A while back I wrote an article on my real website about how pleased I was to have decorated the living room in my apartment (pictured above). I’m still really pleased with the room, it’s a really cosy place that is often full to the rafters (what are rafters I wonder?) with friends drinking tea and chatting in the warm glow of the soft lighting. It’s a massive improvement on what was there. In fact I was so pleased I created a web page just so I could show my friends in far flung corners of the world!

However I am worried that I have developed an unhealthy interest in things that aren’t usually the typical domain for a man. I find myself walking by shops and going in to look at cushions and throws. I catch myself leafing through the pages of the Autumn Ikea catalogue. It’s a worrying state of affairs.

Indeed, the other day, for no apparent reason I went to Ikea and bought a bookshelf unit for my studio. What was wrong with the piles of CD’s stacked on the floor against the wall I ask!? And while there I spotted a few things I’d like to put in my red bedroom.

I think I am showing signs of being a closet flat-packer (no pun intended). There doesn’t appear to be a support group I can join either. But we all know becoming a ‘flat-packer’ is a slippery slope. Moral depravation starts at Ikea because we all know when you get the flat-packed furniture home you find new and interesting ways to cuss as you try to make sense of the ridiculous instructions that never seem to relate in any way to the thing you’re trying to build.

I’ve started a blogring to unite those of us whole are struggling with ‘flat-packing’. We know who we are. of course though, I doubt anyone will ever join the ring because of the deep seated shame that comes from admitting ones furniture is merely chipboard with a posh veneer. But if you are a flat-packer too, then know this, there is help out there. You’re not going through this alone. – Kick the habit, Join Flat-packers annoymous – stay away from Ikea.com.

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Ikea generation
The evidence
Join Flat-packers annoymous