you have a piece of furniture to put together...

[WalterMitty]

option 2.

[Indy Texas]

Sounds like someone went to IKEA.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Option 2.  Always an exercise in profound frustration. 

[politicus]

Option 2.  Always an exercise in profound frustration. 

[Lambsbread]

This is something I've never done, and I pray I never have to do.

[dead0man]

Normally option 1.

[memphis]

I'm very impressed with the stuff from Target. They make it so easy even I can do.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Option 2  (Normal)

[angus]

It depends.  I've put together a couple of regulation-size ping pong tables, and it's quite a chore.  I don't look forward to that.  I also put together the 500-pound desk I'm sitting at now.  357 screws!  It's always stressful when I have to hold up a great weight with one hand and place pins and screws with the other, usually holding a screwdriver or wrench in my mouth while a heavy piece of wood is perched delicately above my head.  It's a pain in the ass as well. 

On the other hand, when I get something for the lab--a monochromator with removable diffraction grating or a fluorimeter with optional autosampler--I get pretty excited about it.  We got a precision analytical balance a few months ago that required some assembly and calibration.  It was fun. 

Tables and chairs are okay.  I neither dread them nor get enthusiastic about it.  I just go into automatic mode.  My son is also old enough now to be helpful with some projects, and he seems to have a knack for engineering and physics.  He's not strong yet, though, so I still have to do the heavy lifting.  That's the part I really dislike.

I've moved quite a bit, and have become fairly efficient at taking things apart, packing them well, manipulating them, driving a big truck, unpacking them, and reassembling them.  Just in the time I've been posting here, we have made five major moves, sometimes over thousands of miles, with very little breakage.  Only once did I employ a moving company, and that was the only time my things were broken, lost, or damaged.  I guess you're more careful with your own stuff than with someone else's.  I'm getting old, though, and acquiring more and more things.  Already we fill a four-bedroom house with basement.  It's mainly the leg and back pain that I dread, rather than turning screws.

[angus]

We put together a little $79.99 table today.  Hecho en México, purchased on line.  The boy is getting better at the handiwork, but still needs reminders.  "Daddy, I think this screw is stripped" translated to me as "I'm turning it the wrong way."  Turn it the other direction.  Righty tighty.  Overall, we beat the suggested assembly time by nearly six minutes.

I have come to appreciate these assembly fests as bonding moments.  I haven't voted yet, but I think I'm ready to vote now and I'm going to vote for the first option.  Not to be ageist or sexist, but I'm guessing that having sons of the appropriate age profoundly affects one's vote in this particular poll.

Of course, it's about 33 degrees and rainy today, so hanging out in the basement wasn't a bad option.  The weather may have affected my vote as well. 

[J-Mann]

Option one (although excitement might be a little two strong). I enjoy projects where you can see visible progress and an end in sight -- essentially, a win. Last week, my dad and I (with him doing most of the work) moved and rewired a bathroom outlet and hung a new medicine cabinet. There was a definite feeling of accomplishment when we were done.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Ugh. My dad and I have done this together and we both end up shouting at one another in the end.

[Keystone Phil]

Sounds like someone went to IKEA.

I helped put together two items from IKEA in the last few months. Talk about frustrating. But walking through the little Swedish wonderland is always enjoyable even if, you know, socialism.

[Sopranos Republican]

Putting furniture together makes staying up all night working on a paper seem "fun."

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Putting furniture together makes staying up all night working on a paper seem "fun."

Guess what I am doing tonight (and it doesn't involve putting screws into a chair) .

[Sopranos Republican]

Putting furniture together makes staying up all night working on a paper seem "fun."

Guess what I am doing tonight (and it doesn't involve putting screws into a chair) .

Lol, this is what I was doing when I wrote that. (Not putting screws in a chair )

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Putting a piece of furniture together is not a matter of fun.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Screws in a chair can be enjoyable, provided one isn't talking about assembling furniture.

[tik 🪀✨]

I enjoy doing it despite the frustration and inevitable cut, bruise, or failure. Finishing putting it together is very satisfying.

I have fond memories with friends as we assembled furniture for someone's apartment or a family member, drinking and working together.