gekauft …
You're a brave woman my dear. I love this kind of work, but always take the easy way out and call my brother 😆 I love the table and it looks great in your room.
Hello @erikah, thank you for the heads-up! How lucky you are to have your brother near you; my brothers are all thousands of miles away from me (lol!), so I have to help myself by doing some things around the flat. It is so expensive to hire someone in Vienna to do the maintenance. Anyways, I am learning from my mistakes, and that makes it interesting to pursue such a project. Have a great new week ahead, my dear. Take care!
There is this joke about Ikea: When you buy a 'Billy' Bookshelf, you get a saw, a screwdriver, a pack of screws, instructions and a map to the nearest forest.
I had assembled a few Ikea projects and found the instructions quite funny, almost as funny as the names of the products. Even though I once lived in Sweden for about 4 years and still have a good handle on the language.
I laughed at the nearest forest... 😊