Ikea, eat your heart out

A few I've learned after living on my own:

1. Bring your own toilet paper to the washroom -- 1 ply just doesn't cut it
2. Parties happen spontaneously
3. If poster tape is too expensive for posters, there's always post-it notes
4. Don't use communal brooms to clean your room -- that broom is probably the dirtiest thing around

Now on to the fun stuff. I dropped by a hardware last week and was in heaven when I realized that I could probably make a medium sized table for about 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost of normal tables most stores sold them for. Sure, I spent atleast an hour drooling over powertools just imagining how quickly I could get things done with them. I decided to forgo the investment at this time and see if I could get away with building the table with the bare basics.

Items Purchased:

1. Wooden rack/step ~ $12
2. 6 foot long 2x4 planks of wood (2 planks) ~ $5
3. Hand drill ~ $5
4. Wood screws (2 sets) ~ $1.50
Total ~ $23.50

I had the store chop the 6 foot long 2x4 shopped in half thinking that 3 feet (~1 meter) should be tall enough for an ordinary desk. Chopping fees ran me about 20 cents, so that was negligable (and really, really cheap!) and biked home with the goods.

After rough measurements of the desk I currently use, I found out that the desk I work is about 2 feet tall. Meaning I had to chop the planks down further after borrowing a saw from the dorm office (who would have known, they keep a hand-saw on them). After that I was pretty much ready to go.


The rack was the perfect size for a table.


The 2x4's after being chopped down a little more. See the sawdust?


Using the hand drill to make holes and installation of screws


Tada! Assembly complete


The table in my room already messy with equipment

The entire ordeal took me about 2 hours in total including cleaning. The table is pretty firm on the floor but it wobbles from side to side, meaning that it could use some bracing to strengthen the legs, but not bad for my first attempt with home made furniture.