Buying boxed furniture from retailers like Amazon and IKEA is one of the cheapest and most convenient ways to furnish your space. But if you have gone this route before, you know how stressful and time-consuming DIY furniture assembly can be. So much so, that some people opt to hire a handyperson to do the work for them.
But instead of paying to outsource the task (or testing your patience and tackling it yourself), use this simple hack to make DIY furniture assembly quick, easy, and virtually painless. All you need is a power drill and a cutting tool, like cutting pliers or a pair of very strong scissors.
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Once you open the furniture box, look for the Allen wrench — the assembly tool that most often comes with DIY furniture kits. These tools have a signature L-shape. To tighten a screw when assembling your furniture, you're supposed to stick the wrench into the screw and rotate it over and over again. You'll repeat this process for each and every screw in the furniture piece (hint: it's usually a lot). Good news — there's a hack for that.
Save time (and your wrists) by following these simple instructions from TikTok user @nickscustomwoodworks:
First, cut the end piece off of the Allen wrench with a cutting tool so that the wrench is more of a straight line. Make sure to get a clean, straight cut. You can then attach this straight piece into your power drill. Every time you need to tighten a screw while assembling your furniture, just fire up the drill instead of rotating the Allen wrench by hand. This DIY tool will have screws tightened in seconds, making quick work of a job that would normally take you hours to complete. You'll be admiring your new piece of furniture in no time.
Another great tip courtesy of a commenter: Tape your DIY tool to the underside or back of the furniture after you put it together. That way you won't have to go looking for it when you need to make an adjustment or take it apart.