The Ikea Challenge
Is that IKEA furniture or a Rubik's Cube? The assembly contest continues
We've got a nice big couch in the CultureLounge. How long does it take to puttogether? Not as long as you think.Photo by Fayza A. Elmostehi
Our CultureLounge dining room table is probably bigger than you pictured, no?Photo by Fayza A. Elmostehi
Remember that contest we had, where you were supposed to guess how long it took CultureMap writers-turned-design-savants Caroline Gallay and Steven Thomson to put together an Ikea couch and a table for The Ikea Challenge? And we were going to give you awesome tickets to Hairspray and Chefs Under Fire today?
Yeah. Well. Hmm. How do I say this nicely?
You were all woefully off the mark.
Should a couch take longer to assemble than a table? You seemed to think so. But should it?
I like you. We like you. And we felt bad for you, since you are our adoring fans and all. And to be honest, we probably left you guessing in the dark. Our bad.
So we're giving you a few clues — and photo evidence of the assembled pieces — to give your inner Sherlock Holmes a better chance to come out.
This project is all about deadlines. Caroline and Steven have to completely makeover an odd room in our new CultureMap office and transform it into a hip CultureLounge with furniture provided by IKEA in only 30 days. Even if it kills them. But we're giving you one extra day for your assembly guesses.
The couch we're talking about is a classy, smoking-parlor-y Ikea Stockholm couch. With detachable parts consisting of legs and ... arms.
The Stornas dining room table, on the other hand, is full of complexities, including an extension leaf (which Caroline and Steven also had to install), in addition to two standard leaves, and. .. legs. And things.
Does that help?
So let's keep going. We're extending the contest 'til Friday afternoon. If you've guessed before that attempt will still be included in the contest to win tickets, but you can also try again. Consider it a free do-over. After all, how many times do people have to start over while assembling IKEA furniture?
Back to the contest. You're guessing on how long it will take Caroline and Steven — two healthy, physically fit (depending on how intense their bar adventures were the night before) twentysomethings — to put together the Ikea Stockholm couch. That's part one. Then, you're guessing how long it will take these furniture assembly amateurs to construct the Stornas dining room table (no, maybe-that-piece-really-isn't-necessary, stuff backs into the box allowed).
Two separate guesses on these two specific pieces of furniture.
Leave them in the comments section on this story so everyone can play along — Twitter and Facebook entries are also still being accepted.
We just want you to win something already. Can't a girl give away some free stuff? Sheesh.
Let's hear it!
Other articles in the IKEA Challenge series:
Creating a lounge in 30 days without killing each other
Sizing up the room specs, spots for the Shelby Hodge statue & kissing booth
The meddling begins: Our room makeover designers face opposition in the office
The room makeover duo hits the store and encounters a velvet divide
Paisley, accents & corkboard — design ideals from a flower child sorority girl hit the CultureLounge
Mastering the "Steven Aesthetic": Clean lines and objets trouvés for the CultureLounge
How long does it take two healthy, young adults to assemble IKEA furniture?
