Living through your IKEA era is character-building (assembly required)

A friend and I were reminiscing tonight about allllll the terrible pieces of furniture we owned from IKEA (or pieces that were passed down to us by former roommates) and, man, does it make me appreciate the nicer furniture I have now. Like, IKEA is fine for college and your 20s but, beyond that, it's never worth the hassle. To be honest, it wasn't worth the hassle then, either. I was so bad at putting those pieces together that one time I was attempting to make a bookshelf, lost my mind at how many steps were left, and decided it would make a better shoe rack.

Please share your IKEA woes/tales. Do you still have some of your items? Or have they all been discarded/donated?

Also, let the record show I think IKEA's meatballs are INCREDIBLE.

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